Search Results for: real estate

May 21, 2015

TMT and finance sectors drive demand for London office construction

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, News, Property

The total level of office construction in central London has increased over the past six months, fuelled by the greatest volume of new space to start since 2011, the latest Deloitte London Office Crane Survey has revealed. With a rise of 24 per cent over the past six months, a new wave of office construction in central London is under way across almost all submarkets. This comes at a time when the level of available office space is at its lowest for seven years, with current market conditions still suggesting a short-term supply shortage. However, the ramping up of new developments over the last six months has come too late to significantly alter the delivery of new space in 2015. TMT and the financial sector are driving up demand for more office space.

April 9, 2015

Why Facebook and other tech giants still apply mainstream office design ideas ⁰

by Charles Marks • Comment, Facilities management, Workplace design

This week Facebook moved into its new offices in Menlo Park, California. As you might expect they are somewhat out of the ordinary. Designed by Frank Gehry, they are bright, open and loaded with quirky and colourful design ideas. Yet upon closer inspection their underlying office design principles are often resolutely mainstream, not least the inclusion of what is billed as the world’s largest open plan office. In fact this has the personal backing of the CEO himself and has long been the core element in the brief because Facebook sees the idea of openness as being an essential part of its mission and business model. Mark Zuckerberg announced the opening of the building on his own Facebook page (where else?). In his official statement, he explains the thinking behind the design in an interesting way and it bears reproducing.

April 1, 2015

CBRE acquires facilities management business from Johnson Controls

by Mark Eltringham • Company news, Facilities management, Property

Property giant CBRE has reached an agreement to acquire the facilities management business of Johnson Controls for $1.47bn. The deal will see CBRE acquire the Global WorkPlace Solutions (GWS) FM arm of the business, allowing the new enterprise to manage nearly 5bn sq ft of commercial real estate worldwide consisting of 2.3bn sq ft in North and South America, 1.2bn sq ft in EMEA and 1.4 bn sq ft in Asia Pacific. GWS, currently employs around 16,000 people worldwide, and had a turnover of around $3.4bn in 2014.The deal also see the two firms enter into a ten year strategic relationship, with CBRE offering a range of real estate services with Johnson Controls offering HVAC equipment and a range of building automation systems and other products in return. Both firms will also share investment in research and development.

March 27, 2015

MIPIM demonstrated how property industry is moving with the times

by Anna King • Comment, Property, Workplace design

In its 26th year, the colossus conference that is MIPIM was back in full flow. With 93 countries were present, 4, 500 investors and 22, 000 registered delegates there were numerous developments presenting opportunities around the world. And crucially, there were more people apparently buying than selling, meaning that strong investment activity will follow. A dumbfounding prediction from property agent Cushman & Wakefield, that global real estate investment could rise 11% to 1.2 trillion euros – an indication of just how much healthier the market is. However, the renewed positivity isn’t simply a return to the ‘good times’, it is apparent that the pain the recession brought in 2008 hasn’t been forgotten and we are seeing a revised formula for property that includes sustainability, collaboration and – crucially – people.

March 26, 2015

London remains world’s most expensive city in which to live and work

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, News, Property

London has retained its place as the world’s most expensive city for businesses to accommodate their employees. But according to the latest analysis from Savills, Hong Kong and New York are closing the price gap. The three cities have dominated the Savills Live/Work Index since its launch in 2008 and form a tight group of world class cities where it now costs over US$110,000 per employee per year to rent typical office and living space. London is now 7.3 percent cheaper in dollar terms than in June 2014, while 4th placed Paris has slipped below the US$100,000 per employee threshold for the first time since mid-2012 as a result of rental falls, dollar appreciation and euro weakness. Meanwhile, fuelled by an improving US economy and tech industry expansion, San Francisco has outpaced all other cities in the live/work index, with growth in rent and other real estate costs of 55.1 percent since 2008.

March 19, 2015

Office workers report difficulties with remote communications technology

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, Flexible working, News, Technology, Workplace design

Just as the adoption of digital communications technology is making the one-person per desk workstation model look outmoded, the design and layout of the typical conference room is no longer suitable for remote communications. That is one of the findings of a new survey by Steelcase which found that despite, or rather because of advances in technology, office workers are having difficulties when trying to communicate with work colleagues based elsewhere. The problem, which Steelcase has coined presence disparity can lead to an overall collaboration experience which is best described as unpleasant and taxing, with participants feeling strained physically, cognitively and emotionally. This isn’t helped by the fact that conference rooms, the most used spaces for videoconferencing, usually feature long rectangular tables designed for face to face meetings, not those to camera.

March 17, 2015

How facilities management brings organisational values to life. Or not

by Alan Williams • Comment, Environment, Facilities management, Workplace

We have used stories to pass on information for thousands of years and they remain the most powerful way we know to communicate. Indeed, the power of story is magnified in today’s super-connected, transparent world – the truth gets out fast and can be widely communicated – to millions of people all over the world – in such a short space of time. Here is a story which illustrates how employees’ “felt experience” every day strongly shapes their perception of an organisation and how the impact compares to official “corporate messaging”. This, in turn, highlights the critical (often under appreciated) role played by facilities management in reinforcing organisation brand and values. What are the implications for the role of FM and the wider HR agenda?

March 12, 2015

BREEAM consults on new scheme for refurbishment and fit-out projects

by Mark Eltringham • Environment, Facilities management, News, Workplace design

A draft of the part of the BREEAM sustainability assessment schemes which deals with refurbishment and fit-Out, has been published for consultation. Launched this week at MIPIM, the consultation will close on 10 April 2015. The draft document can be downloaded from the BREEAM website here. All interested parties, buildings owners and investors, designers, construction industry professionals, BREEAM assessors and other stakeholders are invited to send their comments to breeam@bre.co.uk with the subject: “Comments on draft BREEAM International RFO 2015”. The draft publication of of the scheme comes four months after the launch of the UK Refurbishment and Fit-Out 2014 scheme. BRE claims that this has been adapted for an international market to take account of a range of local and regional standards, conditions and climates.

March 5, 2015

The financial services sector leads the way in how we think about office design

by Charles Marks • Comment, Facilities management, Workplace design

The office as we know it may continue to change, but that doesn’t mean its vital role at the heart of the organisation will diminish. The recent downturn meant some tough decisions had to be taken by many companies. It certainly focussed more attention on the way firms design and manage their workplace, based on a clear understanding of their economics. It is one of the most commonly cited truisms about office design that after staff, buildings are easily the second highest item of expenditure for the majority of organisations. The conclusion often drawn from this is that there is a compulsion to reduce space through new working practices or more efficient office design and management. Which may be true but the challenge is to take advantage of these opportunities without adversely affecting the company’s most expensive and valuable asset; its staff.

March 3, 2015

Video and gallery: Google’s new Silicon Valley headquarters

by Mark Eltringham • Architecture, Case studies, Facilities management, News, Workplace design

Google may be having second thoughts about the design of its new London offices, but it is rather less reticent about that of its new Silicon Valley headquarters. It plans to transform a 2.5 million square foot site in the Californian city of Mountain View into a home for around 10,000 workers. The pastoral setting has been designed by Thomas Heatherwick and Bjarke Engels and incorporates parkland dotted with glass buildings including some Eden Project like geodesic domes. Unsurprisingly the campus buildings have been designed to achieve a LEED platinum accreditation and cars are largely discouraged from the site. Heatherwick has described the plans as humanistic and the plans include a number of community facilities including a new public safety building, two new parks, an educational science centre and even a residential development on neighbouring land.

February 18, 2015

Record uptake of London office space continues…but at a price

by Mark Eltringham • News, Property, Technology

Take up of leased office space in London has hit its highest level since 2000, claims a new report from BNP Paribas Real Estate. The recorded level of 4.49 million sq. ft. during the final quarter of 2014 was driven by serviced office operators and occupiers in the technology, media and telecoms sectors. TMT firms accounted for just under a third (31 percent) of the market in Q4 and 24 percent for the whole year. However the market is still characterised by a mismatch of supply and demand which means not only low vacancy rates in key business districts but also sustained upward pressure on rents. The average office rent per square metre in the City of London has risen by 17 per cent from £560 to £655. In the prime parts of the West End rents have jumped 8 percent over the year to £1092 per square metre.

February 17, 2015

Employment confidence is increasing, but so is the pay divide finds CIPD

by Sara Bean • News, Public Sector, Workplace

The UK workforce is seeing an increasing pay divide between employers that can now afford to increase wages by 2 percent or more and those that are stuck in a pay freeze. According to the latest Labour Market Outlook from the CIPD, almost half of the UK workforce saw either a pay freeze or a pay cut (3% pay cut, 39% pay freeze) in the twelve months to December 2014. In contrast, a similar proportion (40%) have received a pay increase of 2 percent or more and less than a fifth (18%) fall in the middle ground of people who have received a pay increase in the 0.1-1.99 percent corridor. As well as identifying a growing pay divide, the report finds employment confidence is set to remain strong over the next three months with around two thirds of employers (65%) planning to recruit new employees.