Search Results for: commercial

CPA: UK construction activity will fall in 2013

The UK’s Construction Products Association (CPA) has today reported that it expects overall construction activity in the UK to fall by around 2 per cent this year, with most of the decline attributed to a greater than 5 per cent drop in commercial projects. Particularly concerning is the fact that the Government’s austerity measures with regard to public sector investment have not been offset by an increase in private sector activity. However these figures still represent an improvement on the 9 per cent fall of 2011.  More →

Global sustainable real estate securities fund announced

A global sustainable property fund that invests in Real Estate Investment Trusts (REIT) and other publicly traded property companies that meet environmental and social sustainability criteria, has been launched by US real estate investment firm European Investors Incorporated (EII). The focus will be primarily on global equities of companies involved in the ownership, management, development and financing of commercial and residential properties that strive to meet sustainability requirements.
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UK construction set for growth, say surveyors

Following the recent news that the UK’s construction sector had suffered a significant fall in the final quarter of 2012, better news emerges from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors with a report indicating that the UK construction market is expected to turn a corner this year as the government’s focus on infrastructure starts to generate returns. Chartered surveyors are predicting that output is set to increase in 2013 according to the latest RICS construction market survey. More →

All right? Manchester property outperforms other UK regions

The idea that the UK is essentially a closely bound federation of city states, each with their own culture and economy is given added credence by new research from CBRE into regional variations in the commercial property market. London does things  its own way, of course, but the top regional city is Manchester – the only one of eight centres that showed any evidence of rental growth during 2012, even though it was a modest increase from £29.50 per sq ft to £30 per sq ft. The full report can be viewed hereMore →

It pays to check the green credentials of manufacturers

Generation from Knoll

Generation from Knoll

There is a theory that when companies talk about issues such as corporate social responsibility they are doing so because it helps them to achieve their business goals. This is the coldly rational thing to do according to people like free market guru Milton Friedman who argues that companies should not actively pursue altruistic ends unless that pursuit is ultimately in the interest of their shareholders. As Friedman puts it: ‘Hypocrisy is virtuous when it serves the bottom line. Moral virtue is immoral when it does not’.

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Clarification complaints on changes to EPCs

EPC_header_image_contentpageimageImportant changes to the requirements regarding Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) are effective from tomorrow – 9 January 2013.

But according to RICS (The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors) many of these changes have not previously been discussed and RICS has been asking the DCLG for clarification on some of the amendments, including whether or not listed buildings are now excluded. More →

What does 2013 hold for the facilities sector in the UK?

FMJ MJE_0000Insight publisher Mark Eltringham offers some thoughts about what the coming year holds in the latest issue of Facilities Management Journal including the ongoing existential crisis of facilities management, why the commercial property sector needs to catch up with occupiers and designers as well as a plea for everybody to set ambitious goals and make realistic claims about their environmental impact.

Appetite for long leases presents challenges

The news from the weekend that Axa Real Estate is looking to raise around £1bn  to invest in buildings with very long leases has resparked the debate into what sort of lease represents the best value for investors and tenants in these uncertain times. The new fund will target commercial properties with minimum twenty year leases even though investors have to pay a premium for such properties and the majority of occupiers don’t want them. More →

It’s essential to design flexibility into an office

The design of offices and the furniture that fills them matters because of what it tells us about how we work, how organisations function and even what is happening in the economy. If you want to know what’s going on, take a look at the places we work and the things with which we surround ourselves and how they change over time.

Because the way we work changes so quickly, buildings need to have flexibility built into them so that they meet our needs today but anticipate what we will need tomorrow. In his book How Buildings Learn, Stewart Brand outlines the process whereby buildings evolve over time to meet the changing needs of their occupants. He describes each building as consisting of six layers, each of which functions on a different timescale. These range from the site itself which has a life cycle measured in centuries, through to the building (decades), interior fit out (years), technology (months), to stuff (days). The effectiveness of a workplace design will depend on how well it resolves the tensions that exist between these layers of the building.

In terms of our workplaces, the ability to respond to change is perhaps the most important facet of an effective design. Creating this level of responsiveness is described in the Facilities Design and Management Handbook by its author Eric Teichholz as ‘the basic driver of the facilities management workload.’

While the nature of work has already changed in many ways, the pace of change has increased even more dramatically over recent years. So the challenge for designers and facilities managers is how best to manage change, keep costs down and provide a flexible home for the organisation. Successful management of change is a good thing, an agent of growth and commercial success. Change handled badly can hamstring an organisation.

The standard answer to the challenge is to build flexibility into the building. At the property management level, this may mean a change in contractual terms, notably in the length of leases, and the provision of lease breaks.

Varying levels of flexibility must also be apparent through the rest of the building in terms of its design and management. If we take an idealised view of the modern office as a flexible, social space for a peripatetic, democratised and technologically literate workforce, the solution lies in an increased use of desk sharing, drop in zones, break out space and other forms of multi-functional workspaces. In many offices, individual workspace is already being rapidly replaced by other types of space, quiet rooms and collaborative areas.

Flexibility must be hardwired into the building at a macro-level. Not only must floorplates be capable of accepting a wide range of work styles and planning models, servicing must be appropriate and anticipate change. That doesn’t mean just in terms of technology and telecoms but also basic human needs such as having enough toilets to deal with changing occupational densities. It also means having a HVAC specification that can deal with the changing needs associated with different numbers of people and different types of equipment.

Elements of the interior that were once considered static are also having to offer far larger degrees of flexibility including, furniture, lighting, storage and partitions. This issue of flexibility has become more important within interior design. Interior elements should now define space, portray corporate identity, comply with legislation and act as an aid in wayfinding. They must do all this and be able to adapt as the organisation changes.

We may not always know exactly what the future holds, but we can work today to be ready for it.

Global office market to stabilise during 2013

JakartaA new report from consultants Cushman and Wakefield has predicted that the global commercial real estate market will stabilise over the next twelve months and, in some areas of the world, may enjoy a degree of growth.  While acknowledging wide regional variations, the report claims that there are some clear global themes that can be identified, not least in the ongoing growth of markets in Asia. Significant growth is not expected in the majority of regions until 2014 and beyond.