February 15, 2018
SMEs spend more time searching for private offices than coworking space
Searches for private offices have become more popular than coworking space among SMEs over the past year, according to new data from commercial property marketplace Hubble. The firm reports that this marks a reversal from the previous year’s results, although searches for coworking space remain disproportionately high compared to the overall office market. According to Hubble, searches for private offices grew an average of 40 percent month-on-month from January 2017 to January 2018, with 43 percent more searches being made for private offices over coworking space, and searches for the category ‘private office’ comprising 62 percent of all searches on the Hubble platform.
There have been 18 months of faltering net effective rents within the commercial office market in the Capital since the Brexit referendum, with ten of the 18 Central London office submarkets monitored in Cluttons’ latest London Office Market Outlook report registering rent falls in the final quarter of 2017, buoyed by additional incentives such as contributions to fit out costs and even delayed completions becoming commonplace in many locations. The report also raises concerns about the potential for an oversupply of serviced offices within the Capital. However, despite this and a perception that Central London offices are currently fully prices or possibly over-priced, by both occupiers and domestic investors, London remains a resilient city, continuing to attract high volumes of overseas capital. Employment growth is of course expected to be influenced by both the levels of GDP growth during 2018 and the Brexit divorce proceedings, which in turn will affect rental values. But says the report, aside from concerns over Brexit, there is no evidence from recruitment agencies to suggest a current, or planned exodus of finance and banking professionals from the City.
If the Government is to deliver its plans of driving digital transformation to improve the UK’s public services it must make a step change in procurement within central government and the wider public sector. That is one of the main findings of 
Financial services organisations are reducing the amount of commercial office space they require as they adopt more flexible work styles. This is according to a new report from HOK’s US team, 
February 12, 2018
Luther, Marx, Engels and a nailed-on manifesto for workplace change
by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Facilities management, Workplace design
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