Search Results for: construction

July 24, 2018

Barclays to create up to 2,500 jobs at new Glasgow tech hub

Barclays has announced plans to develop a new campus at Buchanan Wharf, Glasgow, which will provide what it claims is a state-of-the-art workplace for the bank’s functions, technology and operations teams. The aim is to create a working environment that will ‘help the bank deliver outstanding services to customers and clients by fostering innovation and collaboration’. Barclays has agreed to purchase the campus development from Drum Property Group Ltd and is currently working with them to finalise the design of the new facility as part of the wider Buchanan Wharf development. It is expected that, once completed, the campus will be able to accommodate up to 2,500 additional roles, doubling Barclays’ current workforce in Scotland and making the bank one of Glasgow’s biggest commercial employers.

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July 5, 2018

Responsible office fit-out toolkit published by Building Better Partnerships

by Neil Franklin • News, Property, Workplace design

Commercial property trade body Building Better Partnerships (BBP) has today published its latest free industry guidance – Responsible Fit-Out Toolkit: Offices. The Toolkit claims to provide guidance for owners and occupiers on how to integrate sustainability and wellbeing into an office fit-out. The authors claim that while workplace design plays a pivotal role in demonstrating a business’s values and can have an immense impact on the comfort and productivity of those working within and visiting a space, opportunities are rarely fully appreciated.

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June 20, 2018

Successful EFMC event in Sofia sets its sights next on Dublin

by Beatriz Jiménez • Comment, Events, Facilities management

The Sofia Event Center in Sofia (Bulgaria), hosted from 5 to 8 June the 26th Edition of EFMC, the European Congress of Facility Management. The event, held for the first time in the Bulgarian capital, has brought together world experts of the sector and has served as a platform for communication between Facility Managers, suppliers, universities and associations. In the closing ceremony it was announced that EFMC 2019 will be held in Dublin (Ireland) on 13 and 14 June.

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June 18, 2018

World Green Building Council launches Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment

by Neil Franklin • Environment, Facilities management, News, Property

The World Green Building Council (WorldGBC) has launched its new Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment as part of Building Lasting Change 2018 with WorldGBC Congress Canada in Toronto, and called on market leaders in the sector to join as signatories. The Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment challenges businesses and organisations across the world to take advanced climate action by setting ambitious targets to eliminate operational carbon emissions from their building portfolios by 2030 in order to meet the Paris Agreement ambition of below 2 degrees of global warming.

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June 12, 2018

BCO to provide definitive guidance on enabling wellbeing in the office

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

A major research study “Wellness Matters: Health and Wellbeing in offices and what to do about it” by The British Council for Offices (BCO) is being launched today. The study critiques existing Health and Wellbeing measurement and certification, identifies the most recent and relevant medical evidence justifying a proactive approach to Health and Wellbeing in the built environment, and articulates the business case for investment in this space beyond simply improving productivity. (more…)

May 18, 2018

Office take-up in London at highest point in last 12 months, boosted by pre-let activity

by Sara Bean • Cities, Facilities management, News, Property

Central London commercial offices under offers are at the highest point in the last 12 months and take-up is ahead of 2017 levels compared with this point last year, new data from CBRE has shown. Central London office take-up for April 2018 stood at 547,900 sq ft, largely driven by pre-letting activity. Office take-up for the year to the end April 2018 was 4 percent higher than the corresponding period in 2017, standing at 3.4m sq ft. Take-up was boosted by 139,600 sq ft of pre-letting activity. Over the last 12 months, the business services sector has represented the largest proportion of take-up at 32 percent, driven by a large number of deals to flexible office providers. Take-up in April was dominated by the creative industries sector, accounting for 44 percent of take-up. The banking and finance sector (26 percent) and the business services sector (21 percent) also represented notable proportions of take-up in April.

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April 9, 2018

Rising demand for Grade A office space helps sustain Edinburgh commercial property market

by Sara Bean • Cities, Coworking, Facilities management, News, Property, Public Sector

Technology, media, and telecommunications (TMT) companies are continuing to play a prominent role within Edinburgh’s office market, accounting for approximately 30 percent of transactions in the city. But rising demand for Grade A office space in Edinburgh by a variety of organisations, including coworking, private and public sector tenants has fuelled significant occupier demand during the first quarter of 2018, according to analysis by property consultancy, Knight Frank. The latest commercial property figures show approximately 460,000 sq. ft. of new occupier requirements came onto the market in the first three months of the year from companies looking to lease office space in Edinburgh. (more…)

April 9, 2018

How the UK car industry is driving the future of workplace design

by Paul Dunn • Comment, Workplace design

The British car industry has grabbed numerous headlines since the Brexit referendum due declining car sales and the uncertainty of its economic and regulatory prospects. In spite of these mounting concerns, the industry continues to invest in the design of its workplaces, not only by creating inviting and engaging places to work, but also by integrating automotive approaches to design and construction into the work environment. As a result, these workplaces don’t just help car companies to stay competitive; they also provide new ideas for all sectors eager to build smarter and more efficient places to work.

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March 29, 2018

With a year to go, occupiers are less concerned than they were about the impact of Brexit

by Mark Eltringham • News, Property

Occupiers are less concerned about Brexit than they were a year ago, according to a new CBRE research survey of over 100 major occupiers across Europe, most of whom have pan-European or global operations. By late 2017, the proportion of European occupiers worried about Brexit having a ‘very significant’ impact on their operations in the UK had dropped from 15 percent to 6 percent compared with a year earlier. The proportion of occupiers worried about Brexit having a ‘significant’ effect has also fallen, from 38 percent to 33 percent, meaning that the number of occupiers worried about negative impacts from Brexit has fallen in total from 53 percent to 39 percent. A year to the day on which Britain aims to exit from the EU, global real estate advisor CBRE has published an updated guide unpicking some of the key real estate impacts of Brexit.

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March 29, 2018

Local authorities and developers must work together to boost the quality of new developments, says Green Building Council

by Mark Eltringham • News, Property

The UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) has launched two new resources for developers and local authorities designed to help boost construction standards and improve ‘social value outcomes’. The first resource is related to residential developments while the second is directly relevant to commercial property. The resource, Social Value in New Development, provides guidance for developers and local authorities to help deliver social value outcomes in new residential and commercial developments. The guidance looks at social value, its stakeholders, strategies for driving positive outcomes and measuring success, and the current barriers to delivery.

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March 27, 2018

Flexible working and the rise of coworking reducing demand for London office space

by Mark Eltringham • Coworking, Flexible working, News, Property

The number of new office buildings constructed since the financial crisis in 2008 has fallen in a year on year comparison by 56 percent, according to an analysis of planning applications carried out by property lending platform Lendy. The authors claim that the primary reason for the sharp decrease has been the greater uptake of flexible working and coworking models of space use. According to the study, only 2,300 applications to build new office buildings were approved last year, down from 5,200 in 2007/8. Lendy adds that applications to build new offices have also fallen since the financial crisis – down 58 percent to 2,500 last year from 6,000 in 2007/08. Flexible working has reduced the requirement for new office buildings. Other innovations, such as shared workspace and coworking, have reduced the need for employees to have their own dedicated workspace, according to the report.

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March 20, 2018

Many businesses doing little or nothing to alleviate workplace stress

by Neil Franklin • News

New research by Perkbox claims that almost half (45 percent) of UK businesses do nothing to help alleviate workers’ stress, putting themselves in danger of having their workforces reach total burnout. This is despite work being the cited as the most common cause of stress (for 59 percent) and in light of 1 in 4 (25 percent) struggling to be as productive at work when stressed. What’s more 1 in 10 will call in sick and 7 percent will look for a new job. Businesses within the hospitality industry are the least likely to provide any kind of guidance or aid to help employees deal with workplace stress (64 percent), followed by the leisure sector (63 percent) and transport industry (55 percent).