August 15, 2016
UK commercial property prices fall during first full month after Brexit 0
The first full month of market activity in the UK’s commercial property sector since the Brexit vote, saw its value fall by just under three percent, according to the latest data from real estate researchers MSCI in their monthly IPD real estate index. The value of the nationwide market fell by 2.8 percent over the month. Central London was particularly badly hit with values falling by 4.1 percent. The monthly report is sponsored by a number of the major players in the commercial property sector and is based on an analysis of every building in the MSCI database including currently occupied buildings and those in development and being refurbished. A report published earlier this month by Investment Property Forum found that while the overall value of the UK’s commercial property had hit record levels, the uncertainty surrounding the consequences of Brexit was of major concern for investors and occupiers.
The UK commercial property sector is now larger than at any time since before the last recession, claims a new analysis from the Investment Property Forum. It has risen nearly 50 percent since its lowest point in 2009 and is now valued at £871 billion, an increase of around 11 percent. The amount of stock actually shrank last year, according to the study, with the increase in overall value arising from price rises. The previous highest valuation the IPF puts on the market was £865 billion in 2006. All is not good news however as a second report from the same organisation which explores sentiment in the market following the Brexit vote confirms there is a great deal of uncertainty in the market. This is particularly acute in the London market which makes up over a third of the nation’s total and is increasingly dominated by foreign owners who may have a negative response to the UK’s vote to leave the EU. Intriguingly, the report found that total floorspace marginally declined over 2015 and has only increased by 0.9 percent since the market high of 2006.
The changing energy demands of British cities are revealed in 
Giving employees more control over workplace design is the single most important contributing factor to their wellbeing, according to a new study. The Workplace & Wellbeing report examines the workplace design factors that influence wellbeing. The research team discovered that an invitation to participate in the design of the work environment raised levels of wellbeing, although increasing the level of participation did not necessarily increase the level of wellbeing. The research was led by the Royal College of Art’s Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design in partnership with architects Gensler and supported by a consortium of leading industry names: Milliken, Bupa, Royal Bank of Scotland, Kinnarps and Shell. The context for this project lies with a current ‘wellbeing deficit’ in the workplace which means absence from work costs the UK economy more than £14 billion a year according to the Confederation of British Industry.
A quarter (25 percent) of British workers would be willing to accept a lower salary in return for better ‘work perks’ a new survey claims. Employment bonuses, such as flexible working, a company car or free food have become increasingly popular over the last few years, which explains why 55 percent of UK workplaces already offer work perks, the survey suggests. Workers in Wales are most likely to accept a lower salary with almost a third saying they would accept a position for less money if it had better perks. The survey was commissioned by 
There is an ancient Asian parable which has found its way into a number of cultures including Hindu and Buddhist lore. In one version, the Buddha tells of a king who has nine blind men summoned to his palace. An elephant is brought in and they are asked to describe it. Each man feels a different part of the elephant and describes it to the king. In turn they tell him it is a pot (the man who feels the head), a winnowing basket (ear), a ploughshare (tusk), a plough (trunk), a granary (body), a pillar (foot), a mortar (back), a pestle (tail) or a brush (tip of the tail). They disagree violently with each other to the amusement of the king, and the Buddha surmises that ‘in their ignorance they are by nature quarrelsome, wrangling, and disputatious, each maintaining reality is thus and thus.’ Around 2,500 years later, groups of people continue to describe big things solely based on the bits with which they come into contact and bicker with others who are close to other bits.
The shortlist for 
August 2, 2016
Seven workplace stories we like and think you should read this week 0
by Mark Eltringham • Architecture, Comment, News, Property, Workplace, Workplace design