Search Results for: london

January 26, 2016

The road to Bali and other destinations for the world’s remote workers ⁰

by Georgi Georgiev • Comment, Flexible working, Property, Technology

The number of people who work from home or travel as freelancers has grown rapidly in the last 25 years. In 1990, as a percentage of the US population only 5 percent fit this classification, today it is closer to 30 percent. From photojournalists to graphic designers, to computer programmers – an increasing number of people are leaving the traditional office behind. The underlying reason is not difficult to establish. People are taking advantage of the opportunities offered them by technology. It’s no coincidence that the number of people working remotely has risen in parallel with the growth of home computing and internet connections, and more recently mobile technology. While the majority of those that traditionally followed this path became self employed, today companies are beginning to hire people to key positions without actually needing them to work from the office. Remote work is no longer just a freelancer’s game.

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January 22, 2016

New smart working code of practice launched by BSI and Cabinet Office ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Facilities management, Flexible working, Legal news, News, Public Sector

We’ll return to this in detail next week, but yesterday the business standards company BSI working with the Cabinet Office launched a new code of practice on Smart Working. The Smart Working Code of Practice, BSI Publicly Available Specification (PAS3000) has been designed to support organisations in implementing smart working principles. The Cabinet Office sponsors it on behalf of the Smart Working Charter Steering Group of industry, academia, institutions and other public sector bodies. According to the Cabinet Office, the code brings together best practice from across the world and across disciplines and will enable organisations to move from principles to standards and benchmark themselves against high performers in smart working. At the launch, the organisers also announced the second annual The Way We Work (TW3) Awards, a Civil Service programme recognising government teams that have created smarter ways of working.

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January 21, 2016

Commercial property activity in South East rose by nearly a third last year ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, News, Property

Over 3.2 million sq ft of office space was taken up in 2015 – up 28 percent from the previous year and 13 percent higher than the five year average. According to the latest figures from CBRE UK, the largest annual take-up increase occurred in the M25 South region, which improved dramatically from circa 404,000 sq ft in 2014 to circa 836,300 sq ft in 2015. Net supply remained unchanged across the South East from the end of the preceding year at around 12 million sq ft, 15 percent below the five year average. There was an increase in the proportion of Grade A supply in the market, and 34 percent of the total supply was either newly completed or under construction compared to 26 percent at the end of 2014. This was the result of take-up of Grade B space, loss of office space due to conversion to residential, and the delivery of new space.

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January 20, 2016

Regional office take up in 2015 is 20 percent above the five year average ⁰

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

The UK’s regional commercial property market has continued to improve on last year’s record levels of occupational take-up, with 9.6 million sq ft transacted in the Big Nine city centre and out-of-town markets during 2015, 20 percent above the five year average. According to Bilfinger GVA’s quarterly review of the regional office occupier markets this is the fourth consecutive annual increase in take-up and compares to an average of 6.6 million sq ft during the downturn years of 2009 to 2012. Take-up over the year was well above average in Birmingham and Manchester in both the city centre and out-of-town markets. Other markets where activity was well above average include Cardiff and Leeds city centres and the suburbs of Glasgow and Edinburgh. Fourth quarter take-up was dominated by above average activity in most city centres and a number of large deals in Edinburgh out-of-town.

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January 19, 2016

Skilled migrants attracted to regional and city work hubs, not countries ⁰

by Sara Bean • Cities, News, Property, Workplace

Highly-skilled migrants are increasingly attracted to cities and regions rather than countries, the latest Global Talent Competitiveness Index has revealed. Silicon Valley, Dublin, Helsinki-Espoo, Dubai [pictured] and London are the real hubs, rather than the United States, Ireland, Finland, the United Arab Emirates or the United Kingdom. The index, produced by Adecco Group, INSEAD and the Human Capital Leadership Institute, ranks the factors driving the international movement of skilled migrants of 109 countries, covering 87 percent of the global population and 97 percent of global GDP. Switzerland is in top place, followed by Singapore and Luxembourg in second and third place. At seventh place, the UK is ahead of Germany and France, but behind top performers such as the United States and Canada. It also trails behind in terms of gender diversity; ranking 56th for female graduates and 71st for the gender earnings gap.

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January 14, 2016

UK workforce is on the brink of a mass exodus of senior staff ⁰

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, Legal news, News, Workplace

Despite government warnings of a looming skills shortage there remains a strong societal pressure for older workers to leave the workforce at state pension age. In a poll of 2,001 British adults by Randstad, three quarters of respondents report feeling this pressure, with 32 percent of respondents saying the pressure is ‘significant’. Only one in six workers (17 percent) feel there is no pressure. More than a third of workers (35 percent) plan to retire early as they feel “like they won’t be wanted in the workforce when older” – and a small but significant proportion of workers (7 percent) plan to retire early because they are worried about age discrimination. Keeping older workers says the report, requires initiatives like increasing the availability of flexible working and rolling-out phased retirement programmes, as well as a wider effort to publicise these efforts and change the attitudes of older workers.

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January 12, 2016

A cynic’s field guide to workplace terminology, part three ⁰

by Simon Heath • Comment, Facilities management, Technology, Workplace, Workplace design

A New Year and a new chance for some people to heap more fresh corporate bullshit onto the already steaming pile. No matter how often writers like the ever excellent Lucy Kellaway mock and deride the propensity of people in organisations to apply cliches and nonsense in lieu of thought and imagination, we have to face an annual fresh tide of drivel and lazy thinking. So predictable is this yearly onslaught, that it appears to now be a subject for trendspotters, as a recent feature in The Telegraph highlighted. Of course, this is just general corporate speak and does not even begin to scratch the surface of what we have to endure in the more parochial world of workplace design and management. Which is why I have produced the latest update to my continually expanding lexicon of regrettable workplace terminology. You can read parts one and two here and here.

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January 11, 2016

European office occupier take-up forecast to rise by 10 percent this year ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, News, Property

European office take-up will rise by 10 percent in 2016 with this rise in office demand expected to encourage increased development over the next 12 months, according to the Knight Frank European Commercial Property Outlook 2016. Development activity is likely to be shaped by the current polarisation of office demand, with occupier interest most strongly focused on prime city centre space, while older and less well-located offices will struggle to attract tenants. With prime commercial space in short supply in cities such as London, Paris, Dublin, Frankfurt and Madrid, occupiers seeking large centrally-located offices currently have very limited choices. However, in cities such as Amsterdam and Brussels, vacancy rates remain relatively high for Grade B offices and secondary locations, so as a result, the European commercial property market will step up the redevelopment of such properties.

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January 11, 2016

Cranes dot Birmingham skyline as city hits 13 year development high ⁰

by Neil Franklin • Architecture, Cities, News, Property

Birmingham’s development upturn looks set to continue this year, as the latest Deloitte Birmingham Crane Survey shows office construction at the highest level for 13 years. The report also showcases the significant increase in hotel, leisure and retail developments in the city, reflecting both the rise in investor interest in regional cities and the year-on-year growth of visitor numbers attracted to the UK’s second city. The report, first launched by the Deloitte Real Estate team in the Midlands in 2000, shows 969,000 sq ft of office space under construction, with hotel construction three times higher than the 10 year average. Office take-up has shown a particular resurgence. Q1 to Q3 of 2015 reached 732,000 sq ft, its highest level since 2008. The Colmore Row district remains very attractive to investors, whilst more peripheral locations have become more established and are generating serious interest.

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January 6, 2016

Two new studies that highlight the complexities of gender at work ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Knowledge, News, Workplace

The increasingly complex nature of the career and workplace choices made by men and women and the specific challenges they face is the subject of two pieces of research presented at this week’s British Psychological Society’s Division of Occupational Psychology annual conference in Nottingham. The authors of the admittedly small scale studies conclude respectively that men in what are generally considered typically female-dominated occupations tend to value the social aspects of their career more than financial rewards and that ambitious professional women would benefit from a better understanding of how to build, maintain and use their social capital to succeed in their attempts at reaching the top of their professions. Both topics have been raised before but it’s interesting to see yet more research which challenges the often overly simplistic assumptions that seem to go hand in hand with gender issues at work.

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January 5, 2016

UK commuters spend far more on rail fares than other European workers ⁰

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, News, Workplace

At 1.1 percent the New Year rail fare increases are the lowest since 2010, but UK rail commuters still spend up to six times as much of their salaries on rail fares as European passengers, new analysis has revealed. Action for Rail, a campaign by rail unions and the TUC, has compared average earnings with monthly season tickets on similar commuter routes across Europe. The analysis looked at a UK worker on an average salary who is now spending 13 percent of their monthly wages on a £357.90 monthly season ticket from Chelmsford to London. By contrast, the average amount of salary going on a monthly season ticket for a similar journey is just 2 percent in Italy, 3 percent in Spain and 4 percent in Germany. Even in France, which is the closest to the UK for cost, commuters still spend nearly a third (30 percent) less on season tickets than their counterparts in the UK.

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December 30, 2015

UK Government opens consultation on its new national digital strategy ⁰

by Neil Franklin • News, Property, Technology

Digital Economy Minister Ed Vaizey has called on members of the public and industry to share their ideas on how the UK’s digital revolution can be taken to the next stage. The announcement of the consultation follows what the Government claims was a successful first stage of its strategy with the creation of digital clusters in East London, centred on Tech City. Five years on, the Government claims that the UK is now truly a ‘Tech Nation’ with more than 70 per cent of digital businesses now based outside of the capital. According to Vaizey, “this revolution has been led by entrepreneurs but supported by Government in creating the right environment for ideas and businesses to flourish. Government is now looking at a new Digital Strategy for the UK for the next five years. It wants the UK to be synonymous with digital – a place where digital technologies transform day-to-day life, the economy and government.”

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