Search Results for: london

April 6, 2016

Londoners unsure about the city’s proliferation of tall buildings ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Architecture, Cities, News, Property

A new poll from Historic England claims that nearly half of Londoners (48 percent) think the now 430 tall buildings planned for the capital will have a negative impact on the skyline, compared to the 34 percent who think they will have a positive impact. The study also claims that more than half do not know how to make their voice heard. The figures were released as Loyd Grossman, Chairman of the Heritage Alliance, Sir Laurie Magnus, Chairman of Historic England and architect Sir Terry Farrell wrote an open letter calling for a clearer strategy on tall buildings for London. When asked which planning applications they would like to be consulted on, 60 percent believed people across the city should have a say if a tall building is proposed in a historically important place. But currently it is usually only those in surrounding areas who are consulted on proposals for buildings that may be so tall they affect views and settings for miles around.

March 16, 2016

Hong Kong, London and Beijing most expensive cities for office space ⁰

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

Hong Kong is the world’s most expensive office location, followed by London, Beijing and New York.This is according to JLL’s Premium Office Rent Tracker, which compares like-for-like occupation costs across 24 cities around the world. This ranks Established World Cities such as New York and London, Emerging World Cities like Shanghai, Dubai and Mumbai, and New World Cities such as San Francisco, Boston and Toronto. The latest research shows that six of the top ten most expensive cities for office rentals are in Asia; with Hong Kong the world’s costliest office rental market on a net basis as well as including added costs such as service charges and property tax. The tracker found continued demand prime office space, despite a rise in economic uncertainty; while across the global cities, the technology, media and telecommunications sectors are moving into premium office space – previously dominated by the finance and professional services sector.

March 10, 2016

Rents stabilise in London, but occupiers will pay premiums for views ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, News, Property

Demand for office space across prime Central London remains strong, with 3.4m sq ft of lettings recorded in Q4 2015, according to the latest Office Market Bulletin from Cluttons. However, even with continued high demand, prime rents have started to flatten, with rent rises seen in only six of 18 submarkets. While Canary Wharf witnessed a rental hike of 5.6 percent during Q4, underpinned by occupiers who are willing to move further away from the core, particularly for large floorplates, to areas perceived to offer good value; in contrast, the City Core, which already has a high amount of good quality space, appears to be struggling to absorb the large increase of supply coming through, causing rents to stabilise. And towards the end of 2015 further developments within the City were announced which, if completed, could lead to a supply glut. Across the markets though, the top floors in the best schemes are attracting an increasing rent premium of 5-10 percent.

February 26, 2016

War for talent and dwindling supply in London boosts regional office market ⁰

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

London office supply is at an all-time low according to JLL’s latest research, with around 18 million sq ft of offices required, but less than 7 million sq ft under construction. This is one of the reasons why 2015 saw a surge in pre-leasing activity across the Big 6 regional office markets, comprising Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Manchester, Glasgow and Edinburgh, with 850,000 sq ft let across 17 transactions compared with 15 over the five years from 2010-14. The survey shows that rental growth and refurbishment are key themes with refurbishment schemes totalling 800,000 sq ft will be delivered in 2016, with a further 10 new schemes totalling one million sq ft due to start. Greater convergence between HR and real estate also means the war for talent is a factor influencing occupier decision making. CEOs continue to cite a shortage of skills as a concern, as many Gen Z students are expected to leave their first job within a few years.

February 24, 2016

London’s top law firms embrace open plan design to offset rent rises ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, News, Property, Workplace design

London’s largest law firms are reducing their office space and radically rethinking their property strategies as a way of dealing with the endlessly rising rents in the districts in which they prefer to base themselves. According to research from CBRE the one hundred legal firms that occupy the largest amount of square footage in the Capital experienced rent rises of 7 percent in 2015 to an average of £43 per sq ft. Many of the CBRE Legal 100 firms, 95 of which are now located in the City, have been responding to rising costs by taking less space and occupying more efficiently, and a significant number are shifting to open plan working. Last year, there were 63 relocations, 19 percent more than the previous year, pushing office take-up in the legal sector to 12 percent above the 10 year average. Yet while the CBRE Legal 100 firms are downsizing their footprint in London, international firms are in expansion mode.

February 4, 2016

London’s ability to foster startups lagging behind other key UK cities ⁰

by Neil Franklin • Cities, News, Property

The UK’s largest regional cities have produced twice as many startups as London over the last two years, according to research based on Companies House Data. The report, commissioned by office broker Instant Offices, compares the number of startups in each city to create a list of the country’s most entrepreneurial cities. The authors claim that the UK is now Europe’s most entrepreneurial country with over 2,644,100 businesses started within the last two years alone, according to data gathered from Companies House. The report cites the example of Liverpool with an estimated population of 440,000 and 57,323 new companies starting over the past 2 years. This results in an entrepreneurial population percentage of 16 percent. Birmingham’s entrepreneurial population percentage was 14.5 percent followed closely by Manchester at 14 percent. These numbers are significantly higher than the UK average of 2 percent and London’s 7.5 percent.

February 4, 2016

Maturing TMT sector fuels demand for office space in Central London ⁰

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

The Technology, Media and Telecoms (TMT) sector was the largest source of demand for office space in Central London in 2015, for the fifth consecutive year finds the latest Knight Frank London Report, Canary Wharf is set to have the strongest Central London office rental growth in 2016 with an increase of 12.8 percent. This is followed by Shoreditch at 10 percent and Midtown at 9.6 percent. Affordability is the main driver, along with the development of Crossrail, integrating Canary Wharf with the rest of Central London, and a general shortage of available offices across London pushing tenants seeking high quality affordable offices eastwards. Expansion by TMT firms is contributing to the shift, as they are increasingly seeking larger offices. Shoreditch’s increase in office rents will principally be driven by Tech sector expansion as the more mature, established heavy weight tech firms have firmly established a London rival for California’s ‘Silicon Valley’ in the area.

December 15, 2015

Agile working is increasingly popular way to reduce London office costs ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, Flexible working, News, Property

Rent, rates and service charges for office space in established Greater London office locations such as Croydon, Brentford and Uxbridge are typically over 50 percent lower than the cost of equivalent space in Central London locations such as Victoria, Marylebone, St Paul’s, Liverpool Street and Canary Wharf, Carter Jonas’ latest research claims. Increases in rents and business rates costs over the last five years, and the erosion of the stock of office buildings in some areas of Central London, as a consequence of redevelopment to higher value residential uses is reducing tenant choice and these factors are leading some occupiers to adopt new strategies to reduce their property footprint. Agile working and hot-desking are becoming popular ways to reduce the amount of space required to accommodate an organisation’s business operations the Tenant Advisory and Research Teams at Carter Jonas have found.

November 30, 2015

Six hour working day + WeWork London plans + Megacities & COP21 ⁰

by Sara Bean • Environment, Facilities management, Public Sector, Technology, Workplace design

In this week’s newsletter; Mark Eltringham argues the six hour working day is a deeply conservative idea, dressed up in radical clothing; Matias Rodsevic says it’s important to understand what employee engagement actually means and Darren Bilsborough identifies seven separate layers or “skins” of workplace productivity. As COP21 gets underway, there’s evidence that Megacities are taking the lead in climate action, WeWork unveils its latest plans to dominate London; three new reports reveal technological confusion in the workplace; and a study says the Government’s challenge is how best to match its commitments with its resources. You can also download the new issue of Work&Place and access our first Insight Briefing, produced in partnership with Connection, which looks at agile working in the public sector. Visit our new events page, follow us on Twitter and join our LinkedIn Group to discuss these and other stories.

November 24, 2015

WeWork announces latest plans to dominate London’s commercial property scene ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Property, Workplace design

Coworking giant WeWork has announced three new deals as it seeks to become the major player in London’s commercial property market. The firm, founded by Adam Neumann in New York in 2010, has made no secret of its plans for London as we reported earlier this year. The office space provider already has six London locations which it lets out to members (not tenants) who have access to the network of 57 locations in 17 countries on flexible terms via an app. According to a report published this week in Estates Gazette it is now set to add another 1 million sq. ft. to its portfolio in the capital with locations on City Road, Waterhouse Square and Docklands. The plans were announced to coincide with the launch of its largest London centre at Moor Square designed by Oktra. The company has also announced that it intends to launch its WeLive residential property concept in London in the near future following its successful launch in New York.

November 14, 2015

Where to have great ideas + Workplace professions + London’s office market ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, Flexible working, Newsletter, Property, Wellbeing, Work&Place

In this week’s newsletter; Giuseppe Boscherini explores the growing importance of creativity at work; Mark Eltringham argues that the three professions of the workplace, HR, IT and FM need to adapt and notes a growing disconnect between a firm’s earnings and the number of people it employs. In commercial property, demand for office space in London continues to overwhelm its availability, with English regions outside the Capital leading construction growth. High job demands, stress and job insecurity are among the main reasons why people go to work when they are ill, and data shows the Internet of things will connect 6.4 billion objects next year. You can also download the new issue of Work&Place and access our first Insight Briefing, produced in partnership with Connection, which looks at agile working in the public sector. Visit our new events page, follow us on Twitter and join our LinkedIn Group to discuss these and other stories.

November 11, 2015

Record construction of London office space, but supply shortfall remains ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, News, Property

Demand for office space in London continues to overwhelm its availability and in spite of record levels of construction, according to two new reports. The latest CBRE Monthly Index claims that rents in Central London’s booming office market grew by 10.3 percent in the year to October 2015, the first time annual growth has hit double digits since April 2008. Despite rapidly rising rents, take-up of offices in Central London continues to outpace the 10 year average. The capital saw 1.1 percent growth in October, with 3.6m sq ft of space snapped up by businesses in the third quarter of 2015, with a further 3.8m sq ft currently under offer and expected to complete before the end of the year. Change could be on the way however as the latest biannnual London crane survey from Deloitte claims that the amount of office space being built in central London has risen by a fifth in six months, the highest level for seven years.