September 16, 2019
A new report from CBRE claims that the US market for flexible office space will generate significant growth over the next decade, even in the event of a recession, as flex operators consolidate and forge financial partnerships with building owners. (more…)
September 13, 2019
Marking its ninth consecutive year, Workplace Week London 2019 – brainchild of Advanced Workplace Associates (AWA) – will take place the week commencing 11 November 2019. 30 organisations, a third of which are debutants, have confirmed their support for the philanthropic week, which has so far raised over £100,000 for BBC Children in Need. (more…)
September 13, 2019
Lambert Smith Hampton (LSH) has released its latest Total Office Cost Survey (TOCS) which provides detailed information on office costs for over 50 UK locations. Across 54 surveyed locations, the survey shows the prime core of London’s West End remains by far the most expensive UK office location, with the annual cost for a new office in Mayfair standing at £18,988 per workstation. This stands at 139 percent above the UK average and 45 percent ahead of the next most expensive office location, the City of London. (more…)
September 10, 2019
The number of new start-ups in the UK fell sharply last year and established firms scaled back their growth ambitions due to Brexit uncertainty, according to new data looking at the health of the grassroots economy. The findings have emerged from the Enterprise Research Centre’s UK Local Growth Dashboard report, an annual publication that looks at a range of metrics charting the growth of small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which account for 99 percent of all firms in the UK. (more…)
September 5, 2019
Women who have an hour-long commute are nearly a third (29 per cent) more likely to leave their current job than if they had a 10-minute commute, according to data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The ONS concludes that this contributes to men doing the majority of higher paid jobs and that it’s likely women prefer short commutes because it allows them more flexibility for childcare and unpaid work. (more…)
September 2, 2019
Over three quarters of people (76 percent) want to work for firms with a good reputation, according to the latest business reputation survey “Everyone’s Business” by the CBI, in collaboration with Porter Novelli and Opinium. Encouragingly, the reputation of business has improved since the last wave of the tracker in September 2018. Last year a series of events and scandals in the business community had a chilling effect on business reputation, but 2019 has seen this ‘reputational chill’ start to thaw, with a 4-point rise in those thinking business reputation is good (60 percent). (more…)
August 30, 2019
Let’s get the inevitable WeWork story out of the way first. A supposed news item in Crain’s New York Business has claimed that WeWork is ‘squeezing’ people into half the space recommended in the BCO’s Specification Guide; “roughly the size of two standard doors laying side by side”. You can see the editorial cogs at work here, combining a story about WeWork with one about how people are crammed into the workplace like cattle these days.
August 29, 2019
Against a global backdrop of diminishing business confidence and a weaker outlook for economic growth, a robust labour market in the world’s largest economies continues to underpin demand for office space with high employment levels prevalent across a number of major markets. Demand continues to be driven by the knowledge economy, with the coworking boom continuing to broaden its reach across major markets, forcing traditional landlords to adapt their offering in order to best accommodate existing and potential occupiers. (more…)
August 9, 2019
Helsinki is the world’s best city for work-life balance according to a new study from technology business Kisi which compares data on a range of factors such as “livability”, work intensity, institutional support, equality and legislation to rank cities. Helsinki, Munich, and Oslo are the three best ranked cities while the cities deemed as having the worst work-life balance were Tokyo, Singapore, and Washington DC. Using data relating to work intensity, social wellbeing, and livability to analyse the interplay between work and life, the index claims to assess how successful residents are at achieving a healthy work-life balance in 40 cities around the world. (more…)
August 1, 2019
The debate about open plan versus enclosed offices rages on. But the real debate is not quite so binary, it’s not black or white, and it’s not a dichotomy as it is so often presented. Office occupants clearly have different workplace preferences from the wide range of design solutions that are now available. The alternative to the open plan is not necessarily the cellular office. So, we need to understand what drives individual preferences. Is it factors like personality, personalisation, flexibility, sense of belonging and familiarity that affect where people prefer to work? Or is there more to it? (more…)
July 31, 2019
Take-up across the UK’s ‘Big Nine’ regional office markets rose to 2.3 million square feet during second quarter of 2019 according to the latest market update from property advisors Avison Young. This is up ten percent up on a 10-year average, with activity was skewed towards flexible offices, larger deals, city centres and the technology media and telecoms sector. (more…)
September 10, 2019
Are coworking spaces really all the same?
by Uri Bar-Joseph • Comment, Coworking, Technology, Workplace design
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