September 17, 2018
The Crown Estate has announced that it has been awarded WELL Certification at the Platinum Level for its head office at No 1 St James’s Market, London by the International WELL Building Institute. The Crown Estate earned the distinction based on seven categories of building performance—air, water, light, nourishment, fitness, comfort and mind—and achieved a Platinum level rating.
September 4, 2018
The quality of the coffee is the most important feature for office occupants, with two thirds of workers saying a decent flat white or cappuccino is an essential for a productive and engaged workforce. Research by coworking developer Areaworks also found that being closer to the outdoors, and the ability to work from a balcony or roof terrace was an important factor for 64 percent. Hanging chairs, bean bags and flexible spaces are a must for most, as half of office workers want to ditch fixed desks in favour of casual seating and hot desking, making it a top five most favoured feature. the office gimmicks failed to feature on most people’s workplace bucket list. The installation of office gimmicks such as fireman’s poles and ball pits all failed to feature on most people’s workplace list, but slides did make the list, while the majority (66 percent) included a fridge complete with beer and prosecco among their choice items.
August 24, 2018
The repercussions of a no-deal Brexit are being hotly debated but there are some indications that it’s yet to impact the Capital’s commercial property sector. A number of leading tech and creative companies have continued to acquire large volumes of office space across London. According to figures from CBRE, take-up of Central London office space stood at 1.2m sq ft in July 2018, above the 10-year monthly average of 1.0m sq ft. The increase in July was largely down to two Facebook deals at 11/21 Canal Reach, N1 and Building P2 Handyside Street, N1, where in total 600,600 sq ft of office space has been filled. The creative industries sector led July take-up at 679,400 sq ft, representing 61 percent of the space taken; with the business services sector acquiring 17 percent of space, with 133,200 sq ft going to flexible office providers. In the past 12-months, business services has been the principal sector, accounting for 31 percent of take-up ahead of the creative industries (25 percent) and banking and finance sector (16 percent).
August 9, 2018
We are now just a few months away from the grand opening of the central section of Crossrail, the 118km long railway line spanning London and the South East which will, once completed, will deliver a direct connection between all of London’s main employment centres; linking Heathrow with Paddington, the West End, the City and Canary Wharf. This ambitious redevelopment plan will bring huge positive change to the City and is estimated to generate over 850,000 new jobs in the Capital, as well as making the lives of those already working in London easier and more efficient.
August 9, 2018
Total real estate investment in Europe decreased by 8 percent in the second quarter of this year, but there has been strong growth in the offices sector, with volumes totalling €29bn, compared to €24.1bn for the same period last year. Office investment for the first half of the year was also up 11 percent on the same period last year. Furthermore, investment into other areas, including healthcare and student accommodation, remained resilient, with volumes on par with that of last year and 6 percent up on the first half of 2017. Following a more subdued start to the year, the UK posted a strong second quarter. Total investment in Q2 2018 reached €19.9bn, driven by a record quarter for London City office investment. Jonathan Hull, managing director of Investment Properties, EMEA at CBRE commented: “Despite ongoing political uncertainties, the UK remains an attractive destination for European and global capital.”
August 1, 2018
Capital One has published the results of its latest survey of US full-time professionals for their thoughts on workplace design and the working environment as it relates to their productivity, innovation and collaboration with colleagues. According to the resulting 2018 Work Environment Survey of 3,500 office based respondents in urban centres across the US, many value flexibility and workplace design, particularly when evaluating whether to stay at their current job or consider a new employment opportunity. Employees also place a great deal of focus on technology, design elements such as lighting and agile workspaces, and personal wellbeing.
July 25, 2018
Employers, industry groups and community groups in the UK will be able to give EU citizens practical advice on how to apply for settled status in the wake of the Brexit vote with the help of a new toolkit published by the Home Office. The toolkit will be published on GOV.UK and contain how-to guides, briefing packs, practical plans, leaflets and posters. The Home Secretary launched the toolkit at the Home Office last night (Tuesday 24 July) at a gathering of some of the UK’s biggest employers of EU citizens, as well as industry bodies, local government agencies and community groups, many of whom played a key part in developing the toolkit.
July 24, 2018
Facebook has signed its long-discussed deal to take 600,000 sq ft across three buildings at the Kings Cross regeneration project. The deal will see the social media giant occupy around 15 percent of the total scheme, The new offices will offer up to 6,000 work stations where workers will focus on the creation of artificial intelligence (AI), Virtual reality (VR) and monitoring ‘harmful content’ on the social networking platform. Engineers at the scheme will also work on integrating the Oculus Go virtual reality mobile headset into the platform. Tech giants such as Google and Youtube have already moved into large nearby offices, while Universal Music is set to to move into a new headquarters at Four Pancras Square in September.
July 11, 2018
The British Council for Offices (BCO) today welcomes Katrina Kostic Samen as its new President. Katrina Kostic Samen, Founder and Managing Partner at KKS Strategy, formally takes over the position from Ken Shuttleworth, Founding Partner of Make Architects, at the BCO’s Annual General Meeting in London today, Wednesday 11th July. As Chair of the BCO Annual Conference held earlier this year in Berlin, Katrina set out the vision for her Presidential year, challenging delegates to look at the workplace from multiple occupier perspectives, and to ensure that they are designing and delivering offices which are inclusive and provide for a diverse workforce.
July 9, 2018
Hong Kong Central remains the most expensive office market in the world, according to CBRE’s annual Global Prime Office Occupancy Costs report. Hong Kong Central’s overall prime occupancy costs of US$307 per sq. ft. per year topped the “most expensive” list, followed by London West End (US$235 per sq. ft.), Beijing Finance Street (US$201 per sq. ft.), Hong Kong Kowloon (US$190 per sq. ft.) and Beijing Central Business District (US$189 per sq. ft.).
July 5, 2018
The usual rationale for open plan offices is that they help people to collaborate more effectively. But this premise is challenged by a new study from researchers at Harvard Business School which suggests that employees at two large Fortune 500 companies actually engaged in less face-to-face contact after switching to entirely open workspaces. As published in the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, Ethan Bernstein and Stephen Turban sought to conduct a real-world comparison of people’s behaviour in different types of offices to test a hypothesis that open plan layouts reduce communication.
August 16, 2018
The office will always live on because nothing propinks like propinquity
by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Property, Workplace design