Search Results for: office

July 30, 2015

Far from dying out, the office is becoming more essential than ever

by Luke Finch • Comment, Technology, Workplace design

Samsung recently released a new report which explores how our offices might look in the year 2025. The death of the office has been predicted over and over again, however the Samsung Smarter Futures Report goes against the grain and predicts that the office could actually become more important than ever. Driven by the adoption of smart technology the report claims that offices will become hubs for productivity and collaboration and what Samsung calls ‘Creative Villages’. Smart technology will create devices and systems that take notes, automate admin tasks, organise meetings and deliver information as you need it. This will mean employees have more time for face to face communication and collaborative work. As a consequence, current trends such as flexible working and agile workspace could actually become less of an issue than they are currently.

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July 24, 2015

Growth in demand for scarce office space will lead to rents rise

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, News, Property

Demand from business for commercial property rose for the eleventh consecutive quarter, while available space fell for the ninth successive period, according to the latest RICS Commercial Market Survey. As a result, rents are expected to rise at the fastest pace since the survey began in 1998 with 46 percent more respondents forecasting higher, rather than lower, rent rates going forward. Offices remain the segment of the market where rental expectations remain most buoyant, while retail continues to lag, although even in this area, momentum is picking up. Across the whole of the UK, but excluding the capital, 95 percent of respondents believe that current commercial market valuations are either at or below fair value (roughly unchanged since Q1 2015). However, in London 50 percent of contributors now feel that commercial office space valuations are ‘expensive’ – an increase from 45 percent in the first quarter of this year.

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July 21, 2015

Neocon highlights four of the world’s most important office design trends

by Neil Franklin • Comment, Events, Workplace design

We live in the Global Village, Marshall McLuhan’s idea from 1962 of an electronically contracted world in which attitudes, cultures and our political, business and legislative framework begin to pull together. Yet each nation is shaped by little differences. That is why the comedy programme The Office found an audience on both sides of the pond, but one that needed Wernham Hogg in Slough to become Dunder Mifflin in Scranton, Pennsylvania for it to work for the local audience. The central idea of the show has a universal appeal but needs a local voice. And what is true for The Office with a big O is also true for the office with a small o. This was the takeaway conclusion of a series of events staged in London and Manchester last week by Milliken and Humanscale. The touchstone for these events was a debate about the main conclusions of of June’s Neocon.

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July 21, 2015

Regional cities experiencing significant growth in office take-up

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, News, Property

City Centre office take-up across the Big Nine Cities during the second quarter of 2015 is almost 50 percent ahead of the five year quarterly average, the latest quarterly review of the regional office occupier markets by GVA has revealed. The regional office markets have continued to demonstrate a strong occupier story, led by Birmingham where take-up for the half year point has exceeded all records at 650,000 sq ft, helped by HSBC’s announcement to locate its new 212,000 sq ft retail bank HQ into Miller’s Arena Central scheme. Other centres also had above average deal levels, with take-up 65 percent above average in Leeds and well above average in most other cities. Significant deals for Leeds include a 51,500 sq ft pre-let to Addleshaw Goddard at 3 Sovereign Square and 49,600 sq ft to PwC at Central Square. Both buildings are due for completion during the second half of next year.

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July 11, 2015

Agile workers beat strikes + World’s healthiest building + 3D printed office

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, Flexible working, Newsletter, Technology, Wellbeing, Workplace

In this week’s issue; Paul Carder points out agile workers were unaffected by tube and train strikes; Maciej Markowski says despite digital technological advances, companies still appear to value human interaction and Sara Bean suggests employers only encourage home-working when it is on their terms. Mark Eltringham finds two new reasons to dislike tall buildings and argues employers attempt to manage stress in the workplace in the wrong way. We learn that a Chinese 3D printing firm plans to print a fully functioning office in Dubai; Melbourne claims to have the healthiest workplace in the world and an alarming report finds that the Internet is reducing our ability to memorise and recall things for ourselves. Subscribe for free quarterly issues of Work&Place and via the subscription form in the right hand sidebar for weekly news, follow us on Twitter and join our LinkedIn Group to discuss these and other stories.

July 7, 2015

Demand for East London offices rise as occupiers seek cost effective space

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, News, Property

The amount of leased office space in London over the first half of this year is 13 percent ahead of the same time last year, according to new research published by commercial property consultancy Cushman & Wakefield (C&W). Leasing activity totalled just over 6.26 million sq ft from January to June 2015, compared to the same point in 2014 when 5.6 million sq ft was transacted and is the highest Central London first half total since 1998, when 6.7 million sq ft was let. According to C&W, the figures presented in the report suggest that there was a significant upturn in activity in East London, with 1.2 million sq ft let, only marginally behind the City market (1.24 million sq ft) and significantly ahead of West End volumes (915,000 sq ft). East London offices take-up was at its highest level since Q4 2010 as a result of three transactions over 100,000 sq ft.

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July 6, 2015

First office pre-let announced for new Victoria mixed-use scheme

by Sara Bean • Architecture, News, Property

Land Securities has announced the first office pre-let at its Nova scheme based at London’s Victoria. Private equity investor Advent International has agreed to take more than 25,000 sq ft on the 8th floor of Nova South on a 15 year lease. Set on a 5.5 acre site, the first phase of the mixed use Nova scheme will deliver 480,000 sq ft of grade A office space through two distinct buildings – Nova North and Nova South. The Nova scheme is the result of a collaboration between four architectural firms – Benson + Forsyth, Flanagan Lawrence, Lynch Architects and, overseeing the project, PLP Architecture. On completion the site will comprise five buildings delivering 603,000 sq ft of Grade A offices, 193,000 sq ft of apartments and 85,000 sq ft of restaurant, bar and retail space within a new, 82,700 square feet, pedestrianized, landscaped public space, opposite Victoria’s mainline railway station.

July 6, 2015

World’s first 3D printed office building to be created in Dubai

by Mark Eltringham • News, Property, Technology, Workplace design

Could this be the shape of things to come? A Chinese 3D printing firm has announced that it has plans to print a fully functioning office in Dubai (where else?). The company, WinSun, will use a 20 foot tall printer to create the components for the 2,000 sq. ft. building which will then be assembled by hand. The local developers behind the scheme claim that the technology, once perfected, will cut project delivery times by as much as 70 percent, waste by up to 60 percent and labour by between 50 and 80 percent, compared to traditional methods of office construction. WinSun has a track record of printing affordable housing in its native country, but this is the first time that it has applied its large scale 3D printing technology to an office building. It also plans to print interior architectural elements and office furniture for the building.

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June 19, 2015

Well designed offices should create spaces suitable for everybody

by Dan Callegari • Comment, Flexible working, Workplace, Workplace design

The basis of the commonly held belief that offices are designed for extroverts seems to be that, because the primary goal of offices is to bring people together to work and because the de facto office design standard is open plan, then this makes them an ideal home for extroverts. They are parties to which everybody is invited, but at which the wallflowers are told to dance. There is something in this but it doesn’t tell the whole story. This is just as well because personalities are not so straightforwardly easy to categorise and the needs of everybody to collaborate or work alone – however extroverted they might be – vary throughout the day. The office remains endlessly complex and sophisticated and any simplistic notions about it and the things it does should be challenged with a cold, hard look at the facts and what is happening in the real world.

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June 15, 2015

‘Tree office’ coworking space opens in an East London Square

by Sara Bean • Environment, Facilities management, Flexible working, News, Workplace design

A new kind of workplace has been opened in London…an office built around a tree. The pop-up office designed as a coworking space is based in Hoxton Square in the first initiative from the Park Hack project, led by Groundwork London and Hackney Council, set up to test new innovative models that sustain and enhance public open spaces. It is designed to operate as a working office and will be available to hire over the next seven months for businesses, creative workers and community groups. It is equipped with a power supply and WiFi and has the capability to also host small meetings or intimate events. Those who hire the space will be directly supporting the local environment, with income generated being reinvested into Hackney’s parks and green spaces. TREExOFFICE is also featured in the London Festival of Architecture that is taking place this month.

June 11, 2015

US Govt passes legislation to reduce the amount of office space it occupies

by Mark Eltringham • Facilities management, News, Property, Public Sector

Over the past few years, the UK Cabinet Office has looked to the way it procures and occupies real estate as an important way of reducing the country’s budget deficit. One other country that is following suit is the US. The congressional Transportation and Infrastructure Committee of the US House of Representatives has unanimously approved legislation to reform the way federal office space is managed, procured and occupied. The Public Buildings Reform and Savings Act of 2015 sets out ways to reduce and consolidate space, divest unnecessary buildings, improve oversight of facilities management, negotiate better and shorter lease terms with the aim of saving billions of dollars each year. In the UK, the Government claims to have reduced the public sector estate by 2 million sq ft in just three years with a range of similar approaches, saving around £1.2 billion.

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June 3, 2015

Plans unveiled for England’s tallest office tower outside London

by Mark Eltringham • Cities, News, Property

Plans for what is billed as the tallest office building outside of London have been submitted to Birmingham City Council for approval. The proposed 26 storey tower at 103 Colmore Row is planned to stand 346ft (105m) and house some 2,000 office workers. Birmingham is bound to find the scheme attractive as it vies with Manchester for the crown of England’s second city. Up to now, tall buildings have not enjoyed the same appeal in regional cities as much as they have in London. The new building is planned to replace the former NatWest tower which has lain empty on the development site since 2003 and is set to be demolished once plans are finalised for its replacement. If given a green light, the new scheme will incorporate a rooftop restaurant, green roof, terraces, street level shops and cafes and a winter garden.