Search Results for: office

February 19, 2014

London’s West End retains position as world’s most expensive office location

World’s most expensive location

For the second year running, the most expensive office space in the world is to be found in London’s West End, according to the latest edition of Cushman & Wakefield’s annual Office Space Across the World report. Rents rose by 5 percent in the area, driven largely by an ongoing mismatch between demand for high grade space and its supply, as we have previously reported. Worldwide, office rents rose by 3 percent in 2013, with certain high growth regions such as Africa and the Middle East experiencing an increase in rents of as much as 10 percent in specific locations. Hong Kong was the second most expensive location according to the survey while the central business district of Moscow rose to third place, up from sixth in the previous survey.

February 14, 2014

A Silicon Valley office that embraces classic design to create its buzz

by Mark Eltringham • Architecture, Comment, Furniture, Workplace design

It is now common for tech and media businesses to take inspiration for the design of their offices from their local Wacky Warehouse, with treehouses, slides, acid coloured cushions, chairs, play areas and other sub-juvenilia thrown into the building in the name of both ‘fun’ and an assumption that the Gen Y employees they are so patronisingly fixated on are only recently off the teat. Meanwhile some are clearly drawn back to the more sober, rational and classic styles that have long attracted corporations, especially in the US. There is something familiar about an HQ like that designed for San Francisco based software developers Giant Pixel by Studio O+A which evidently harks back to the era of modernism and post war futurism associated with architect/designers like Eero Saarinen.

February 6, 2014

London office rents are set to reach historic high by 2018

by Sara Bean • News, Property

London office rents are set to reach an historic high by 2018, fuelled by demand from the technology, media and telecoms (TMT) sector. Demand for office space by technology and media firms across central London was more than double of the finance sector in 2013, with major deals signed by Google, Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, News Corp, and Ogilvy & Mather. According to data from Knight Frank, record levels of overseas investment are helping London build its reputation as a global hub. Geographically, it is not just the City and the West End that are seeing a massive surge in demand; take-up in Docklands increased by nearly 20 per cent last year, while completely new districts are emerging which include London Bridge, Battersea and Nine Elms. More →

February 4, 2014

Arup announces first Manchester office relocation in over 40 years

by Sara Bean • Company news, Property

Arup has announced it is to take 20,000 sq ft of Grade A office space at the Carlyle Group’s Three Piccadilly Place in Manchester. The TSK Group has been appointed to design and deliver the engineering and property consultancy’s first new Manchester office relocation in over 40 years. Three Piccadilly Place comprises 190,000 sq ft of flexible workspace over 11 floors, with 9,300 sq ft of retail space on the ground floor. Keith Rudd, Arup Director and leader of Arup’s Manchester office explained: “The relocation has been a major decision, driven by the growth and breadth of services we now offer across a range of sectors. As an employee owned firm, it’s important we have the right environment to attract and retain the best people, to enable us to continue to deliver great work for our clients.” More →

January 31, 2014

Economic recovery may be constrained by lack of skills and office space

by Mark Eltringham • Property, Technology, Workplace

There are signs that the nascent recovery in the UK economy is already starting to put pressure on the availability of skilled employees and appropriate commercial property for the most rapidly growing sectors. While the Government has announced that the UK’s economy has been growing at its fastest rate since 2007, a new survey published by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES ) has claimed that nearly a quarter of vacancies in the UK have gone unfilled because of a shortage of much-needed skills. At the same time, claims a new report from DTZ, demand for commercial property is strengthening with take-up growing across the country while the availability of Grade A office space is declining rapidly.

January 28, 2014

International serviced office provider in first single floor letting for ‘Cheesegrater’

by Sara Bean • Company news, News, Property

British Land and Oxford Properties have announced the Leadenhall Building in the City of London – known as the ‘Cheesegrater’ due to its distinctive tapered profile – has been let to serviced office business Servcorp. The Sydney-based firm already provides businesses with flexible space in some of the world’s most famous buildings, including The Seagram Building, Park Avenue, New York, IFC 2 Hong Kong, Trust Tower Marunouchi, Tokyo and Emirates Towers, Dubai. This, the first single floor letting in the building, is on the 30th floor, which provides 11,851 sq ft of space. Because of the building’s design, floorplates range from 21,000 sq ft on level 5 to 6,200 sq ft on the top floor (level 45). More →

January 20, 2014

Largest single office floor plate unveiled in Leeds as demand for space increases

by Sara Bean • Company news, News, Property

The largest single office floor plate currently available in Leeds city centre has been unveiled, following the completion of a £1million refurbishment programme at one of the city’s landmark office schemes. The NFU Mutual insurance firm, which owns No 1 Whitehall Riverside, has refurbished 34,000 sq ft of space within the building to transform the 4th and 5th floors. In a first for the Leeds office market, 100 per cent LED lighting has been installed on both floors, to provide low maintenance, good quality lighting which will reduce CO2 emissions for future occupiers. Joint letting agents Jones Lang LaSalle and DTZ say that the building, which provides 127,731 sq ft of office accommodation over eight floors, helps to meet increasing demand for quality office space in the centre of Leeds. More →

January 2, 2014

Take up of office space in Central London at highest level in six years

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, News, Property

Take-up of office space in Central London was almost 11m sq ft in 2013, way above the 2012 figure of 7.3m sq ft and an increase of more than 50 per cent year-on-year. According to the latest figures from Cushman & Wakefield, leasing activity to December increased across all Central London markets, with transaction volumes 22 per cent above the five-year average. It says that the number of transactions over 50,000 sq ft was a major driver of leasing volumes, with 30 deals signed during 2013 – the highest number since 2007. The Media and Technology sector saw most activity across Central London, accounting for 36 per cent of all letting volumes in 2013, up from 23 per cent in the preceding two years. More →

December 16, 2013

Festive burnout is latest ailment to strike unwary office workers

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, News, Workplace

As we enter the last full working week before the Christmas holidays, the reason why the office is already half empty isn’t just because staff have faked a sickie to do their Christmas shopping. Many of them may be genuinely sick – with Christmas the primary reason. The new ailment of “Festive Burnout” has been coined to mark the countdown to Christmas, as stress, exhaustion and illness begins to strike offices. According to the findings of a new investigation from AXA PPP healthcare; while one in four Brits say that Christmas is their favourite time of the year, a third tend to start their holiday feeling burnt out from the stress of the run up to the holiday break.

December 12, 2013

Staff would “rather have the money” than endure an office Christmas party

by Sara Bean • News, Workplace

The annual office Christmas party is typically viewed as an annual treat that recognises and rewards employees – but for nearly half of the population the events are a chore more associated with drunkenness and often regrettable romantic liaisons than bonding or motivation. In a poll by serviced office provider Business Environment, one in five (20%) find Christmas parties a chore, while one in ten (13.7%) wish there would be no Christmas parties at all. Although roughly a third of people (31.6%) reported that Christmas parties helped them bond with their colleagues, and slightly more than a quarter (27.3%) reported the events make them feel rewarded for hard work, 62.2% of respondents “would rather have the money”.

December 1, 2013

Case study: dPOP’s jaw-dropping new offices light the road ahead for Detroit

by Rob Kirkbride • Case studies, Facilities management, Flooring, Furniture, Workplace design

If you think you know what’s going on in Detroit based on the stories of the city’s financial woes and pictures of some crumbling buildings, it is worth a visit to the offices of dPOP, the two month old design firm with origins in creating the award-winning office spaces for Quicken Loans and its family of companies.The design firm’s space in the basement of a long defunct Detroit bank embodies what being from the Motor City is all about — being tough, but talented; gritty yet glamorous; fun with a funky twist.They design like they don’t care what you think — and that might just be true. Their own offices and those they created for the 11,000 workers that were moved from divergent suburban sites to the center of Detroit are bold, bright and fun. Most of all fun. But the result is spectacular.

November 13, 2013

Workplace Week highlights the changing shape of the office

by Richard Byatt • Comment, Events, Facilities management, Workplace design

‘High Street’ at Network Rail’s Milton Keynes base

This year’s Workplace Week which took place last week was a great success, with more people participating and more money raised for charity. Across the week, over 500 people took part, visiting innovative workplaces, attending the Workplace Week Convention or going along to one of the many Fringe events. Workplace Week is organised by Advanced Workplace Associates and supported by CoreNet Global, BCS, RICS, FMA and BIFM. All proceeds go to the Children in Need charity. Around 60 people joined the speakers at the headquarters of PWC on London’s Southbank for the Workplace Week Convention to discuss ‘Driving productivity through the connected organisation.’ The informal atmosphere and roundtable format encouraged participation, with a focus on developments in organisational design, change management and technology.