Search Results for: office

Plans for a new high rise office development in City of London unveiled

Plans for a new high rise office development in City of London unveiled

DBOX for Henderson Global Investors and MAKE

Plans for a new high rise office development in the City of London have been unveiled by Henderson Global Investors. Designed by Make architectural practice, the high buildings at 40 Leadenhall Street, EC3 will vary in height between 7 and 34 office storeys, with two additional basement levels, a roof level plant, and café and restaurant uses at ground floor level.  The total size of the building is 910,000 sq ft, split between 890,000 sq ft office and c. 20,000 sq ft retail. A grade II listed building at 19-21 Billiter Street, built in 1865, will be restored and integrated in the proposed scheme, which it is estimated will create 390 construction jobs, with around 7,000 people expected to work in the completed building. More →

Value of offices and property rental income across the UK hit two year high

Manchester Media CityThe value of commercial real estate in the UK rose for the fourth consecutive month during August, led by increases in the average value of offices, according to a report from Investment Property Databank (IPD). The average value of offices, warehouses, retail and industrial rose by a 0.4 percent across the country. Office buildings rose by 0.6 percent during the month while total return, which combines changes in real estate values and rental income, was 0.9 percent, to reach the highest level since March 2011. The report claims the upturn is down to the wider economic upturn and persistent  low interest rates which incentivise investors to acquire high income generating assets. The report also notes that investors are looking to acquire more property outside of London as the economic recovery spreads across the UK. More →

We deserve better than a polarised debate about cellular v open plan offices

Jacques Tati's Playtime

Jacques Tati’s Playtime

Stimulated by a number of rather unsubtle commercial interests, the ‘in’ workplace discussion seems to have swung from ‘collaboration’ i.e. organisations need more new spaces for formal and informal collaborative interactions, to ‘distraction’ i.e. open plan workplaces are creating a loss of productivity because people whose work requires concentration are impeded by constant interruption. The implication of the latter is that people should keep their ‘cubes’ and open-plan should be avoided at all costs. You can see pretty quickly where the commercial axes are being ground can’t you.

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Open-plan office workers need time out from the madding crowd

Open plan offices

Open-plan offices are now the most popular workplace layout, primarily because they save on space, enable flexible working and, it’s argued, foster better communication and collaboration between employees. Yet open-plan still has some way to go to convince occupants of its merits. According to a recent study published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology, of over 42,000 US office workers in 303 office buildings, workers in private offices remain the most satisfied with their surroundings. However, what constitutes a satisfactory workspace differed, according to the employee’s current office layout. So while noise was the most important consideration for open-plan workers, light and ease of interaction topped the satisfaction list for those housed in cellular offices. More →

Office environmentalists experiencing “green rage” over apathetic colleagues

new Green rage afflictionFacilities managers engaged in efforts to convince apathetic colleagues to adopt greener office working practices may relate to the news of a new workplace affliction – “green rage”. Dr Rebecca Whittle of Lancaster University told delegates at the recent annual conference of the Royal Geographical Society in London that there is a lot of silent conflict at work between people trying to do the right thing environmentally, and those who don’t care. She said that a light being left on in an unoccupied office or a recyclable item put in the wrong bin can provoke emotions as strong as guilt, rage or despair. More →

Dull corporate offices with no “buzz” inhibit productivity, complain staff

Dull corporate offices are stifling productivity

Creating a dynamic and creative workplace is dependent on a number of factors; the office layout and design, the style of management and the wider company culture. Get these elements right and, says workplace consultants Morgan Lovell you hit the “Buzz Barometer” – a combination of a good atmosphere, energy and teamwork which encourages productivity and high levels of employee engagement. However, according to their recent research, three quarters (78 per cent) of employees say they would be significantly more productive if their workplace had more buzz. And worryingly for larger organisations, corporates are failing to match small company buzz, with four-fifths (81 per cent) saying SMEs offer a better working atmosphere than large companies.

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Law firm defies sector’s West End exodus with office relocation

Davenport Lyons AtriumThe relocation by law firm Davenport Lyons from London’s Mayfair to its new offices at 6 Agar Street in the West End next month, means it is one of the last remaining West End-based law firms – most have moved out of the area due to the increasingly exorbitant costs. Davenport Lyons, which has been based in its current Old Burlington Street location for 23 years, says it remains in the area to form a “legal hub bridging the gap between the financial institutions and wealth in Mayfair, and the commercial banking sector in the city and Canary Wharf.” The new office space is also designed to deliver a semi cellular space solution, reflecting the next phase in the law firm’s evolution. More →

Leave it out. UK workers are skipping their break from the office

Leave it out. UK workers are skipping their break from the office

The problem with the UK holiday season is that you never know where you are with your contacts. While one chunk of the population is away on leave, the other half is beavering away, and carry on sending out tons of emails, which the other half are forced to plough through when they return to the office. Maybe we need to follow the example of the Italian office furniture manufacturer which emails out an annual reminder during the last week of July that its offices will be shut for the whole of August, when traditionally, most of Italy takes a break. Not so the Brits, where, according to new research, even workers entitled to a break, are reluctant to take time off. More →

Predicting the future of the office means looking at what is happening now

display_img_01Futurology is notoriously a mug’s game. Especially when it comes to making predictions about technology. Just ask Ken Olson, the founder of DEC who in 1977 pronounced that ‘there is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home’. Or Bill Gates himself who once claimed that Microsoft ‘will never make a 32 bit operating system’. Most recently Steve Ballmer, a billionaire executive said in 2007 ‘there’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share.’ But mone of these retrosepctively viewed dodgy predictions should make us blind to those that we know will certainly come true, especially those based on what we know is happening in the present.

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New Government department to focus on FM and office supplies procurement

Whitehall

The UK Government’s latest attempt at developing a centralised public sector procurement department was unveiled by the Cabinet Office yesterday. The  Crown Commercial Service (CCS) has been set an annual budget of up to £12 billion to secure a range of goods and services including facilities management and office supplies. It has a target of saving some £1 billion each year by working across a range of government departments to take advantage of a shared purchasing function. The announcement follows last week’s report from a committee of MPs into the failings of the current procurement setup in Whitehall. More →

News Corp move marks largest Central London office letting agreement in 8 years

The Place

In the largest letting in Central London to be agreed in the last eight years, News Corp is to move its entire operation to all 17 floors of the Place, next door to the Shard at London Bridge Quarter. The Place, like The Shard, is designed by Renzo Piano and comprises 430,000 sq ft of high quality offices, much of which utilises natural light. The move will see staff of News UK, Dow Jones and HarperCollins housed together for the first time once relocation to the new site begins in the summer of 2014.

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Green shoots detected for UK regional office rental markets

Signs of recovery in UK regional office markets

There is evidence of improving fortunes for the UK’s regional office markets, latest figures suggest. CBRE has revealed national rental value grew by 1.7 per cent over the second quarter of this year with offices across all UK regions performing well, and none recording a drop in rents. The highest rate of rental growth over the last twelve months, as we reported earlier this month remains that of Central London at 5 per cent (and 1.7 per cent for the last quarter), but a number of the regions outside London and the South East have started to record rental growth for prime offices, whereas until recently the general trend has been down.

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