Search Results for: real estate

May 5, 2022

Retrofit is essential for the UK’s stock of poor performing commercial property

by Neil Franklin • Environment, News, Property

The UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) has published a guide that calls on businesses to retrofit the country’s poorly performing stock of commercial buildings. From 2025, every commercial building in the UK will require an energy performance certificate (EPC) which rates its energy efficiency from grade A to G. The Government is seeking to strengthen these standards and has proposed that all commercial properties being let have a minimum EPC rating of at least ‘B’ by 2030 and is considering a possible interim requirement of level ‘C’ by 2027. Buildings which fail to meet these new standards would require owners and landlords of commercial buildings to upgrade their stock. More →

May 2, 2022

Five new companies join Urban Land Institute net zero carbon goal

by Jayne Smith • Environment, News

The Urban Land Institute’s (ULI) Greenprint Center for Building Performance announced today that five more of its real estate members have aligned to ULI Greenprint’s net zero carbon operations goal. These real estate leaders join the 25 ULI Greenprint members that have already adopted this goal to reduce the carbon emissions of their collective portfolio under operational control to net zero by the year 2050. More →

April 28, 2022

Demand for office space ‘bounces back’

by Jayne Smith • News, Property

The start of 2022 saw a jump in new tenants looking to rent UK commercial property, with the uplift particularly prevalent in prime office space. Investor enquiries across all UK commercial property also continued to rise, according to the RICS Commercial Property Market Survey, Q1 2022. Respondents to the survey saw a notable increase in UK office demand in Q1 2022 with the net balance improving to +30 percent from a flat picture at the end of 2021. A considerable change in sentiment was also seen in the retail sector, as occupier demand moved into relatively neutral territory (-1% net balance), the first time this reading has been neutral or positive since the beginning of 2017. More →

April 28, 2022

We need to seize the chance to make our buildings far more intelligent

by William Poole-Wilson • Comment, Environment, Property, Workplace design

Even before the pandemic, statistics were making the case for workplaces to be made up of more intelligent buildings. This includes the fact that offices generally operate at around 55-60 percent utilisation, and as we return to the office are currently at 45 percent utilisation. From presenteeism to absenteeism and many other factors in between, workplaces have seldom been utilised by entire workforces at the same time. However, the prevailing approach has been for firms to drive an office setup with one-to-one desking – a seat for every employee, even though five in 10 would not be in at any one time. More →

April 14, 2022

Office costs creep up, but not because of higher rents

by Jayne Smith • News, Property

Higher fit-out costs and service charge growth, not rent rises are set to increase office occupier costs in 2022, claims a new report. Savills analysis of Q1 22 Prime Office Costs (SPOC) in global markets around the world has shown that higher fit-out costs, reflecting material and labour cost inflation, are beginning to creep through in some office markets. While overall there has been no movement in the position of cities in the rankings since the end of 2021, says Savills, some markets are experiencing rising costs in fitting out space and increased service charges. According to Savills this trend is most evident in Chinese cities, Kuala Lumpur, and in North American cities at the moment, but other markets across the globe are set to follow suit in the coming quarters.

Jeremy Bates, head of EMEA occupational markets at Savills, comments: “From higher prices for raw materials to increasing labour costs to keep up with rising inflation, it’s likely that most office occupiers will have to pay more to rent and fit-out their space in global cities this year.

“Whilst rent is the usual indicator of increasing cost, service charge rises and higher capital expenditure will represent the largest contributions towards increased occupier costs in the coming quarters. Even in markets where landlords tend to pay for fit-outs, these costs will eventually be passed on to occupiers later in the form of higher rents. Nonetheless, for many office occupiers the expense is unlikely to deter them from selecting top quality spaces in prime central business districts to attract and retain talent, although they are carrying out extensive data gathering exercises on how employees are using space before making decisions on exactly how much to take.”

Savills says that overall headline rents have, on average, remained flat in local currencies and the increasing additional costs have yet to appear across many markets, according to the international real estate advisor, with fluctuating exchange rates due to increased uncertainty producing the appearance of declining costs for many markets in Dollar terms during the first quarter of 2022, while in local currencies they have broadly remained consistent with Q4 2021.

March 29, 2022

MIPIM revival offers up a pale, stale imitation of life (but there’s hope)

by Freddie Steele • Comment, Property

If a week is a long time in politics, then two years in real estate is practically a lifetime. Time enough for an opportunity for MIPIM, the property world’s annual gathering in Cannes to reset itself post-pandemic. Unlike back in London where British Land had offered up space for Ukrainian care packages at its Paddington Central Campus and Quintain also pledge to make space at its Wembley Park space (as reported by Estates Gazette), unfortunately such correct reading of the room wasn’t the case on the Croisette. More →

March 15, 2022

Retrofit offers the greatest opportunity for a commercial property market beset by uncertainty

by Neil Franklin • Environment, News, Property

In the context of a second major economic shock from war in Ukraine and continuing inflationary concerns, the PWC / ULI report Emerging Trends in Real Estate Global Outlook 2022 focuses on the global outlook for the real estate industry increasing pressure for finance to support the decarbonisation of real estate. The industry challenges lenders and their regulators to provide debt for the retrofit of existing buildings and the scale-up of the ‘climate tech’ needed. More →

March 15, 2022

New ways of working and what we’ve learned about them over the past two years

by Jayne Smith • Flexible working, News

A report published by Advanced Workplace Associates (AWA): Change For Good: 10 Lessons From The Pandemic identifies what it says is the transformative effect of the new ways of working and why there is ‘no going back’ for employers or employees. More →

March 8, 2022

Active commuting should be part of ESG strategy, says BCO

by Neil Franklin • News, Property, Wellbeing

Putting active commuting at the heart of ESG policies can shift commuters towards more sustainable forms of travel, improve individual health and wellbeing and help companies cut carbon emissions, new research from the British Council for Offices (BCO) has found. A new BCO research report, The Market Cycles II examines the rise of cycling in the UK over the past five years and its impact on office specifications. The report highlights that this period has seen an increase in cycling activity in the UK, with a particularly sharp rise in the past two years as the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a shift in travel habits, and a rise in active commuting. More →

March 3, 2022

British Land secures 250,000 sq ft of new office deals across London campuses

by Neil Franklin • News, Property

British Land has signed 34 new deals totalling 238,000 sq ft across its central London campuses. Since the half year results, nine businesses have signed 125,000 sq ft at newly refurbished buildings at Broadgate. New occupiers include customer engagement platform, Braze (49,000 sq ft, Exchange House); proprietary trading firm, Maven Securities (38,000 sq ft, 155 Bishopsgate); US-based law firm, Jenner & Block LLP (13,000 sq ft, 10 Exchange Square) and markets’ infrastructure and technology platform, Symphony (7,000 sq ft, 135 Bishopsgate). More →

March 1, 2022

Mindspace signs up for two new locations in Berlin

by Freddie Steele • Company news, Property

Flexible office provider Mindspace has announced it will occupy 7,000 square meters of office space, a lobby and several roof terraces in Berlin’s FÜRST. The landlord for the project is the FÜRST Projektgesellschaft. The premises are part of the first construction phase of the district development, which was already completed in October 2020 on Berlin’s well-known Kurfürstendammwith a total of 19,000 square meters of commercial space and an additional parking garage with more than 500 parking spaces. In addition, Mindspace has also announced the appointment of its new global VP of Real Estate and Projects, Ana Nekhamkin.

The FÜRST Projektgesellschaft is developing a site of 20,000 square meters in the prime Kurfürstendamm location in an area that extends over 97,000 square meters of commercial rental space for retail, office, lifestyle and art. Based on the design of the architectural firm Kleihues + Kleihues, in addition to the revitalisation of an entire block, a new public square will be created for Berlin’s City West.

With Ku’damm being one of the most important shopping streets in Germany, Mindspace secures yet another flex office of over 7,000 square meters in a AAA Berlin location.

Besides FÜRST, Mindspace is opening a second new location in Berlin on Zimmerstraße, which marks the 10th German location for the company. The two new locations in Kurfürstendamm and Zimmerstraße are scheduled to open in July 2022 and both will be close in proximity to the three existing Mindspace offices on Berlin’s Friedrichstraße, Skalitzer Straße and Krausenstraße (pictured).

The new Mindspace Zimmerstraße can be found at the historic border of the Berlin Wall and covers 4,500 square meters on eight floors.

“Germany is a key market for Mindspace and our expansion in Berlin is one of the many to come. Currently our occupancy rate in Germany is over 95 percent and in some cities, even more. Mindspace is on a path of growth and we’re excited to have such great partners by our side for the journey,” says Oliver Lehmann, General Manager Mindspace Germany.

Mindspace currently operates 32 locations in 17 cities, and following their recent funding of $72 million of equity capital, the company is following through on its promise to continue expanding its proven offerings to meet the high demand. A significant part of the expansion is planned for Germany, and specifically Berlin as it’s a hub for startups, tech companies and creatives.

February 14, 2022

New RICS framework aims to “put people at heart of commercial property”

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News, Property

A new framework from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors has been designed to improve building use, support flexible working and put people at the heart of decision making about commercial property. RICS says the International Building Operation Standard will provide organisations an interactive easy-to-use framework, supported by an assessment tool, to measure and benchmark building performance, by collecting consistent data to satisfy the latest needs of occupiers, investors, advisors and end users. More →