Search Results for: workplace

October 11, 2013

Highest take up of regional office space for five years

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, News, Property

Increasing occupier confidence is leading to the highest take up of regional office space for five years. According to property consultants GVA’s latest quarterly review of the “big nine” regional office occupier markets, total take-up in the third quarter of 2013 was 7 per cent above the five-year quarterly average at 1,737,000 sq ft. Particularly encouraging, say the analysts, has been a recovery in markets that have been subdued for some years. Carl Potter, GVA’S National Head of Offices commented: “In general many are now gearing up for the next phase of activity, although there still remains a real prospect that a lack of appetite for new speculative development will lead in some markets very quickly to a shortage in Grade A supply.” (more…)

October 10, 2013

Why the serviced office sector needs to put more effort into its customer service

by David Saul • Comment, Facilities management, Flexible working

Serviced offices at Cheapside

It’s National Customer Service Week, a week-long initiative set up to inspire businesses to take a step back, look at their customer relations and promote excellence in customer service amongst their teams. Across every business in every sector, excellent customer service is key to gaining and retaining custom, and this is particularly the case when it comes to the serviced office industry. Average customer retention rates are just eight months in the officing sector, so addressing this through improved customer service can have a huge impact on the bottom line. I believe the serviced office industry can do more. There is a danger that low retention rates cause companies to place a greater emphasis on winning new businesses, with existing clients’ needs coming second place. (more…)

October 9, 2013

New CIOB survey lifts lid on extent of corruption in UK construction

by Mark Eltringham • Architecture, Facilities management, Property

A new survey from the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) claims that the majority of professionals in the UK construction industry believe that corruption in the sector is commonplace. The survey, which can be downloaded in full here, found that over a third (35 percent) had personally been offered a bribe or some other form of inducement at some point in their career, while nearly two-thirds (65 percent) believed the offer of gifts and corporate hospitality to win contracts is commonplace. A similar proportion (38 percent) of respondents had come across anti-competitive practices on at least one occasion, and of those, 29 percent had experienced cartel activity in the year running up to the survey.

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October 9, 2013

Planning approval granted for major new South Bank development

by Sara Bean • News, Property

A 1.4 million sq ft mixed used development scheme next to Blackfriars Bridge at London’s South Bank has been granted approval by Southwark Council’s planning committee. Nine buildings, including a 48 storey tower are being planned to include 450,000 sq ft of office space, which it is promised, will almost double the number of permanent jobs in the area to over 3,700. The scheme, which also comprises 25,000 sq ft of retail space, nearly 500 residential apartments and the creation of 35,000 sq ft of new pubic open spaces, is being delivered by asset management firm Carlyle. Two existing buildings on the site, which were acquired by Carlyle along with four other nearby buildings for £671m in 2010, will be demolished according to the designs drawn up by PLP Architecture. (more…)

October 9, 2013

Joint survey investigates where energy use is on the FM agenda

by Sara Bean • Environment, Facilities management, News

The British Institute of Facilities Management (BIFM) and the National Energy Foundation (NEF) have announced a joint survey exploring FM professionals’ experiences and expectations of improving the use of energy in the buildings. Both organisations hope the findings, which will be made available in a report in January 2014, will identify new areas of focus and shed light on how FM professionals are tackling the gap between actual and predicted energy performance in the buildings for which they are responsible. According to Lucy Black, Chair of BIFM’s Sustainability Special Interest Group (SIG), the survey should help identify areas where barriers persist, and FM knowledge is strongest or needs further support. (more…)

October 9, 2013

iPosture generation warned to sit up straight or risk a lifetime of back pain

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, Legal news, News, Workplace

Ask anyone under twenty, “what is a VDU?” and they’ll probably think you’re referring to a “social” disease. Yet, despite the fact that tablet technology is in the ascent, the workplace procedure that is still used to help safeguard office workers from developing back, neck or other muscular skeletal problems is the workstation audit, as recommended in the HSE’s Working with VDUs guidance. Most under 25s would prefer to slump comfortably over a BYOD anyway, and as a result of these less than ergonomic habits , a massive 84 per cent of 18-24 year olds have admitted to suffering some incidence of back pain in the last 12 months, according to new research. (more…)

October 8, 2013

More than half of twenty-something UK men would like all male offices, claims survey

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Workplace

At Insight we report surveys from firms on an almost daily basis. We generally do so without too much comment, trusting that readers are smart or jaded enough to apply their own filters based on whichever company is responsible and the number of people surveyed before dusting them all with a liberal pinch of salt and coming to their own conclusions. Even so, here’s one that may need more seasoning than most. According to a new survey from business supplies company Expert Market, slightly more than half of the UK’s male workers under the age of 30 would like to work in an all male environment, mostly based on the idea that this would mean less flirting, fewer arguments and more work.

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October 8, 2013

Nearly two thirds of SMEs now trust employees to work flexibly

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, News, Workplace

One of the main arguments against flexible working amongst blue chip organisations – which was well documented following the Yahoo furore earlier this year, is that it is detrimental to fostering a collaborative working culture. Amongst small and medium sized companies, the reasons against are more straightforward, in that it demands a level of trust small business managers can ill afford to bestow unwisely. Now a new survey, carried out among over 200 UK-based SME decision-makers, highlights a growing acceptance of flexible working within these businesses. Well over half (63%) of senior executives say they trust their employees to remain productive when working away from the office, the Citrix-commissioned YouGov survey has shown. (more…)

October 8, 2013

UK Green Building Council partners with Ecobuild to agree event programme

by Sara Bean • Environment, Events, Facilities management, News

The UK Green Building Council has entered into a new long-term partnership with Ecobuild, the annual event for sustainable design, construction and the built environment. The agreement means the two organisations will work closely on the programme of events for Ecobuild to promote the business case for a greener and more sustainable built environment. UK-GBC Chief Executive Paul King, who already sits on the Ecobuild Advisory Board, said: “This partnership marks the start of a new and exciting chapter in our close relationship with Ecobuild, an event which has firmly placed sustainable construction on the UK and international agenda over the past ten years.” (more…)

October 7, 2013

More women on UK boards welcomed, but business leaders urged to do more

by Sara Bean • Legal news, News, Workplace

Female representation on the UK’s top companies’ boards continues to increase according to new figures published today by the Professional Boards Forum (PBF). The statistics show that 19 per cent of directors are now female (up from 17.4% in May) and 24 per cent of board appointments since 1 March 2013 have been women. To meet the target of 25 per cent of board positions being held by women by 2015, as set out in the original report by Lord Davies published in February 2011, FTSE100 companies need to appoint 66 more female directors in the next two years. The news has been welcomed by business leaders and politicians who have resisted efforts by the EU to impose mandatory female quotas. (more…)

October 7, 2013

Third of Europe’s large firms have already lost data through BYOD

by Mark Eltringham • Facilities management, Flexible working, News, Technology

Bring Your Own Device remains the Gordian Knot of workplace technology. While firms have tried to label and co-opt the unstoppable propensity of employees to use their own devices for work as a way of cutting the business’s technology costs, they are paying in other ways. As we reported last week many remain unaware of the extent of the practice and of its potential to clash with company policy. Now, the full extent of the inevitable security breach inherent in either sanctioned or unsanctioned use of personal technology is becoming evident. According to a new report from Samsung, around a third of Europe’s largest companies have lost company and confidential data through the practice.