Andrew Seward

June 26, 2019

Taking the stress out of relocating

Andrew Seward

June 26, 2019

Studies have shown that moving house can be one of the most stressful events in life and, unfortunately, moving offices can also be fraught with stresses and strains. But it needn’t be this way - with the right focus and the right plan, relocating to a new office can be a smooth experience, even for the inexperienced.

The heart of the problem is that most businesses are great at doing what they do best - running a successful business - and are less knowledgeable about the process, opportunities and pitfalls in the world of commercial property. And let’s face it, moving office is not a yearly event, and with most businesses only moving every 5-10 years for many it’s a matter of having to restart from scratch all over again.

All big problems are best broken down into smaller parts, so to help you approach your next office move we’ve broken the process down into three areas for consideration...

#1 - Identifying the right area

When deciding to relocate offices, your first consideration is to identify the area that is going to be best for your business to operate from.

In some sectors, the choice of neighbourhoods can already be pretty clear. In London, if you’re a serious player in insurance, for example, it’s EC3 in the areas surrounding Lloyds of London. For the legal profession, it’s predominantly the area around Chancery Lane and Midtown. And for tech companies, the hub of King Cross and Old Street has become a natural choice.

But for many businesses, it’s not as clear cut and you have much more flexibility in the areas you can consider. So, how best to decide on the right neighbourhood? Well, we recommend approaching the decision based on three factors: the fit for your market and brand, the cost, and the attractiveness and convenience of the area for staff.

Firstly, you need to consider whether an area is the correct fit for your brand and says the right thing about you as a company. Portraying the right message via your address is important for both established companies and start-ups alike. Coupled with this, you also need to consider your proximity to customers and clients, suppliers and partners.

Secondly, there is the need to pay attention to the cost. Rents in London may have changed significantly since your last move and in terms of running your business, the cost of your office space is likely to be your biggest outlay after staffing costs. Here, a good agent with detailed market knowledge can advise you on identifying a shortlist of areas within your budget and potential offices within these plus negotiate the best lease terms. If you don’t have an agent, get in contact with us and we can recommend one for your particular circumstances.

Finally, the attractiveness and convenience of an area for staff should be a key factor when shortlisting neighbourhoods. You also need to consider changes to transport links and commuting times. For potential new staff, your address will be part of an applicant’s decision-making process, so you need an area that will be a positive factor in winning and retaining new joiners.

#2 - Finding the right office

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Having identified potential areas, your agent can then provide you with potential office spaces for you to view. At any one time, there are usually plenty of options to choose from - the key thing is choosing the office that is right for you.

When evaluating potential new premises, you need to assess whether the space suits your company’s organisational structure and working style, has the flexibility for the future, and allows for any envisaged expansion. Crucially, you should also consider the financial aspects of the building in order to gauge any potential long-term costs and to avoid any unpleasant (and costly) surprises further down the track.

At Cityspace, we provide extensive support to clients in the early stages of selecting a new building through our Evaluation Report, which helps you gauge the suitability of a potential new site via a full building appraisal and feasibility plan.

As part of our Evaluation Report, we provide a space plan test fit where we confirm that the office space is the right size and configuration for your needs, in addition to providing a maximum density plan to indicate the future growth potential of the space.

We couple this with a cost plan, outlining both the minimum cost of your new office and a list of interior design options for your board or steering group to consider at the outset. As part of this, we provide a detailed report on any issues or defects associated with the building or infrastructure, including mechanical, electrical, or health and safety systems.

Additionally, we indicate costs for any rectification works that may be required for the space. These costs can be used by your agent in negotiations with the landlords on capital contributions or to have the defects rectified. It is worth noting that in the 30 years we have been offering this service, we have always found defects of greater value than the cost of our Evaluation Report.

#3 - Assessing whether to stay put

Before you commit to the major expense of relocation, it may be worthwhile reviewing how your existing office space is being used and whether it can accommodate more people.

The best way to successfully increase headcount in an office is not by looking for specific gaps in your existing space where you could fit additional people in, but by thinking about the whole office space and how this could be used more effectively.

The key to success is, therefore, to think about your office holistically, and make sure that the practical way you’re using the space is keeping pace with your growing headcount. If you need to increase your headcount, the team at Cityspace is here to help - just provide us with your existing office floor plan, and we’re happy to meet and come up with the most practical and cost-efficient solutions.

If you want further information on taking the stress out of relocating, please feel free to contact us.

Andrew Seward

March 5, 2019

Creating Spaces Without Walls

Andrew Seward

March 5, 2019

New design solutions for the modern office

One of the significant challenges in office design is to create the right balance between aesthetics and the need for a highly practical and functional workspace.

In every office, there’s a prerequisite to create different zones – desk areas, breakout zones, formal meeting rooms, public reception spaces - and the traditional way to do this has been through the use of walls and partitions to divide up and compartmentalise different areas.

However, recent developments by flooring manufacturers have now opened up new opportunities - to create spaces without walls, by using carpet and flooring colours, finishes and textures that seamlessly transition between the different areas of an office. It’s new, it’s exciting, and it may be the perfect solution to make the best use of your office space.

Standardisation has fostered innovation

Traditionally, flooring manufacturers viewed carpet and vinyl as apples and pears; two different surfaces, with two different uses, always separated by an abrupt trim. Recently manufacturers have wised up - why not create the option of having both carpet and vinyl surfaces in a standard 500 x 500mm tile.

Sounds pretty simple, but for office designers, it’s quite revolutionary, and opens up the opportunity to design spaces without the need for partitioned walls, in a way that wasn’t possible before.

And here’s the even better news - because all flooring surfaces can now coalesce around a standardised tile, your designer can create innovative combinations of colour, finish and texture at standard prices. In other words, you can get an imaginative and practical floor design, without additional costs to your flooring budget.

How it works

The design concept of creating spaces without walls is to combine different flooring finishes and textures that transition seamlessly from one office area to the next. Workstation areas can be separately zoned, with walkways and thoroughfares demarcated.

For the transition to more formal meeting areas, colour and texture can be used to create a different feel for the zone and, within meeting rooms, different colour tiles can be combined to create a distinct feeling from the rest of the office.

When partitioning is being used for more private areas, these zones can be accentuated by floor colour. For hallways and office walls, a colour mixture can be used to make them feel more extensive and luxurious.

If you would like to find out more about how creating spaces without walls could work in your office, please contact the Cityspace team on info@cityspacemanagement.co.uk.

Andrew Seward

January 30, 2019

Your three most important office decisions for 2019

Andrew Seward

January 30, 2019

It’s the beginning of the year, and a time to think ahead on the office decisions you may need to make in 2019. To help you better plan how to make your office an efficient, happy and productive environment, we’ve compiled a list of the three most essential office decisions management teams should be thinking about in the coming year.

#1 Can I fit more people into my existing office space?

The short answer is yes. You can always squeeze more people in, subject of course to any restrictions on occupational density imposed by your fire officer or landlord, or limitations on building infrastructure. However, if you want to increase your headcount without your staff starting to feel like sardines, you need to do it in the right way.

This involves considering the way individuals and teams work and collaborate, or by making more intelligent use of meeting areas. For example, formal meeting rooms which are used infrequently take up a lot of floor area, space that could be used much more effectively by moving to smaller, informal meeting sites, and freeing up space for extra desks.

The key to success is, therefore, to think about your office holistically, and make sure that the practical way you’re using the space is keeping pace with your growing headcount. If you need to increase your headcount, the team at Cityspace is here to help. All we need is your existing office floor plan, and we’re happy to meet and come up with the most practical and cost-efficient solutions for your particular circumstances.

#2 Can I change my office layout?

At the heart of every successful office is a productive workforce, in a motivational environment, designed in a way that fits the culture of the company. So a critical factor in driving this success is an office layout that brings the best out of your teams and makes the most efficient use of your office space.

The best way to increase productivity is to look at both the layout and the way that people work. For design planning, it’s looking at things like the suitability of the workstation environment, whether this workstation layout is conducive to collaboration with others, and whether both formal and informal meeting spaces are laid out and utilised most efficiently.

Regarding the way people work, more and more of our clients have been looking to increase the flexibility and productivity of their workplace through Activity Based Working (ABW). This approach explores office design in line with work culture and practices and suggests ways to improve your workspace to increase efficiency and staff wellbeing.

#3 Should I consider a new office space?

For any businesses approaching a lease expiry in 2019, a fundamental decision is whether to stay put and remodel or consider a new office space elsewhere. Before you commit to the significant expense of relocation, it may be worthwhile reviewing how your existing office space is being used.

It’s worth remembering that most businesses will have occupied their current space for 5 or 10 years. While the original office design may have been perfect when you first moved in, there have been considerable advances in technology - such as smartphones, follow me printing and cloud-based file storage - all of which have impacted the way that people now work. This, in turn, creates an opportunity to rethink how you could re-use your existing space more effectively.

To help you make the right decision on how best to remodel your existing space, we can provide you with three occupational scenarios:

A short-term plan offering a simple layout with minimum changes and expenditure;
A maximum efficiency plan that uses space more efficiently without changing working practices and culture, and;
A blue-sky thinking solution of how you could work in your current space, applying the latest thinking in office design and without any budget constraints.

If you’ve decided to move, it’s essential when evaluating potential new premises to assess whether the space suits your company’s organisational structure and working style, has flexibility for the future, and allows for any envisaged expansion. Crucially, it would be best if you also took into account the financial aspects of the building, to gauge any long-term costs associated with premises under consideration, to avoid any unpleasant (and costly) surprises down the track.

At Cityspace, we’re getting an increasing number of inquiries from clients asking us to research potential sites and costs. Using our database of over 10,000 property records, we can identify upstream opportunities of people who may be moving but have not yet told their landlord or agent. In addition to these off-market opportunities, we also have close relationships with property surveyors, who can provide details of current properties available for let or sale. To find out more, please get in touch with the Cityspace team at info@cityspacemanagement.co.uk.

Andrew Seward

January 18, 2019

How Activity Based Working can work for you

Andrew Seward

January 18, 2019

Activity Based Working (ABW) is a transformational business strategy, that takes into account where, when and how people work. First introduced in the 1970s, the concept of ABW was further developed in the Netherlands in the 1990s. Today, more and more companies are now looking at ABW as a means of getting greater productivity out of both their offices and their teams.

While the underlying concept of ABW is simple, there are implementation challenges that need to be considered. Rather than operating from the assumption that an individual will undertake all their work in one setting like a fixed desk, you create an environment which offers a variety of configurations depending on the task, such as workstations, collaboration areas, meeting spaces, or areas for quiet concentration. ABW also extends to outside the office, giving staff the flexibility to work from home or another remote location.

Rising rents have put pressure on companies like never before. For a business, your office expenses are likely only to be exceeded by the cost of salaries. And nowadays with the floor space taken up by a litter bin in Central London costing up to £200 per square foot each month, ABW provides the opportunity to use your office asset better and to work smarter in your existing space.

Times have changed, and so have the ways that we now work, with technology completely changing the need for everyone to come into the same workplace, at the same time. Businesses today are increasingly realising that technology has created an opportunity to rethink the relationship between the office environment and how to increase workplace productivity and effectiveness. This is why ABW offers much more to office design than merely providing a solution to space saving.

A one size approach does not fit all

The starting point for effective ABW is to examine everything from a people perspective. It’s an evidence-based approach, which first of all analyses and understands factors such as your organisation’s size, culture, objectives, ways of working, and leadership and management style.

What’s important to recognise at the outset, is that ABW is both a workplace and a business strategy, and is best suited to an environment where decision making is inclusive at all levels of the organisation. It requires a degree of freedom and autonomy that is not typical in organisations that practice more traditional management techniques. ABW can therefore only be truly successful when it has the full backing of the management team, and all the people aspects have been fully considered to win the hearts and minds of staff.

At its best, ABW should bring people together and enhance work activity. However, not every business may be ready for all aspects of ABW. For instance, the flexibility offered by desk sharing may or may not be the best solution in every case, and there may be a lack of flexible access to technology across all parts of the organisation.

In many instances, the optimum solution is achieved through a combination of traditional working methods and ABW, looking at the most productive way individuals work, creating an office layout that encourages collaboration and makes the best use of both formal and informal meeting spaces.

How we can help

Successful ABW begins with finding the solution that is best for you, and at Cityspace we’ve worked with many businesses, both big and small, to create the optimum ABW environment.

We know all about offices, and we also know that offices are all about people, and can, therefore, guide you through the research, planning, and implementation required to create an ABW workspace that helps your people collaborate, share knowledge, and maximise your productivity and growth.

To find out more about how to make ABW work for you, please email us at info@cityspacemanagement.co.uk.