UK Office Space News

A guide to the key trends in office design in 2012.

From focus walls to hotdesking, an insight into the future of office design.

Forget marketing and employee incentive schemes; the layout and design of your office is the new way to show off to new clients and motivate existing employees. Office design has moved far beyond practicality; it’s now all about making a statement and accommodating employees to the best of your ability.

2011 has been an exciting year for office space design. From break out spaces to open plan layouts and collaboration areas, over the last 12 months we’ve seen a host of trends change the face of office design. The question now is what does 2012 hold for office space design? (more…)

The cost cutting move could put a dampener on Christmas spirit in the office.

Cards will still be sent out by many firms.

Almost half of small UK companies are not planning a Christmas party this year, which could adversely affect staff morale and productivity, according to a survey by communications firm Pitney Bowes.

A massive 90% of the remaining 52% of SMEs that are organising a function will spend the same or less than they did last year, indicating that cost cutting measures could be the reason behind the low numbers. The average spend per head was found to be £43.80.

A third of businesses are introducing new systems to reduce expenditure over the holiday season such as putting certain employees on call at all times and organising skeleton teams to stay in the office and ensure that business does not suffer over Christmas.

Phil McCabe, senior policy adviser at the Forum of Private Business, said: “Controlling costs is always important, but staff Christmas parties are a valuable way of showing recognition and appreciation of your employees. In turn, good employee engagement delivers bottom line results. Choosing not to recognise staff at Christmas could have a negative effect on morale and therefore productivity so companies need to introduce other ways of motivating – it doesn’t have to be costly.”

Many professionals work over 40 and 50 hours per week.

The majority of people also cite career progression as the reason for changing their job. 

A survey has revealed that more than two-thirds of professionals work over 40 hours a week as opposed to the generic 9-5 timetable.

The survey by recruitment specialists Robert Walters states that of the 2,200 office workers asked, 68% of people work more than the 9-5 average expects.

Of the candidates, only 16% admitted to taking their full lunch break whilst only 26% said that they ‘never’ work on the weekend. The survey also showed that more than three-quarters of those asked said that they do not get any formal recognition for the extra time that they work.

The results show that some professionals can work even more hours than this, including 30% of people in the legal field and 24% of Human Resource professionals working more than 50 hours per week with these professions ‘sometimes’ or ‘always’ working the weekends.

Managing Director of London Contract Recruitment at Robert Walters, Nick Dunnett said: “The survey results are interesting and reflect the pressure teams and departments are currently under with rising workloads. Perhaps for this reason, we are finding that work-life balance is becoming an increasingly important factor for professionals looking to move jobs.

“While people are prepared to put up with isolated peaks in workload for the good of their career and generally accept it as part and parcel of the job requirement, few are willing to work all hours of the day for extended periods. Employers that recognise this when recruiting are currently able to secure extremely talented people,” he added.

The survey also revealed that 60% of those asked believe that the most likely reason for them to seek a new role is career progression whilst 47% said that three to five years is the optimum time to spend in a job, of these 30% believe that three years is the right amount of time.

Overseas experience was deemed to be either ‘essential’ or ‘extremely’ useful to career development by 43% of the participants and 78% believe that they would benefit from a formal mentoring programme.

Managing Director of Permanent Recruitment, Toby Fowlston said: ”With career development overwhelmingly the main reason why professionals seek new jobs and the majority of people believing they would benefit from a mentoring programme.

“Consequently, employers that focus on their training and development are more likely to retain staff in the current market. Perhaps the survey results are reflective of businesses not having the capacity to offer these incentives at the moment,” he added.

New research shows that Grade C office space exceeds that of A and B.

The low quality secondary space takes up over two-thirds of the total UK market. 

Research has shown that grade C office space in the UK exceeds that of grade A and B, accounting for around 70% of total space.

The research by DTZ shows that there is around 721m sq ft of office space which is poor quality secondary space and highlights significant variations of grade C space across the UK market. (more…)

Fear of the end of staff office parties as workers say they would prefer cash.

Tough economy suggests that staff are more in need of money than socialising over Christmas. 

A new survey has suggested that 2011 could see the end of the traditional office party with employees opting to take the cash as opposed to going out.

The survey of 1000 office staff by Badenoch & Clark stated that 90% of office workers said that they would prefer to be given a lump sum of cash than be treated to a party where staff could converse about non-work related issues and let their hair down. (more…)

Plusnet are to move to bigger office space in Sheffield next year.

The move will see them relocate from two offices to a large one in the city centre.

Broadband provider, Plusnet is set to relocate office staff to new offices in Sheffield in the spring of next year.

The company are set to move to grade A office building, The Balance, located on Pinfold Street in the city centre. (more…)

Leeds sees an increase of office space take-up and investment.

Meanwhile Sheffield sees good take-up but lack of investment. 

The amount of office space take-up in Leeds is expected to be on a par with last year according to a report based on the Yorkshire office market.

The report by BNP Paribas showed that whilst the take up for 2011 won’t match the five-year average of 760,000 sq ft pa, it should match 2010′s figure of 540,800 sq ft by the end of the year.

(more…)

Google’s refurbished office space is designed to make the company’s engineers more creative.

Office space features giant whiteboards and rowing boat as well as four free restaurants.

Internet search engine Google are already creative with the logos on the website, but the company seem to have gone one step further with the redevelopment of their fourth floor of office space.

The engineering office, based at its London headquarters, now incorporates sofas as opposed to desks as well as whiteboards and areas to play pool or video games during breaks. The theme of the décor is something that you would expect in a science fiction film, not in a London office building in Victoria, which is surprising as the Google office building is one of the most traditional in London.

(more…)

Growing office space providers i2 gain a new tenant in their Glasgow branch.

The company are the latest in a string of clients to take up office space in Glasgow’s broadband efficient building.

Office space belonging to i2 Office in Glasgow has benefited from further take up from Informatics Clinical Information Systems Ltd, the latest in leading businesses that are attracted to the property.

One of the attractions of the building at 2 West Regent Street, just minutes away from Glasgow Central, is said to be the ease of access to dedicated bandwidth and the flexibility should they need to increase the size of the bandwidth as and when required. The company are also said to be happy with the guarantee of sufficient external ports in the building which boasts a 45 mb broadband connection.

(more…)

Office space projects in the Midlands are not to be developed next year.

Grade A office space is not expected to be developed until 2013 even though there is demand for it.

A new report has suggested that office space rentals in the Midlands are likely to remain static throughout 2012.

The report by Lambert Smith Hampton predicted that it will be 2013 before rents for office space will show any growth; it is hoped that by that time the demand for supply will activate rental growth. Until 2013 it is expected that growth will be restricted to Central London and the south.

(more…)