The Irish Times have reported a steady increase in demand for 
office space in Dublin, Republic of Ireland.
The reasons for the increase have been attributed to a recovering economy, but also the new advantages available to tenants such as break options and better value deals. The city’s office space market had been at a stand-still for the past six months as now more companies are on the search for prime office space, mainly in the docklands and south of the city. (more…)
A new ombudsman scheme for legal services has signed up to office space at Baskerville House in Birmingham.
The organisation, Legal Ombudsman has been set up by the Office for Legal Complaints, is set to move into the new offices in May this year. They are currently based in Birmingham, but in temporary space only, until the move. (more…)
The Triangle, a business centre in Manchester, has successfully signed five new tenants for serviced office space.
The business centre in Manchester city centre will now be occupied by design agency Detail Creative, building services firm Futureserv, programming recruitment company TM Silver Recruitment, Oke Hypnotherapy & Life Coaching and Azimi Hypnotherapy.
The Triangle is run by Forsyth Business Centres, who look after the 31,000 sq ft space on behalf of Aviva. (more…)
Rental prices in the office space market have been falling since the start of the recession. Some areas have faired worse than others, for example the West End has seen the most significant falls – up to 40% down on the peak levels achieved before the credit crunch. As capital values fell and demand for workspace weakened, the market quickly fell heavily on the side of the occupier. Traditional tenants could barter for strong incentives such as rent free periods, while serviced clients were presented with rents for as little as £1.
This has meant that although many of the major providers, such as Regus, have grown during the recession in terms of the number of workstations that have been rented out as well as boosting profits significantly, profit gains possibly may not have been as high as they might have been if rental values had held up. Of course, if you are looking for office space, there is no better time to be shopping around. When a market has hit rock bottom, there will always be people looking for a bargain. And serviced offices offer unquestionable value for money, as well as flexibility.
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Why would you want to leave your serviced office? A question most centre managers must pose to departing occupiers. Sometimes the reason is fairly straight forward – the company is moving city or is opting for leased / traditional office space for example. However if the company is leaving to go to another serviced office in the same area, then it will usually come as a disappointment to the incumbent centre manager. “Why are you leaving us?” they might ask whimsically? Well, it could be down to a number of factors, such as the new office is cheaper or is in a better location or has more parking. However, it could be down to discontentment at their current office.
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Serviced office space still makes up only a tiny part of overall workspace in the UK. Considering that serviced offices are flexible and often better value, it seems odd that they still only account for small part of office space in the UK. Here are some of the reasons why this is so..
-Marketing failure
Outside the industry awareness of serviced offices is poor. Those that are aware of them may perceive them as being expensive or designed for corporate use only. Marketing levels have increased significantly in the last year or so, many sites now have a company blog and Regus have, without question, been more proactive in targeting the SME market. One of their Google Ads said “Try Regus Office Space for 20 people or less”
-Traditional Agents
Many companies might go direct to a commercial property agent who will then place a client in a conventional office. However agents have been using serviced offices more reccently as businesses demand flexibility. It is also easier fees for them as there is a license as opposed to a lease agreement.
-Misunderstanding
When comparing serviced office space to traditional space, people often do a raw comparison on a per sq ft basis, which can lead to the assumption that serviced offices are more expensive. But when you include monthly bills, serviced offices are more often than not cheaper – although perhaps not for very large companies.
- Staff/Facilities
Companies like to retain control over reception staff, IT equipment, internet provider etc etc which cannot be done in a serviced office.
Losing tenants from your Serviced Office is almost always disappointing (unless they owe you money!). The reasons why companies choose to move out are complex and varied, meaning that often there is nothing you can do as a centre manager to keep them in the centre.
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