British Land is at the head of the table of London’s commercial property developers, clinking solar-panelled glasses and patting itself on the back for a job well done as it welcomes the first tenant to its Leadenhall Building in the City of London. US insurance giant Aon Corporation has signed a deal, to take 191,000 sq ft of the... Read More
Serviced offices are sometimes seen as the select protectorate of SME's (Small Medium Enterprises) searching for short-term accommodation, often in out of town business parks, but this is a misapprehension. While SMEs do profit very much from serviced offices - with the capability to set up rapidly (within days) and enjoy amenities that... Read More
The British Property Federation (BPF), a membership organisation representing property owners and investors, is currently lobbying the EU over draft regulations which they say may lead to ‘market instability and systemic risk’ in the commercial property sector. European ministers want to tighten up the over-the-counter (OTC)... Read More
Global commercial property advisors CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) and UK property agent Savills have each released reports detailing the commercial property movement they have witnessed in April. CBRE’s data shows a slowdown in the Central London offices market. Take-up was at its lowest level since February 2009; City and Midtown markets... Read More
Whether you work in a serviced office, at home or in a commercial property of some sort, sleeping at work every day can improve your performance. Researchers have established in recent years that the human body requires only as much sleep as the brain will permit it. In other words, so long as the brain is performing at peak power,... Read More
What makes some businesses residing in serviced offices so successful? There is no magical principle for small business accomplishment, but most owners who do well have the equivalent to six personality traits, according to a new report. Top of the list for winning entrepreneurs is the capacity to work in partnership. Those who can farm... Read More
Routine property management is not something that the majority of companies would like to fret about and that is why serviced offices have grown in popularity. They allow businesses to have somewhere to stay which suits their individual needs without the aggravation of finding, managing and furnishing the space. One of the major reasons... Read More
According to the latest report from Colliers International, April wasn’t a great month for the UK commercial property market. The commercial property snapshot stated April saw a slow down in office space transactions. Colliers declared that: ‘The excellent weather, the long Easter break and the royal wedding seem to have disrupted... Read More
According to a new survey undertaken by multinational financial services company, Legal and General Plc, commercial property still offers an exciting opportunity for investors, The company has insisted that the UK’s commercial property market can be viewed with a degree of optimism, stating: ‘Exciting investment opportunities exist in... Read More
How do you behave in your serviced offices? Are you a David Brent, prancing around in slightly-too-tight trousers with the facial expression of someone in desperate need of indigestion tablets? Do you see the photocopier less as a device for copying documents and more a tool for capturing body parts in silhouette? Do you stroll aimlessly... Read More
Leading commercial property figures have sent an open letter to Prime Minister David Cameron, requesting that he honours the government’s commitment to improving energy efficiency. The move comes as MPs debate the Energy Bill, part of a comprehensive environmental legislation programme expected to be up and running by 2012. Contained... Read More
The Easter period may have been a positive time for chocoholics, Royalists and those clever types who took three days annual leave and ended up with an eleven-day break, but the commercial property sector was left with a bit of a bad taste in its mouth. Investment in commercial property slowed in April due to the extended Bank Holidays,... Read More
Croydon could fast become one of the top commercial property districts in the South East, after London of course. According to a new report published by centreforcities.org, ‘Croydon is an important economic contributor within the south-east and more private sector employers need to be encouraged to develop there.’ The report noted... Read More
As the recession began to bite and traditional sources of finance, such as the banks, became risk-averse, significant funding gaps appeared in the mouth of the commercial property sector. Consequently other methods of treatment have become common; in particular, there has been a growth in Sharia-compliant funds, sovereign wealth funds and... Read More
I am starting to suffer from back ache at work. To long sitting at the computer terminal in my serviced office suite and not enough exercise I suspect. So, instead of participating in exercise I decided to buy a new office chair. Spare no expense, I told my secretary, just get me the best that you can. The Emperor weighs in at a cool... Read More
It has been confirmed that observing fish can help to lower stress levels, blood pressure and can aid relaxation, whilst also increasing productivity of staff in a serviced office. A variety of tests have been carried out since the late 1980s indicating that watching fish, even if on a television, can assist in reducing stress. In... Read More
Can lighting in a commercial property or a serviced office be used to increase worker satisfaction and motivation and thereby increase productivity? Experts say yes. We are now going beyond the engineering side of lighting and placing candles on work surfaces. Apparently, experts say, we must look at how light is distributed and where it... Read More
According to the latest report published by IPD UK, commercial property values in UK rose by just 0.1% in January 2011. This is statistically the equivalent to standing still. This slight increase only applied to retail and industrial properties; as for office spaces, the growth was flat. Commenting on the gloomy figures, Mr. Tily of... Read More
May is a busy butterfly of a month, floating between socialists and capitalists. One day it is hosting May Day, the International Workers’ Day. Then, a few days later, it welcomes Lord Alan Sugar back to our TV screens with The Apprentice, that annual romp through the personalities and delusions of the latest batch of entrepreneurial... Read More
London’s commercial property market is witnessing huge changes in its physical appearance, with a massive 137% increase in construction intake, according to the bi-annual London Offices Crane Survey by Drivers Jonas Deloitte. The past three surveys each detailed a rapid decline in development, culminating in a record low six months ago... Read More
I wonder how many of us sit at the desk in our serviced office or at our commercial property and wish that our favourite pet was with us. Apparently there’s quite a few. According to one study carried out by Christopher Honts and his contemporaries at Central Michigan University, dogs in a serviced office can assist in improving... Read More
Does tea taste better with milk added before or after pouring, does eating cheese at night really give you nightmares, and does Nessie exist? While some questions will never be answered to everyone’s satisfaction, commercial property owners have received welcome guidance for one of their own long-standing and contentious debates – that of... Read More
