Edition 02

PDF

aTune

Our services.

Edwards & Co aTune will evaluate your workspace, your lease, and your way of working. We will help your business adjust and flourish in this new landscape.

Your lease.

We will liaise with your landlord to ensure you still have the right workspace for your business. Everything has changed and it’s understandable that your office needs may have too.

Your space.

The workspace you have will need to evolve. We can ensure you have an expertly designed base where your team feels protected while providing innovative ways to collaborate, share, and move forward.

Tech.

We will utilise the technology available to ensure your business is futureproofed and ready for anything.

Salford Quays, take two

It’s hard to imagine Salford Quays without its glistening skyline, bustling leisure spaces and picturesque waterside vista’s. But of course, until 1982 the area was known as Manchester Docks and it wasn’t until 1984, when it became one of the first urban regeneration projects in the United Kingdom, that a new future was born.

Over the next 20 years, Salford Quays was transformed with new transport infrastructure, landscaping, business space, hotels, housing and public amenities including The Lowry arts centre and the Imperial War Museum. More recently, Peel was granted planning permission to develop MediaCityUK which became home to the BBC in 2011 and, subsequently, ITV.

Whilst real estate in Salford Quays is still rising at a rapid rate, we are now seeing opportunities to overhaul the old-timers. Anchorage, built-in 1990 and comprising 4 office buildings totaling 218,801 sq ft, is one such development. Owners HIG Capital and asset managers Canmoor are halfway through a phased modernisation plan of Anchorage, ready for the next generation to call it home.

Anchorage 2 has already undergone an £8m refurbishment, with the construction of co-working space and breakout areas in the ground floor atrium, alongside exercise studios, on-site café and convenience store. With the building now fully let, we know we have got this one spot on.

anchoragesalfordquays.com

More than an office

Workspaces are evolving and tenants are expecting more. More style, more innovation and more imagination. So, how do we meet these expectations? Or, even better, how do we blow them out of the water?

The age of the humble reception is over. We are no longer wowed by a sofa and flat-screen TV with 24-hour news streaming across it. We want common areas teeming with life; shared spaces that invite tenants to collaborate, entertain and break out of their own demises. These desires are now a key driver for many companies relocating outside of the city centre where the wider amenities may not be able to support this need.

In recent times, we have advised many landlords on how to transform their suburban buildings from a simple place of work into hubs for active collaboration, providing companies with inspiring spaces where they can foster growth and increase productivity.

Bruntwood’s Trafford House is a perfect example of how a landlord can successfully embrace and adapt to the changing waters.

This building in Old Trafford, a challenging location, was left with 40,000 sq ft vacant when its largest occupier chose to relocate in 2016. Never being one to shy away, Bruntwood boldly chose to push ahead with a £1m refurbishment to provide an incredible ground floor hub incorporating events spaces, business lounge, cycle and shower facilities, plus a fitness area providing virtual Les Mills classes for tenants. They successfully transformed a building in the middle of nowhere into the centre of everything.

This was one of the first examples we saw of a landlord sacrificing net lettable office space and writing off this income in order to provide tenants with a more inspiring building. And, it paid off. Numerous new lettings were secured, and the building now has a strong retention rate. Occupiers want to be there, they want to stay there, and they will flourish there.

The culture of innovation

Truly innovative office space isn’t something you see every day. With trends and technology moving so quickly, it’s hard to keep up. So how do you get ahead of the curve to ensure you have a workspace that stands the test of time?

It has never been a better time to invest in high tech solutions that allow people to work effectively and collaboratively. In fact, the way in which companies choose to invest now could be make or break.

We recently worked alongside Dept, one of Europe’s largest digital agencies, to find their new Manchester office at Bridgewater House. Our Building Consultancy team ensured this office was designed with the future in mind. We spoke to Jonathan Whiteside, a Director at Dept, to see how technology and flexible working strategies have helped shape their working life.

Q. Talk to us about the biggest change in office technology for your new office and how this has changed the way you work?

A. Going wireless has been a game-changer. Our previous office was flood wired, but at Bridgewater House we are totally wireless, with the infrastructure to back it up we are now 100% cloud-based.

Our bandwidth is monitored from our head office in Amsterdam; If there’s one part of the office that is using more than another, our off-site IT team can increase or decrease any area. All of our offices have the same system, whether it be Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Berlin, London, Boston, New York, we can monitor usage and how best to manage the bandwidth, allowing us to ensure everyone has a smoother working experience.

Q. With technology moving so quickly, how have you ensured Bridgewater House is futureproofed?

A. One of the main ways we are looking to do this is by getting a hardwire broadband connection. We currently have a dish on the roof, plus a backup dish. We are now waiting for the Council to improve the infrastructure so we can upgrade to a fibre connection. This will be a big focus for us to ensure we have the best possible speeds going forward.

Q. How important do you feel universal rating schemes such as Wired Score and Smart Building Certificates will be to occupiers going forward? Will these scores be important to you when choosing future spaces?

A. Absolutely, it’s important that a building is well connected. It’s certainly a tick in the box and one less thing to worry about when choosing an office if you know the building has good connectivity.

Q. What strategies did you use to make sure the transition to your new office was as smooth as possible for employees and clients?

A. When we moved from Portland Street to Bridgewater, all the infrastructure was in place, with Edwards & Co Building Consultancy having pushed to get the fit-out complete within a fairly tight schedule. The staff just walked in the office and desks were all ready to go. They could sit anywhere, log on and they were off! We have a clear desk policy, lockers and break out areas to keep everything clutter-free and allow flexible working. The office should be a place you genuinely want to come and work in. The staff really like the environment here and we even have clients who choose to work from our office one day a week.

Q. How will you decide the next big changes for your offices?

A. I think it is more about the office environment you create and keeping the staff happy in a place they want to come and work. Technology plays a part in helping us implement that, but it’s the happiness of our staff that leads the way in the decisions we make.

Jonathan Whiteside
Director & Principal Technology Consultant, Dept

The Gold Rush

As we enter these uncharted waters, history tells us one thing, when times get tough, people hurry to invest in goods that are valuable, tangible and safe. In the same way, people look to store their wealth in bars of gold, property investors look to find assets that are fundamentally sound, and those that do will prosper.

We are expecting to see this ‘flight to prime’ as we head into a post-COVID market, with investors looking for safe bets, in terms of either location, sector, lease or tenant. And those which tick more than one box will be top of the hit list.

As the UK’s second city and Capital of the North, Manchester couldn’t be in a better position to welcome this. The economy here is booming; transport infrastructure is going from strength to strength and the city hosts some of the best shopping experiences in the UK, from international operators to homegrown boutiques. Trafford Park is considered Europe’s prime industrial destination and we have one of the busiest Airports outside of London.

But it is the office market where this city really shines. With 80% representation from FTSE 100 companies, the city has seen well in excess of 2m sq ft of take-up year on year for the past five years. From quirky to corporate, from period building to shiny and new, there really is gold in Manchester.

We want it all and we want it now

Start-up and SME occupiers may be fairly new to this, but they know exactly what they are looking for. Flexibility, costs and speed are key criteria in these office searches. Co-working providers have set the bar high for quality working environments and traditional landlords need to meet these expectations if they want to be at the top of that shortlist.

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented a new challenge for co-working occupiers and we expect many companies may now want their own offices, whilst enjoying the benefits of a ready-made workspace.

Turn-key solutions can be the ideal option for young companies and can help landlords let space quickly and maximise on rents. It has previously been fairly commonplace for landlords to provide a very basic fit (think laminate kitchenette and lots of grey carpet) but we are now seeing this go a step further and provide the full package, with glazed meeting rooms, vinyl floor coverings and quality features such as stylish fitted kitchens, pendant lighting and even
soft furnishings.

For the tenant, this offers them a seamless and low-cost transition from co-working into conventional offices. For the landlord, it gives them an opportunity to stand out from the crowd, minimise voids and maximise rents.

So, let’s give the people what they want, fast!

Look to the future

Moving office can be a complicated business. Everyone has their non-negotiables, their ‘must have’s’ and, of course, the ‘wish list’. Whilst trying to juggle this lot, many young companies forget to look forward and think about how their priorities may change as their business evolves.

In the long term, failing to consider how growth will change the way you use workspace can end up costing time and money trying to retrospectively adapt.

So how can we help you
futureproof your choices?

Flexibility.
We engage with the landlord to agree on the ideal lease terms for your company. The right lease term often includes carefully planned break options to ensure that if the business outgrows the space, there is an opportunity to move.

The building.
Large multi-tenanted buildings are a fantastic option for fast-growing companies. Landlords are often in a position to offer expansion space and continue to provide for the tenant as they grow.

Open space.
Not only does an open plan configuration allow you to create a bespoke workspace for your business, it is also easy to adapt in the future. We help find creative solutions to make an open space work for your growing team.

Latest technology.
Choosing the right digital tools can help transform our places of work, allowing us to operate more effectively. We are actively encouraging young companies to fast-track digital transformation and incorporate it into their business model. The ones that do will be ahead of the competition and able to provide an agile working environment, relieving pressure on physical office space as they grow.

The facts and figures

Up 5.6% on sq ft take-up compared to the same period over the last 5 years.

Black&Yellow is published quarterly, brought to you by Edwards&Co.

Address

Edwards & Co
26 King Street
Manchester
M2 6AY

Contact us

Edwards&Co
info@edwardsandco.com