Latest news with #officeSpace
Daily Mail
03-07-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
West end landlord Great Portland Estates cashes in on Work From Home crackdown
West End landlord Great Portland Estates has been boosted by demand for premium office space in 'a market starved of supply'. It has signed 17 leases and renewals since April 1, worth around £20.7million in rent a year. A further £7.7miillion worth of rent is under offer. It comes as firms dramatically cut the homeworking they allow amid fears that it has stifled productivity and career progression. And rents have been driven up by a lack of supply after office investment dipped during the pandemic. Great Portland expects rental growth for the year of 4 per cent to 7 per cent, and more across its prime locations, as demand booms. The firm, which owns sites in central London including in Oxford Street, said rents were up 6.7 per cent compared with March. It recently let 62,500 sq ft of office space to US private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice on a 15-year lease, signed a year before the property is complete.
Argaam
01-07-2025
- Business
- Argaam
Knight Frank sees higher demand for offices, hotels in Saudi Arabia
Knight Frank stated that government initiatives — particularly the Regional Headquarters Program — are driving increased demand for office space in Saudi Arabia, especially in Riyadh. Around 600 companies announced plans to establish their regional headquarters in the city, significantly boosting demand for prime office space and reshaping the quality of services and amenities offered in the market. In its latest report on Saudi Arabia, the firm noted that office vacancy rates in Riyadh remain low. "Grade A" office rents surged by 23% year-on-year (YoY) in Q1 2025, reaching a record high of SAR 2,700 per square meter. "Grade B" office rents also climbed 24% YoY over the same period, as a shortage of premium space led companies to seek alternatives. Knight Frank expects some improvement over the next two years, with approximately 2.7 million square meters of new office spaces projected to be delivered across the Kingdom. The report also highlighted strong occupancy levels in Jeddah, where office rents continue to rise steadily. This trend is supported by growing demand and sustained investment from leading private sector firms. "Grade A" office rents in Jeddah rose by 4%, while "Grade B" rents increased by 6% during the same period.
Associated Press
24-06-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
Prestige Offices Relaunches Podcast on London's Iconic Office Buildings
Prestige Offices reboots podcast that delves into London's past by examining historically significant buildings that now deliver premium office space. London, UK - Prestige Offices, a London office space rental agency, has announced the relaunch of its podcast series, which uncovers the UK capital's past by researching the history of iconic properties that now offer premium office space for modern businesses. The podcast was originally launched in 2020 and ran until 2023, with episodes exploring buildings with eclectic, original uses. These ranged from Art Deco ballrooms to depots for the Michelin tyre company, now repurposed to offer flexible office space and workspace solutions to modern occupiers within characterful surroundings. Edward Lewis, Head of Research at Prestige Offices, said: 'We ran the podcast for two years during the pandemic and very much enjoyed sharing what we learned about London's rich history through researching the celebrated buildings now offering first-class business space, and the districts that they sit within.' The podcast, London's Best Office Spaces – The Links Between London's Past and the Modern World, features episodes about the neoclassical Victoria House in Holborn, the Old Bailey, the house in Mayfair where Queen Elizabeth II was born, the banking hall where a customer in 1834 cashed the first cheque drawn on a bank in the City of London, and the district in which The Shard stands. The podcast series forms part of Prestige Offices ' broader commitment to uncovering the links between buildings offering modern workspace solutions and London's cultural heritage. By integrating historical context into its brand narrative through a range of media, including the modern medium of podcasts, the agency aims to enhance understanding of the unique character and legacy behind each property and its location. Edward Lewis added: 'The research team took a hiatus from producing the podcast series whilst significantly upgrading the website by adding several new properties in numerous locations across London. The by-product of the enrichment exercise has been the discovery of a new bounty of fascinating facts. The team is excited to share these findings through the podcast relaunch.' Media Contact Company Name: Prestige Offices Contact Person: Edward Lewis Email: Send Email Phone: 02037406065 Address:26 Dover Street, Mayfair City: London, W1S 4LY State: GB Country: United Kingdom Website: Source: PR Company
Yahoo
19-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trophy offices in Canada's big cities are outperforming the rest. That's not normal
Demand for premium office space in Canada's biggest cities has been extraordinarily resilient, a new report from Colliers Canada says, dramatically outpacing the performance of lower-tier buildings as paradigm shifts continue to reshape work culture. This year, vacancy rates for A-, B- and C-class office buildings are around 16 per cent, while trophy-, or AAA-, class buildings had a vacancy rate of around seven per cent — the widest gap in at least a decade and a striking shift from pre-pandemic norms, when cheaper buildings were typically more in demand. 'If you look historically, that's not usually what happens,' said Adam Jacobs, Colliers Canada's head of research, in an interview with Yahoo Finance Canada. 'But there is kind of a new reality of work that we're all trying to figure out. You know, the return to the office.' The Colliers report says that 'demand is increasingly consolidating around top-tier, best-in-class spaces, with tenants prioritizing quality, location, and amenities over cost alone.' Colliers data show lower-tier buildings having generally lower vacancy rates than trophy-class from 2015 to 2020, which Jacobs says is the norm. The gap peaked in 2017 with trophy-class vacancy rates 3.3 percentage points higher than for lower-tier. The vacancy rates for trophy and lower classes drew even in 2019. Through the pandemic, vacancy rates rose for all building types — but the rise was steeper for lower tier. Around 2023, vacancies in AAA-class buildings levelled off and began to decline, while lower-tier vacancies continued higher. The lower-tier vacancy rate is now 8.9 percentage points higher than for AAA. There is a feeling among certain tenants especially, 'We've got to give the employees a reason to be here.'Adam Jacobs, Colliers Canada Colliers notes similar widening spreads for availability (similar to vacancy but also including currently occupied units that can be leased) and absorption (the amount of space being newly occupied or newly vacant). 'The gap between AAA and the rest of downtown [office space] is just becoming larger and larger and larger to the point where I'm not sure how much larger it can get,' Jacobs said. Most of the recent premium buildings in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver had big-name tenants before construction started — Jacobs pointed to a 'big boom' in tech companies looking for 'the top-drawer stuff.' Since then, the Colliers report notes, trophy-class demand has been 'further supported by renewals, lease extensions, and general interest in top-tier premises where large pockets of vacant space had been unlocked.' One of the drivers of this interest, Jacobs says, is the pressure the era of working from home has put on employers now trying to bring employees back to the office full or part-time. 'There is a feeling among certain tenants especially, 'We've got to give the employees a reason to be here,'' Jacobs said. ''We have great amenities. We have great coffee, we have great food, we have a great view, we have a prayer room, we have a green building. We have everything, you know, tick every box.'' Location is also a factor, with proximity to transit corridors essential for people less willing to deal with arduous commutes and parking. 'It's harder and harder and harder to get downtown than it used to be,' Jacobs said. 'And that sort of weirdly benefited these really premium buildings, because it's like, just get on the suburban train, show up at the main rail station and you're a one-minute walk from your building. Because [AAA class] have the best locations.' Regardless, the current reality is highly unusual, Jacobs says. "AAA office is a luxury product. Like, it's expensive, and I would say most tenants can't afford AAA office. So generally it has a bit higher vacancy." Colliers says the vacancy rate gap is 'expected to peak as premium supply tightens, driving renewed interest in broader downtown inventory,' as more firms look to bring workers back to their offices. Jacobs says several factors — the 'boom or bust' development cycle, a tough lending environment for major real estate developments, the major pension funds largely investing outside of commercial real estate — mean there won't be any new premium office spaces in the next five years. That alone means some organizations will eventually seek out options in the next tier. 'This has already been a very prolonged increase in vacancy,' Jacobs said. "It's usually like, vacancy goes up for maybe two, two-and-a-half years, and it levels off, and then it starts coming back down. It's been going up for five-and-a-half years, and we are still waiting for it to peak.' John MacFarlane is a senior reporter at Yahoo Finance Canada. Follow him on X @jmacf. Download the Yahoo Finance app, available for Apple and Android. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
The Independent
14-06-2025
- Business
- The Independent
The City's U-turn on WFH tells you everything you need to know about bad bosses
Barclays has taken overflow office space in Shoreditch. HSBC, having decided to relocate from Canary Wharf to new headquarters near St Paul's, is looking for extra room, including moving some workers back to Canary Wharf (and has told staff that their bonuses could be cut unless they're back in the office). JPMorgan and BBVA are finding accommodating everyone a tight squeeze. And BlackRock is also struggling to fit in all its staff. Some City firms are using a booking system, which sees those who wish to come to the office having to reserve a slot, such is the demand for desks. After three years, Citigroup has shut its Malaga outpost, billed as providing a better work-life balance for the bank's analysts, and steered its staff to London. What distinguishes all these financial corporations and others is that they claim to only recruit the brightest and the best. They make fortunes from advising the rest of us, along with businesses and governments, how to manage our affairs. On deals, they take command, devise strategy, issue orders and tell those involved how to behave. Yet when it comes to their own internal management, they are all over the place. We've seen it before, of course – the sector is littered with numerous instances of banks and investment houses being penalised huge sums for their poor conduct or for showing a lax attitude to other people's money. Frequently, they've set out on one course only to change direction, usually at a substantial cost in both money and people. Their approach to working from home (WFH) and remote working shows a herd instinct – something of which they are often guilty. If their customers did the same, these companies would be the first to complain and criticise. This is the most stark example of the confusion that rages around hybrid working, certainly in Britain. A recent study by King's College London found that Britain is the remote-working capital of Europe, with UK employees WFH 1.8 days a week on average – a number that is well above the global average of 1.3 days, and the highest in Europe. Globally, only Canadians average more days a week at home, WFH for 1.9 days. Dr Cevat Giray Aksoy, associate professor of economics at King's and lead economist at the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development, says: 'Remote work has moved from being an emergency response to becoming a defining feature of the UK labour market.' Dr Aksoy, who also advises the House of Lords on policy regarding the implications of remote working for productivity and labour markets, adds: 'This shift is forcing businesses, policymakers and city planners to reimagine everything from office space to transport to regional growth.' But is it? While his study may point to Britain being out in front or lagging, depending on how the figures are viewed, growing apocryphal evidence indicates something different. The City, for one, is signalling 'enough'. Stockbroker Panmure Liberum, reports the Financial Times, has joined Deutsche Bank in barring staff from working at home on consecutive Mondays and Fridays. UBS has told its folk they must be in on either Mondays or Fridays or both, as one of their three mandated days in the office. Broker Peel Hunt insists on four days a week in the office, while traders at Man Group are up to five. Santander views five days as the default option. Goldman Sachs regards WFH as an 'aberration'. JPMorgan chief Jamie Dimon, probably the most influential banker on the planet, argues that remote working allows 'bad habits to develop'. Where the City leads, like it or not, the rest of the country, business and organisation-wise, tends to follow. Brightmine, which studies HR practices, claims that 15.1 per cent of UK companies have reduced their WFH hours. Slowly but surely, the TWaTs – those who go in on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays – have begun to retreat. What began as a temporary solution to Covid and morphed into a trend, then a stampede, is coming to an end. Commuter numbers are edging towards their pre-pandemic levels. There will be those who resist, and there are bound to be lingering pockets of refuseniks, but by and large, Britain will fall into line. Maybe not reaching all five days, but the number WFH will be lower than it is currently, and will no longer be an outlier. It was predictable, and the banks for one should have seen what was likely to happen. After all, that is what they do, paying huge sums to smart graduates and deploying state-of-the-art technology to forecast the future. Seemingly no amount of qualifications from Stanford and MIT, no brilliant algorithms or AI, no 'thought leadership' gleaned in sessions at Davos or elsewhere, prepared them. This, too, in spite of the refusal of the mighty Goldman and JPMorgan's Dimon to play ball. If they had only stopped to think, it would have been obvious. Those super-smart hires are also intensely ambitious. How you get ahead, anywhere, is by standing out, making the boss sit up and notice. It's by showing that creative spark, which often results from being in the right spot at the right time. Convenient as they may be, the stultifying environments of Zoom or Teams, or even the sunny delights of Malaga and the Costa del Sol, are not that place. Ours – again, like it or not – is a globally connected world where commerce and trade are concerned. Nowhere more so than in banking. Why should workers in London, or the UK, operate to a different standard from everyone else? It does not make sense. At present, many employers are on the cusp; they are playing a balancing game. They are keen to not dissuade, and some Gen-Z and millennial employees expect to have the option to work from home. For now. But as they see those who spend more time in the office forging closer relationships with the chiefs, and winning promotions and higher salaries, it is surely a matter of when, not if, that changes.
