Hybrid working…what next?

On 16 March 2020, Boris Johnson announced that “now is the time for everyone to stop non-essential contact and travel”. Exactly 2 years on and three national Lockdowns later, what does the future of work look like?

I have spent the last 30 years tracking the progress of remote or hybrid working as it is now termed. So when I was asked to moderate a seminar on the subject, I jumped at the opportunity.

The event was entitled ‘The Return v3.0’ and was held at the Everyman St Johns cinema in Manchester on 17 March 2022. The organisation hosting the event was the North West entrepreneur networking group known as the K-Club.

We invited 4 speakers to present including one of TAG’s long standing clients, Irwell Valley Homes. The presentations were followed by a panel discussion involving questions from the audience.

The speakers covered topics ranging from emerging technologies to the latest legal advice. We got to hear from one of the world’s leading manufacturers of office environments as well as a recent adopter of hybrid working.

Topics and Speaker Line Up

• Technology: How can technology help overcome the challenges of hybrid working?

  Claire Owen, Joint Founder YoomiApp

• Legal/HR: How is hybrid working changing the relationship between employer and employee and what should employers be doing about it?

  Lucy Flynn, Director, Beyond Corporate

• Operations:  What are the major lessons learnt by an early adopter of hybrid working?

   Claire Griffiths, Director, Irwell Valley Homes

• Property: How is the property sector responding to the shift to hybrid working and what will the office of the future look like?

   Hania Arafat, Global Design Consultant, Steelcase

Here is a round up of the key learning points from the event.

Introduction 

The location in which we undertake our work is important as it affects pretty much every aspect of our society. It can impact the number and character of shops we have on our local High Street, the quality of our public transport and even the value of our home. Less obvious impacts include our mental health and our career prospects.

The term ‘Hybrid Working’ can mean different things to different people. To understand what hybrid means in practical terms the audience were asked which of the following three categories* of worker they felt they associated with most: 

• ‘Owner’ - those who are based full-time in the office

• ‘Zoner’  - those that work from home, at the office and ‘third places’ (e.g.’s client office, train, coffee shop)

• ‘Homer’ - those that work more or less exclusively from home

*these terms were developed by Unispace which is a global workplace design consultancy.

According to a Business Survey carried out by the Daily Telegraph on 7 March 2022, the UK currently has more or less equal numbers of workers in each category. Of course, that could change over time.

So what did our speakers think the impacts of hybrid working will be?

Here is a summary of the main “takeaways” from each speaker’s presentation.

Technology (Claire Owen, Yoomi App)

Claire explained the role that tech can play in overcoming some of the challenges posed by remote or hybrid working. She used her company’s new app as an example. 

She demonstrated that tech can be used to address two major challenges of remote working namely, employee engagement and line management. The great benefits of technology include the simplification of process and the generation of real time data.

In the case of the Yoomi app, imoji’s provide a simple and effective mechanism for staff to explain how they are feeling about their productivity and general wellbeing. The data that is generated allows line managers to react to issues in real time. This makes them far more effective than before. It also makes staff feel connected and valued by the organisation.  

Legal/HR (Lucy Flynn, Beyond Corporate)

Lucy Flynn’s presentation left the audience in no doubt that employers have a major challenge on their hands if they want employees to return to the office full time. 

She explained that the right for UK staff to request flexible working has been around since 2003 and that the effectiveness of home working over the last 2 years has made it significantly harder for employers to deny such a request. 

She concluded that if employers push too hard for staff to return to the office, staff are likely to do one of two things. Either leave to join a business that offers hybrid working or make a formal request for flexible working. The latter could create a damaging precedent for all staff within the company. Her advice is to adopt a consensual approach based on persuasion rather than coercion.

Operations (Claire Griffiths, Irwell Homes)

Claire Griffiths outlined the journey that her organisation had been on for two years before the pandemic hit and what had been learned as a result.

She explained that the meaning of hybrid definitely varied from one employee to another and that the adoption of new ways of working relied on being sensitive to this and the fact that there is a very real risk that resentment can creep in between different groups of staff.

Claire also highlighted the need to continually evolve the physical office space which in Irwell Valley’s case acts very much as a hub for social interaction and collaboration.

It was striking that she said the main benefits of the move to hybrid were related to the physical aspects of their new office environment. The move to the state of the art Soapworks development in Salford Quays had only been possible by the savings that had been realised by reducing the organisation’s office footprint by over 50%.

The benefits she cited included an ability to attract and retain better quality talent, increased collaboration both within and between teams and a more positive work culture where personal accountability had become far more the norm.

Property (Hania Arafat, Steelcase)

Hania described how hybrid was revolutionizing the layout of an office and how the old 80/20 rule was being turned on its head. In other words, instead of having roughly 20% of the office dedicated to meeting rooms and break out areas and the rest given over to uniform rows of desks arranged in open plan, in the future offices could have 80% of space dedicated to socializing and meeting spaces and just 20% to traditional desking.

This dramatic change in the physical arrangement reflects a shift in the function of the office from being an ‘information factory’ to a space in which collaboration, innovation and socialization are the priority.

If you would like to learn more about hybrid working and how to formulate a property strategy around it, please call Martyn Markland on 0161 457 1422 or email him at mm@tenantag.co.uk

A taxing move

MBL’s new home is this prominent multi-let office building close to Altrincham town cwntre.

Sometimes, relocation can present unexpected challenges. And so it was for a new client of ours, MBL (Business & Tax Advisers) Ltd. It provides specialist accountancy and tax advice to the property, creative and family owned business sectors. See www.mbl.solutions

The firm’s offices at Altrincham Business Park became surplus to its needs in 2021. They had interest in their lease from a neighbouring tenant. However, it was proving difficult to secure consent from the landlord to the assignment of their lease. In the meanwhile, MBL were under intense pressure to commit to a newly available suite in Fairbank House (pictured above).

‘TAG were recommended to us by our solicitor when we needed to dispose of an office building that was surplus to our requirements. Despite some significant challenges which threatened to derail the transaction, they were able to re-structure the terms in such a way that each party was satisfied with the result.’

Mike Bulcock, Managing Director of MBL.

MBL’s office building at Altrincham Business Park

The solicitor acting for MBL, Andrew Marsden of HHB Law, kindly suggested that TAG should be asked to review the transaction and offer its advice. We reviewed the case and recommended that the deal ought to be re-structured as a sub-letting instead of a lease assignment. We then proceeded to negotiate terms for a new sub-lease with the interested party. As part of that process we secured the advance payment of 12 month’s rent and a contribution towards the cost of a Schedule of Condition survey taken just prior to handover. This approach allowed the disposal to proceed far quicker and smoother than the original assignment route whilst mitigating the bulk of MBL’s contingent lease liabilities.

We also went on to review the heads of terms for MBL’s new offices and were able to negotiate some enhancements which will help further protect MBL’s interests going forward.

If you are experiencing similar challenges with an office disposal or a new acquisition, please call Martyn Markland on 0161 457 1422 or email him at mm@tenantag.co.uk

Manchester's Landlords reach for the sky in 2022!

The roof terrace on the fourteenth floor of Chancery Place is currently being transformed into a facility that all tenants can enjoy, not just those that can afford to lease the penthouse floor.

Five years ago, none of Manchester’s multi-let office buildings had a communal roof terrace. Now, there are around a dozen with more on the way.

There are over 350 multi-let office buildings in Manchester’s Central Business District (‘CBD’). Yet only a handful feature a communal roof terrace. But why is that? Is the weather in Manchester really that bad? And why are so many roof terraces now being opened up for communal use?

The communal roof terrace at Chancery Place will be complemented by a new business lounge and boardroom, both of which will have spectacular views over the city.

Traditionally, a roof terrace was a corporate status symbol mainly because the rent for the penthouse suite usually carried a hefty premium. But things appear to be changing, and the COVID pandemic might have something to do with it.

Understandably, both landlords and their corporate tenants want staff to return to the office as soon as it is safe to do so. That way, landlords get to maintain their rental incomes and tenants get to boost their productivity. Roof terraces appear to be one of several tools now being used to help motivate staff to return to the office.

Whether it is somewhere staff can socialise or simply get away from it all and enjoy some downtime, these spectacular open air spaces certainly offer something different to a cramped bedroom or home office. They could also offer staff some health benefits by helping them to top up their Vitamin D which in turn, could boost their immune systems. No a bad thing right now!

For those looking to embrace the concept of ‘agile working’, roof terraces provide an attractive alternative to the conventional work settings found within most corporate offices. In fact, many of the new communal roof terraces feature seating with built-in power sockets, free Wi-Fi and weather protected work areas to facilitate activity based working.

The latest communal roof terrace can be found at Aviva Investors’ 11 York Street which completed in December 2021.

Although Manchester (or ‘Rainchester’ as it is known to some) might not be blessed with the sunniest of climes, it does have some interesting architecture. And a lot of it getting taller by the day. The city’s skyline is therefore becoming more dramatic to look at. This may be yet another reason why an increasing number of landlords are looking upwards for inspiration.

The expansive roof terrace at Windmill Green where there is a real buzz in the air.

Finally, it is worth noting that not all roof terraces are created equal. At Windmill Green on Mount Street for example, you will find that beehives have been installed. This innovative feature certainly reinforces the building’s green credentials. In fact, it has helped it achieve a BREEAM ‘Outstanding’ rating making it Manchester’s “greenest” building.

Apparently, tenants can enjoy the fruits of the bees’ labour at no extra charge. Now that is how to sweeten an office leasing deal AND create a buzz around your office! 

If you would like more information on buildings that offer a communal roof terrace or on-site beehives for that matter, please call Martyn Markland at Tenant Advisory Group on 0161 457 1422 or email him at mm@tenantag.co.uk

Business Parks - back to the future?

The original ‘Back to the Future’ film was released in 1985 and starred Michael J Fox as a teenager in a time-travelling DeLorean automobile built by his eccentric scientist friend Doctor Emmett "Doc" Brown (Christopher Lloyd).  

*Photograph courtesy of Shutterstock

Business Parks first appeared in North America in the early 1950’s. Here in the UK, it was not until planning laws changed in 1987 that Business Parks really took off. By the late nineties though, they went into decline. But things are changing and the pandemic may be the reason why.

The UK’s first Business Parks opened their doors in the South East of England in 1988. They were located in Fleet in Hampshire (Ancells Business Park), Guildford in Surrey (Guildford Business Park) and Reading in Berkshire (Winnersh Triangle).

To put things into context, 1988 was the year that Comic Relief held its first Red Nose Day. Margaret Thatcher became the longest serving British Prime Minister of the twentieth century. Also worth noting, UK Base Lending Rate was 12.875% (today it is 0.10%) and the median house price was £90,000 (it was £265,000 in June 2021).

So why did it take so long for us to develop business parks compared to the Americans? The answer is simple. It was against the law. You see until ‘The Town & Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 1987’ came into force in June 1987 and introduced a new use class called B1, business park development was not permitted in the UK. Up until then, the concept of having groups of hi-tech production units and offices located together in a parkland setting wasn’t something the UK government was in favour of. Instead, its priority had been to concentrate office development in urban centres in order to encourage much needed re-generation after years of neglect and under-investment in the post-war era.

Ancells Business Park, Fleet Hampshire, opened 1988.

Chiswick Park June 2018

Ancells Business Park in Fleet, Hampshire opened in 1988. Developed on a 20-acre edge of town site alongside the M3 motorway and just an hour’s drive from London, the park would eventually benefit from a new motorway junction (4a) making it an ideal location for businesses seeking access to the regional motorway network.

The change in the use classes order opened the floodgates to new forms of development. Large, master planned environments with attractive lakes and on-site amenities started to emerge. Businesses began to relocate out of the town. The abundant free car parking helped fuel demand as many office workers were tired of the expense and daily grind of the commute. Soon retail parks and new housing estates started to develop to support these new business hubs.

The success of business parks of course, came at a price. Demand for offices in suburban town centres and for lower quality buildings in city centres declined as footloose and often price sensitive occupiers moved to the cheaper, more accessible out-of-town parks.

Over time however, environmental pressures mounted and the emphasis shifted once more towards town and city centres. As a result, business parks started to fall out of favour in the late nineties and early noughties. In recent years, demand has been so weak that some of the original business parks developed in the late 1980’s have been considered for conversion to residential use.

But the pendulum may be about to swing the other way. In the last 6 months, I have witnessed a resurgence in demand for business park offices. The main driver appears to be the desire to attract staff back to the office by making it as easy and stress free as possible for them to do so. One way of achieving this is to provide free parking outside the front door of the office. This allows staff to avoid public transport and the perceived risk that this presents in terms of virus transmission. There is also the fact that new more agile workstyles enable staff to avoid the traditional rush hour congestion helping them to strike a better home life/work life balance.

Of course, offices on business parks also tend to be cheaper to rent than those in city centres so there is usually a cost saving for the employer to factor in as well.

It is also easier to purchase a property on a business park than in a town or city centre so that can be an added draw for some business owners.

Whilst there might well be a business park renaissance underway, it seems unlikely that we will see a major political shift to encouraging out-of-town office development. The sustainability objections are now just too strong, I think. However, I think there is a chance that satellite offices located in suburbs with strong public transport connectivity could prove attractive to those businesses looking for a half-way house. That may explain why town centres such as Altrincham in Greater Manchester are currently experiencing such strong demand.

If you would like advice on your office relocation, please call Martyn Markland on 0161 457 1422 or email him at mm@tenantag.co.uk