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Year: 2019

How to meet and beat your New Year’s ambitions in business

Posted on by aleks

If you’re focusing on your career when making New Year’s resolutions for 2020, our serviced offices in London and Manchester can help you to take your business to the next level.

No matter what stage you’re at in business, it’s easy to take things up a notch and position yourself for greater success over the coming 12 months.

Even if you work from home as a freelancer, virtual offices in Manchester and London give you professional-looking contact details in two of the biggest cities in the north and south of England.

This is part of a seamless service which means that any communications sent via our virtual offices in London and Manchester are directed on to you so you can handle them personally.

But it gives you a postal address in MediaCity on Salford Quays, or adjacent to Canary Wharf on the Isle of Dogs, some of the most sought-after postcode districts in the country for businesses.

So if you’re a sole trader and want to raise the way you are perceived by your clients, a virtual office in London or Manchester could be an excellent New Year’s resolution for 2020 in its own right.

Let’s get physical

If you want a physical presence on-site, then our serviced offices in Manchester, MediaCity and London give you exactly that.

The address is the same as our virtual offices, so if you’ve previously made use of that service – and subject to availability – it may be possible for you to move into a physical serviced office in London or Manchester with the same postal address.

We understand that setting up a new business, especially when you start out as the only employee, is a scalable process, which is why we aim to give you the room you need to grow throughout 2020 and the rest of the new decade.

Serviced office space is one part of this, but it’s also helped by the availability of on-site meeting rooms for hire, so you don’t have to pay for meeting room space when you don’t need it, but it’s right there in the same building when you do.

These meeting rooms are well appointed and maintained to the high standards you’d expect, so when you need to host that crucial business meeting to discuss the next phase in your business’s growth, the space is there and ready for you.

Supporting personal New Year’s resolutions

Our serviced offices in Manchester and London can support personal New Year’s resolutions too, for example we offer cycle parking and on-site washrooms so you can freshen up if you’ve decided to cycle your commute as a way to get fit in 2020.

We recently looked at Lloyds Bank research that predicts cycling to work could save commuters over £700 a year, so there’s a financial benefit too.

But whatever you decide to prioritise for the new year, we’re here to help you achieve your ambitions in business by providing you with the professional workplace you need to reach those goals in 2020.

Offices in the North of England are on the agenda

Posted on by aleks

Initiatives like the Northern Powerhouse have ensured that offices in the North of England are on the agenda as we near the end of 2019.

Specialist finance company Together, which lends secured loans and mortgages including for business properties, surveyed 95 commercial landlords up and down the UK in late summer.

The results, published at the end of October, show the North West in the top three locations for investment.

More than a third (37%) of the survey’s respondents said the North West is currently one of the best regions in the UK for commercial property investment over the coming two years.

The same listed the North East, and only 2% more put the East Midlands at the top of their list, completing the top three regions in the research.

Why are offices in the North of England in demand?

Two fifths of those surveyed said that the Midlands Engine initiative had helped the region to the top of their list.

But even more – nearly half of respondents – cited the Northern Powerhouse as a reason why they had listed commercial properties including offices in the North West and North East higher.

Two fifths of the commercial landlords surveyed said that they expect to significantly increase their presence in the North of England in the next two years.

Of course at the Serviced Office Company we have had a proud presence here for many years with our serviced offices in the North West located close to Manchester city centre and offering Salford Quays and MediaCityUK postcodes.

Offices in the North storm ahead

The survey covered all kinds of commercial property, from offices, industrial and commercial units to residential premises like rental flats and houses, hotels and hospitality establishments.

But across the entire survey, it was offices in the North that came out on top with 49% of those surveyed listing them as one of the best growth opportunities for 2020-22.

This compares with only 44% who expect offices in the Midlands to offer equivalent potential over the same period of time.

Semi-commercial properties in the North also outperformed those in the Midlands, with 43% of Northern commercial landlords citing them as a strong growth opportunity compared with just 30% in the Midlands.

Get ahead of the curve

Such strong growth predictions from commercial landlords are a sure sign that demand is exceeding supply, especially as demand for offices in the North West grows in response to schemes like the Northern Powerhouse and a more general upswing in the region’s economy.

The 2010s were not the most stable decade for the UK economy, but as we move into the 2020s many optimistic businesses will be looking towards a brighter future.

Our serviced offices in Manchester and MediaCityUK are available to support ambitious businesses looking to capitalise on the huge potential of our region.

To find out more, contact us on 0800 319 6600 to let us know you’re interested in our serviced office space in Manchester, or use the details on our Contact Us page for any other available method to get in touch.

Give yourself a pay rise by cycling to work in serviced offices in Manchester

Posted on by aleks

With a new year on the way, you might be surprised by how many traditional New Year’s resolutions can be achieved by cycling to work in serviced offices in Manchester, by taking public transport, or even by walking if you live nearby.

Cycling is an active commute, it’s eco-friendly and it saves money – a bike doesn’t need any fuel other than the energy you put into it from your own legs.

That means cycling to work can play a huge part in New Year’s resolutions and other long-term lifestyle choices like:

  • Living a less sedentary lifestyle.
  • Spending less time sat in traffic.
  • Cutting your carbon footprint.
  • Getting healthy and more athletic.
  • Using fewer fossil fuels.

But for many of us – especially if you run your own business – it’s the prospect of saving on a big daily expense that might be most appealing and the real-terms pay rise this can represent in the new year.

How much does commuting by bike save?

Our serviced offices in Manchester are perfectly placed for commuting by bike to save money, carbon or to get fit.

They’re located in Salford Quays and MediaCityUK, and you can get detailed maps of cycle routes – both off-road and on quiet traffic roads – on the Transport for Greater Manchester website.

We offer secure cycle parking on-site and washroom facilities so you can freshen up after your morning commute, whatever the weather.

But how much extra money in your pocket will you have if you commute by bike?

According to recent research by Lloyds Bank, two in five people in the north-west don’t like their commute to and from work.

The average cost is just under £60 a month. That’s £720 over the course of a year – well over enough to pay for a city break to Barcelona, according to the research.

Miles Ravenhill, director at Lloyds Bank, said: “Commuters in the UK are spending almost £800 a year on their journey to and from work – the equivalent of a city break to sunny Europe.

“While many may dream of rolling out of bed and straight into the office, the daily commute is the perfect opportunity to invest in yourself, whether that’s keeping up with the latest news, unwinding to a podcast or relaxing to some music.”

How to cancel the commute completely

If a gentle cycle commute along the canal towpath doesn’t appeal to you, why not get a virtual office in Salford Quays instead?

This gives you a landline telephone number and postal address at our serviced offices in MediaCityUK or Salford Quays, but it’s all virtual.

Any communications are forwarded over to you to handle, allowing you to work from anywhere you want – even from your bed.

That cuts out the average hour-long commute completely, along with all of the associated costs of owning a car, buying public transport tickets, or even the relatively small cost of maintaining a bicycle.

If you’d like to spend more of 2020 in bed and less time on the road, a virtual office in Manchester‘s booming business districts of Salford Quays and MediaCityUK could be exactly what you’ve been looking for.

Serviced offices in London provide flexibility with privacy

Posted on by aleks

Flexibility and scalability are two of the key reasons why some businesses use co-working office space but, following recent research, serviced offices in London‘s most desirable areas could prove to be the better option.

In a typical co-working space there’s little privacy. This open-plan way of working is part of the point, to allow for collaboration and interaction between individuals, but it can leave workers with no space of their own to retreat to.

According to a recent study from the British Council for Offices, conducted in collaboration with the business architects Gensler, 40% of flexible office space users say they would prefer a more conventional workplace.

In London in particular, satisfaction with features relating to the space and the services provided is low, at 12% under the national average.

The capital deserves better – which is why we would urge anyone currently using co-working office space to consider our serviced offices in London instead.

Why choose serviced offices in London?

Serviced offices in London‘s busiest business districts – such as our serviced offices on the Isle of Dogs, a stone’s throw from Canary Wharf – give you access to high-quality office space and scalability to expand as your business and workforce grow in the future.

At the same time, they offer the advantages of flexible workspace, without the drawbacks. There are communal kitchen areas and breakout rooms, so you can talk to the other business owners and employees who work from the building.

Meeting rooms are available on-site when you need them – just book a room when you need to, so you’re not left to pay for meeting rooms in London when you don’t need them.

But crucially, and unlike co-working spaces, serviced offices give you privacy, with your own office space that you can brand as you wish, and a door you can close against the outside world when you want to focus on building your business.

This is a good match for the BCO research, which found that:

  • 69% of people collaborate more in flexible workspace.
  • 57% of flexible workspace users feel happier at work.
  • But only 29% said they concentrate more in co-working spaces.

Serviced offices are the ideal alternative, giving you all of the collaboration opportunities of sharing a building with other innovators and business leaders, but the privacy of your own office when you need to concentrate.

Inclusive and empowering

The key message from this research is that a workplace that supports only one style of working can be limiting, whereas a variety of spaces from private offices to meeting rooms to shared breakout rooms for relaxation can help to support different working styles.

Cesar Jeri, digital workplace strategy lead at Verizon, told the BCO: “A workspace needs to be first and foremost inclusive and empower people to make a choice so that it can address the needs of most, if not all, its end-users.”

Whether that’s one end-user or a growing business, our serviced offices in London can provide you with the scalable space you need to work the way you want.

How much office space is best for the environment?

Posted on by aleks

We’re proud of the many eco-friendly features of our serviced offices in London and Manchester, from facilities that make it easier for you to cycle to work or arrive by public transport, to meeting rooms for hire that reduce the amount of space left standing empty on any given day.

But a newly published study sheds light on how office buildings can work alongside homes and shops to provide a balanced, eco-friendly mix.

Researchers from the University of Calgary have worked out how much office space is best for the environment in mixed-use neighbourhoods.

They looked at how the proportions of residential, commercial and office space in a particular area can have an impact on its total greenhouse gas emissions and energy usage.

The findings are published in the December 2019 issue of the journal Energy and Buildings and the research paper has been made available online ahead of publication.

In their study, the researchers aimed to optimise energy performance and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by considering factors like building type, density and floor area.

The right balance of commercial and offices in residential areas

The study concluded that commercial buildings – including retail units, supermarkets and offices – should account for 22-32% of the total built land area.

The remainder should be residential, the researchers said, including a roughly even split between detached homes and attached homes such as apartments and townhouses.

Within the commercial space, they called for a split of 6-9% supermarkets, 18-45% retail units, and 46-75% office buildings.

Applying that to the 22-32% range already mentioned, that means for optimal energy performance and greenhouse gas emissions, offices should account for not less than a tenth of built area, and up to around a quarter.

The researchers attempted to take into account seasonal average hourly load in order to come up with a single optimal scenario.

“Optimising the hourly energy load profile, a scenario combining commercial land area of 25% with equal composition of office and retail buildings, to residential area consisting of equal proportion of single detached and townhouses can be selected,” they concluded.

Environmentally friendly serviced offices

Serviced offices are great news for the environment, as they help to reduce the amount of floor space that goes to waste, allowing many small and growing businesses to occupy the same premises.

This is naturally more resource efficient, and we take this further by using devices to reduce water consumption, automatically turn off lights when they are not needed, and provide recycling facilities to our tenants.

We encourage you to arrive via public transport, with easy links to our serviced offices in London and Manchester, or cycle to work and shower in our on-site washrooms if you need to freshen up.

Together, all of these features and facilities add up to resource efficient, energy efficient serviced offices that still meet and exceed the expectations of our tenants.

In this way we are able to do our bit to minimise our impact on the environment alongside the retail and residential buildings around us in the vibrant mixed-use communities we serve.

Office workers want privacy, quiet and natural views

Posted on by aleks

Recently published research reveals that office workers want improved privacy, peace and quiet, and access to natural views and daylight – all of which you can find in abundance in our serviced office space.

The research was carried out as part of a thesis by Cornell University Master of Science Student Teresa Mary Bevacqua and made available via the university’s website.

She looked at a variety of factors that can influence an employee’s satisfaction with their workplace, specifically in an office environment and including things like privacy, noise levels, natural daylight and views of the outside world.

Her research revealed that office workers appreciate having a level of control over their environment, including the option of working in a private setting without distracting noise, and with the ability to take in natural views and daylight.

How to help office workers remember

An interesting theme in Ms Bevacqua’s literature review is that of memory. She found numerous references to office workers’ memory in previous studies of workplace variables.

For example, she found that noisy workplaces, particularly when associated with low motivation and employee exhaustion, can lead to poorer recollection.

In contrast, warm lighting conditions – where light is less bluish and more yellowish – can boost long-term recall and recognition.

These surprising conclusions from previous studies seem to suggest that a quiet office environment with warm lighting or natural daylight can actually lead to office workers having a better memory for information learned while at work.

What’s a good view?

If you’re going to have natural daylight streaming in from the windows, the next question is what will you see when you look outside?

Ms Bevacqua noted “an abundance of health benefits” that arise from having access to views of nature from inside the workplace, such as less impact from headaches and reduced discomfort relating to issues of concentration.

Some of the natural views considered “more restorative than others” include flowers and foliage, along with calm or slowly moving water, something you’ll find outside the windows of our serviced offices in Manchester and London alike.

Her research even found one individual who struggled to see their work because their chair blocked the light – a good example of how artificial light can be unfit for purpose.

Putting you in control

We are proud to provide serviced office space that puts you in control of many different factors in how you use your work space.

Our serviced offices have large windows to let in as much natural light as possible, with views out across the water of either Salford Quays for our serviced offices in Manchester, or the River Thames for our serviced offices in London.

You get your own offices, so you can make your space as quiet or as bustling as you wish, with the option to book meeting rooms for extra privacy and peace when you need it.

All of this adds up to a workplace that you can enjoy, delivering on all of the many and varied benefits mentioned above.

Flexible affordable Manchester office space

Posted on by aleks

Our serviced offices in Manchester are helping businesses to access flexible affordable Manchester office space at a time when commercial rents in the city are rising.

Manchester office space is rising in value, according to a report from Colliers International, and the city joins Bristol, Edinburgh and Glasgow in posting an annual increase in commercial rents of more than 5%.

This demand is testament to the city’s appeal for new and growing businesses, and at the Serviced Office Company we are here to provide flexible affordable Manchester office space to help SMEs get off the ground.

With serviced offices in Manchester’s most desirable business locations, as well as services like our ad hoc Manchester meeting rooms and virtual offices in Manchester’s M5 and M50 postcodes, there are plenty of options even for small businesses and sole traders.

Getting the best value from your office space

Mark Taylor, head of national offices at Colliers, said: “Major regional cities such as Manchester and Edinburgh continue to see prime headline rent increase year on year.”

For businesses of all sizes this makes it even more important to get the best value from your office space.

Our serviced offices in Manchester allow you to do just that, giving you fully furnished, white label office space that you can add your own branding and finishing touches to.

When you need to grow, you can expand into larger offices on the same site, subject to availability, while our Manchester meeting rooms can be booked on an ad hoc basis to save money too.

An efficient way to work

Office space in Manchester is at a premium right now, and our serviced offices in MediaCity and Salford Quays are an efficient use of commercial real estate space.

You get your own private offices – so when you want to keep your business behind closed doors, you can.

But there are also communal facilities such as kitchen areas and relaxing, informal breakout rooms, giving you flexible ways to work that still make efficient use of the space available.

Again, our ad hoc meeting rooms mean they are left empty less often throughout the working week, as different tenants make use of the space at different times.

Go virtual and work from anywhere

Finally, if you want a business address on Exchange Quay or Clippers Quay, at the meeting point between central Manchester, Salford Quays and the in-demand MediaCityUK development, we’ve got you covered.

You can open a virtual office in Manchester‘s most desirable business postcode districts by having us host you at the Serviced Office Company’s premises there.

This gives you a physical postal address and a telephone number that you can give to clients, which allows them to contact you via our premises.

Again it’s completely white label, so you can add your own branding to your address and contact details as you see fit.

If you don’t need physical office space but you still want the credentials of a central Manchester location, virtual offices in Manchester’s M5 and M50 postcode districts are a great option and are less affected by the level of demand for physical offices in the city.

A quarter of London office space is let before it is built

Posted on by aleks

Demand for good quality London office space is so high that almost a quarter of it has already been let despite not being due to complete construction until some time in the next four years.

That’s according to a report from Savills, which said 22% of new-build office space due for completion in the next four years already has tenants.

In the West End, out of all the major office refurbishments and new commercial real estate developments due to complete in the next 12 months, 55% of space has already been let out.

Ed Betts, co-head of the West End office agency team at Savills, said: “We expect to see more pre-lets from the insurance and financial sector over the next few years with the sector accounting for over a quarter of occupiers with upcoming lease events in the West End.”

London office space lets up 14% in 2019

Figures published by Savills in early September 2019 showed a 14% increase in the amount of London office space let out for the year to date, compared with the long-term average.

Some 2.5 million square feet of commercial real estate has found occupants in the year so far, including over 230,000 square feet in June and almost twice as much, 435,000 square feet, let out in July.

Nearly a third of this is pre-let office space, with 32% based in Soho, a sign that location is still very much a deciding factor when choosing business space in London, but also that demand is outpacing supply even as new-builds and office refurbs come online.

Serviced offices in London’s prime locations

At the Serviced Office Company we aim to provide serviced offices in London’s most desirable locations for businesses that choose to benefit from the advantages of flexible, scalable office space in this way.

Our serviced offices in London are just a stone’s throw from Canary Wharf on the Isle of Dogs, with stunning views of the River Thames – a truly iconic location for any business.

Public transport access is excellent, and there are plenty of amenities both on-site and in the surrounding area, helping to make your day at work a more comfortable and enjoyable one.

We have a rich and diverse variety of tenants, with communal areas that allow you (if you choose) to interact with your counterparts from other businesses and sectors.

More ways to access flexible office space in London

As well as our serviced offices in London, we also offer several other services from the same premises, making an even more flexible and scalable way to run your business.

Our on-site London meeting rooms can be hired as and when you need them, meaning you’re not paying for rooms that are left empty for most of the day, but you have a professional, private room there when you need it.

Alternatively, we run virtual offices in London from the same address, allowing you to have desirable contact details on the banks of the Thames no matter where you are physically located.

Virtual offices and meeting rooms let you live the ‘digital nomad’ lifestyle

Posted on by aleks

More and more people are choosing to live and work as ‘digital nomads’ and with services like virtual offices and meeting rooms, you can do just that.

Digital nomads enjoy a work-life balance that comes from the ability to travel around and work from wherever they go.

In fact, in a recently published article in World Leisure Journal, Marko Orel from the University of Economics in Prague noted that they are often mistaken for tourists because they can be out and about in the daytime instead of hidden away in a workplace.

He wrote: “Digital nomads seem thrilled by the relativization of geographical distances made possible by working virtually from any location.

“However, it appears that they still tend to use similar workplace infrastructures regardless of the geographical area of their stay.”

Go nomad with a virtual office address

A virtual office address allows you to keep the same business contact details even if you decide to travel around.

Your virtual office address is tied to a physical Serviced Office Company building in London, Manchester or MediaCityUK.

When a client wants to contact you, they can write or call and we will forward their communication seamlessly on to you.

Virtual offices give you an outward appearance of professionalism and a permanent presence in your target market, even when you are physically located somewhere many miles away.

Make contact with meeting rooms

If you ever need to meet face to face with clients, customers and other business contacts, our meeting rooms give you the ability to do just that.

You can hire meeting rooms ad hoc so if you don’t hold many meetings, you don’t have to pay for a room that you hardly ever use.

Best of all, because the meeting rooms are located in the same Serviced Office Company building as your virtual office address, this gives you a seamless physical presence using your usual contact details.

Come home to serviced office space

Finally, if you decide to take a break from travelling around, serviced office space is a great way to establish a physical workplace quickly and easily.

Again we have serviced office space in Manchester, MediaCityUK and London, so you can set up in the north-west or south-east, whichever you prefer.

That means you can make full use of the digital nomad lifestyle to test the waters in both parts of the country – with virtual office addresses in both the north and south to see where your biggest market is based.

And then, once you have decided which region works best for you or which you would most like to live in, you’re ready to make the switch from a virtual office address to physical serviced office space without having to change your business cards and letterheads.

Of course there’s no reason why you have to settle down in one place – with virtual offices and physical meeting rooms available when you need them, you can live the digital nomad lifestyle for as long as you choose.