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Month: November 2021

The visible presence of serviced offices

Posted on by aleks

A report published by the University College of Estate Management has predicted that serviced offices could become an even more visible style of workplace in cities of the future.

The report, titled City 2040: The Pressures on UK Cities – An Opportunity for Change, addresses a number of key themes including the aim to achieve cleaner air, access to public and private land, equity and exchange, and clustering and proximity.

Under the section on clustering and proximity, the study predicts an increase in ‘dispersion’ as more people work remotely or from home, potentially accompanied by a rise in people working in home-based self-employed roles.

However, alongside this, the paper adds: “There is likely to be an increased demand for locally based workspaces, either divided into single company domains or shared between multiple workers running, or employed in, different businesses.”

The future of local serviced offices

This potential future trend is one we have already seen in recent years, as serviced offices in CBDs and on the edges of city centres have gained importance as locations for smaller branch offices, allowing companies to operate in a more geographically dispersed way.

In the City 2040 report, the researchers add: “Serviced office spaces are common already, but they may well become standard and more visible presences in local centres.”

As this takes shape over the coming 20 years, it is important to note that this does not decrease larger businesses’ ability to function, but unlocks benefits for big firms that many SMEs in serviced offices are already well aware of.

“Conventional business premises will continue but may be better able to operate from local centres, as an increased range of other businesses around them provides a supportive network of services and companies,” the study explains.

Unlocking access to serviced offices

These workplaces are already available – our serviced offices in London and Manchester have been operating for many years and our biggest ever facility, the newly refurbished Serviced Office Company Telford, offers 52,000 square feet of contemporary office space.

According to City 2040, more and more businesses are finding it possible to migrate to shared and serviced offices and away from monolithic CBD workplaces, thanks to a combination of:

  • Technology that ‘liberates’ them from a city centre location
  • Specialised services increasingly available online
  • Reduced reliance on central workspaces for commuting employees
  • Less need to be in close geographical proximity to competitors

Serviced offices have many of the facilities already in place to support a move towards this style of working, such as on-site kitchen facilities and washrooms, for entrepreneurs who want to blend their work and home lives in order to strike the right balance.

Find out more about our serviced offices

If you’re keen to get a head start on this trend, which is already gathering pace, please contact us today to ask about our serviced offices in London, Manchester and our new premises in Telford’s Central Park.

We welcome all enquiries, and with nearly 50 brand new offices at Serviced Office Company Telford, we currently have plenty of capacity available if you are seeking business premises as an individual, an SME or even a larger firm looking to create a branch office.

Why Serviced Offices should be part of your Leased Portfolio

Posted on by aleks

Serviced offices are increasingly being seen as a standard part of companies’ leased premises portfolios, according to research published earlier this year.

An article in the March 2021 edition of the journal Buildings looked at six co-working strategies under the heading ‘Searching for Flexibility in Corporate Real Estate Portfolio‘.

Based on real-world examples, the research identified six strategies companies are using to improve their flexibility and shift towards more co-working environments:

  1. Swing space
  2. Expansion space
  3. Core and flex
  4. Touchdown space
  5. Testing market
  6. Temporary projects and staff

Together these strategies enable flexibility during times of change, such as:

  1. While headquarters are being renovated
  2. Periods of growth
  3. Diversification of mature businesses
  4. Meeting rooms for satellite workers
  5. New startups
  6. Short-term increases in staff levels

For all of the above, serviced offices are a good option, providing flexible levels of office space for as long as organisations need it, along with on-site meeting rooms for hire and informal spaces for collaboration and conversation.

Serviced offices in their own words

The article includes several interviews with real-world business operators who have found serviced offices the answer to some of the challenges their organisation was facing.

One took up serviced office space as a way to adapt to fluctuating employee numbers and said: “Flexibility is really important in the company at the moment, and that’s one of the things that you get with serviced offices that you cannot get with a traditional office.”

Another explained that, in recent years, their organisation has moved from viewing serviced offices as a solution only for new projects or entering new markets, to a core part of their leased portfolio of business premises.

They said: “One or two years ago we saw serviced offices really like a flexible layer for where we would enter a new country, for example, or we had a project which was very temporary.

“But now, especially what we proved with some offices globally, is that it can also be seen as part of your leased portfolio.”

Make serviced offices a permanent solution

While the flexibility of serviced office leases is still an important factor for many tenants, it is also clear that a growing number of businesses worldwide consider serviced office space to be a long-term part of their business premises rental portfolio.

This is apparent in the UK, where the increasing proportion of serviced offices in London and Manchester, compared with other types of office space in the cities, is an indication that more businesses are using serviced offices, and are choosing to stay for longer.

After an extended period of economic turbulence due to political upheavals, successive economic crises and the lockdown of many businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s no surprise that companies are looking to the flexibility of serviced offices as a long-term solution for the years ahead.

With our recently opened Millharbour Court Business Centre in London’s Millennium Quarter and our biggest ever development of serviced offices in Telford, the Serviced Office Company continues to provide more of the spaces you need, in the places where you need them.