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A Tale of Two Cities: Serviced Offices in London and Manchester Lead UK Market

Posted on by aleks

Demand for serviced offices in London and Manchester from tech firms is among the driving forces behind UK market growth in a recent report from Mordor Intelligence.

According to the market snapshot, post-pandemic businesses are finding they need less owned office space, due to the greater proportion of employees who are working some or all of their time from home.

Nearly half (47%) said they expect to include more co-working, flexible and serviced offices in their commercial real estate strategies for the future.

Mordor Intelligence note that these “market tendencies” were already in place before the emergence of COVID-19, but were accelerated by the pandemic and its effects on working practices.

Tech firms demand serviced offices in Manchester and London

Within the nationwide trend, serviced offices in Manchester and London are seeing particular growth in demand, driven by interest from high-tech businesses in the surrounding areas.

The analyst says: “Since many tech enterprises require more than just office space, London and Manchester, as the UK’s top innovation centres, are projected to witness a surge in flexible co-working spaces.

“Many people are looking for features and local amenities that will help foster innovation and creativity while also improving employees’ working lives.”

This is leading in some cases to very large firms moving over to a “core and flex” model of commercial real estate, with the ‘flex’ handled by co-working and serviced office providers.

Serviced offices in London ‘the capital of the world’

The report also claims that flexible workplaces including serviced offices in London not only put businesses in the UK’s capital city, but place them in the “flex capital of the world”.

During the pandemic-hit 2020, 35% of commercial property transactions in London related to flexible workspace. Co-working space, flexible and serviced offices in London accounted for 7% of the city’s total office stock at the start of the year.

As of mid-2021, there were over 6,000 flexible workspaces in the UK, up 7% during the first half of the year, and a sure sign that capacity and demand continued to grow throughout the pandemic.

The UK now has more than 85 million square feet of flex space, including hybrid centres that provide a choice between shared working spaces and private offices for hire.

A choice of locations

Serviced Office Company’s variety of locations mean you can choose whether you’d prefer to be at the heart of the capital, or elsewhere in the North West and West Midlands.

In London, choose between our serviced offices in Canary Wharf at Davenport House and Millharbour Court.

Alternatively, we provide serviced offices in Manchester at Exchange Quay’s Imperial Court, and in Clippers House, Clippers Quay for easy access to MediaCityUK and Salford Quays.

Finally, our newly opened serviced offices in Telford are our biggest development yet, with office space, meeting rooms for hire and hot desking in Telford’s St. James House.

To find out more and book an in-person visit to any of our locations, click the Book A Tour button on your chosen location page or head to our Contact page and use the enquiry form you find there.

Safer routes to serviced offices in Salford Quays

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The final stages of roadworks on Trafford Road are making it easier, smoother and safer to reach our serviced offices in Salford Quays via any mode of transport.

Following £20 million of investment by Salford City Council, the stretch of the A5063 from the M602 roundabout into Trafford and The Quays is now receiving overnight resurfacing, which is due to complete on October 22nd.

Every junction along the way has been improved to increase capacity for all road users, with safer options for cyclists and pedestrians.

By working overnight, the council have minimised disruption to businesses already based at our serviced offices in MediaCity and Salford Quays:

• Only one side of the carriageway is closed at any one time
• Road closures are from 7pm to 6:30am only
• Public meetings have kept local residents informed throughout

With the work soon to be completed, there’s never been a better time to enquire about basing your business at our serviced offices in Salford Quays, or making use of our hotdesking facilities in MediaCity.

Transformative transport

Salford City Council’s lead member for planning, transport and sustainable development, Mike McCusker, said: “Trafford Road is the biggest road scheme that we have underway and is set to be transformative for residents, cyclists and motorists.

“I am delighted that the scheme is moving to resurfacing work towards the M602 roundabout as it shows we are nearing the completion of this project.”

For customers at our serviced offices in MediaCity, Trafford Road is a crucial link to arrive by car. It runs from the M602 Junction 3 directly to our Clippers Quay and Exchange Quay serviced offices, before crossing the water to Old Trafford.

This transformative resurfacing work not only helps to ensure a more comfortable commute for drivers, pedestrians and public transport passengers, but also adds to the kerb appeal of offices in Salford Quays to make the right impression on clients and stakeholders.

With meeting rooms for hire in both of our Exchange Quay and Clippers Quay buildings, you can access the space you need to meet your business contacts face-to-face, whenever you want.

See for yourself

For an insight into the scale of the work carried out on Trafford Road in the past year or more, just search for the Serviced Office Company on Google Maps and take a look at Street View in the area.

With the most recent images currently from August 2021, you get to see the roadworks at their peak, as well as checking the best route to reach us if you want a guided tour of our serviced offices in Salford Quays.

If you’d like to see how Trafford Road looks now the work is almost done, just click Book A Tour on our Clippers House or Imperial Court page to send us your details, or email info@servicedofficecompany.co.uk.

We’re proud of all our serviced offices in Manchester, Telford and London, and we love showing them off – so whether you’d like to view one of our Salford Quays serviced offices or both, we’ll be happy to arrange a suitable time for you to take a look around.

Serviced offices in Telford mean no more London commute

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The leader of Telford & Wrekin Council has spoken of his disappointment after Avanti West Coast removed the direct rail service between Wellington and London from their timetable, leaving Telford residents with no option for a direct rail commute to offices in London.

Avanti made the move as part of their newly published timetable, which the council called “yet another blow” following recent disruption due to strikes.

Council leader Shaun Davies said: “We are extremely disappointed by Avanti West Coast’s decision to remove the direct Wellington to London and London to Wellington services as part of their new timetable.

“Once again, the people of Telford and Wrekin are forgotten by those outside of the borough… We know that the direct rail service to the capital is important for so many people, for those who need it for work and also for day trippers.”

A better place to work in Telford

The lack of a direct rail service means that to commute to offices in London, Telford residents face a journey time of around two and a half hours.

A typical morning commute now uses two different operators’ trains – West Midlands Trains and Avanti West Coast – and changes at Wolverhampton at 6am to reach London Euston for 8:15am.

But if you are a small business based in Telford and/or London, there may be no need to commute between the two, while still maintaining a physical address in a desirable location.

Our newly opened serviced offices in Telford are just 10 minutes from Telford Central Station and offer over 50,000 square feet of prime office space in Central Park, at the fully refurbished St James’ House.

Work in London – in Telford

If you want to keep a business presence in London, but you live in Telford, we can offer a combination of the following facilities:

• Serviced offices in Telford and London for a physical presence
• Meeting rooms for hire if you only need occasional physical space
• Hotdesking facilities when you need a workplace for the day
• Virtual offices in London and Telford for digital businesses

To eliminate the daily commute from Telford to offices in London, you could opt for a physical base in our serviced offices in Telford, along with making use of our virtual offices in London.

This would allow you to use a postal address and geographic telephone number at any of our serviced offices in London, with all communications forwarded to you in Telford – with no daily commute into the capital.

Want to know more?

Despite disrupted rail services, it’s easier than ever to have a permanent business presence in multiple cities, thanks to our hotdesking facilities and virtual offices in Telford, London and also in the north-west at our serviced offices in Manchester and Salford Quays.

If you want to know more about establishing a virtual or physical presence in London, the Midlands or the North West, contact the Serviced Office Company today and we’ll help you get your business back on track.

Hotdesking facilities boost productivity as part of remote working mix

Posted on by aleks

Hotdesking facilities are a common part of the serviced offices mix these days, and the Serviced Office Company’s buildings are no different, offering a blend of serviced offices, meeting rooms, virtual offices and hotdesking.

So how does hotdesking help? A recently published study in the International Journal of Business and Administrative Studies looked at the impact of hotdesking facilities on employees’ productivity, as well as on their quality of life.

In their introduction, the researchers explain: “The advancements in digitalisation have sparked [changes in] the way traditional work takes place. The COVID-19 pandemic has also prompted a drastic change for modification of the usual work setting.

“These give rise to remote working, also known as teleworking, hotdesking, work-from-home, hotelling and a flexible work plan through which a worker achieves their tasks in a place remote from the customary office.”

A definition of hotdesking

Hotdesking in its purest form simply means that a desk or workstation is not assigned to a specific individual. Within an office, this may mean that the same computer is used by different personnel on different days.

Some hotdesking facilities can be hired on an ad hoc basis, allowing people who normally work from home to use a more formal office space as and when they need it, with no long-term commitment.

In this research, the team looked at hotdesking as part of an overall remote working mix: employees who work some of the time from home, but also spend some time in the office working from a computer that is not permanently or solely assigned to them.

Hotdesking productivity and quality of life

In the immediate aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, many organisations are still embracing a degree of remote working, in order to avoid a densely occupied workplace with all personnel in close proximity at the same time.

Hotdesking facilities enable the flexibility to have personnel spending some time at home or elsewhere, and some time in the office. This can also be achieved through hotelling – similar to hotdesking, but with individuals allocated in advance to a specific seat or workstation.

As part of this broader remote working mix, the research found an increase in productivity for those employees who were able to spend some of their time working outside of the office. At the same time, there was no measurable negative effect on quality of life.

The researchers conclude: “Based on a quantitative analysis, it can be concluded that remote working has a vital role to play in the employees’ productivity and work-life balance. The majority of employees agreed that remote working has increased their chances of accomplishing their respective tasks.”

Finding the balance

According to the research, personnel who work from home are able to complete their duties more often, and some studies have found that greater autonomy allows individuals to feel better about their work-life balance, especially among female employees.

The study ends: “Numerous findings from the literature supported the positive impact of remote work on employee productivity. Meanwhile, the majority of the studies also demonstrated no significant relationship between remote working and work-life balance.”

If you would like to know more about the Serviced Office Company’s hotdesking facilities in Telford and London, please contact us today and we can arrange a tour of your nearest location.

Virtual offices enable ‘swan syndrome’ of workplace change

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Virtual offices and the remote working revolution are enabling workplaces to cater for the ‘swan syndrome’ of rapid change since the economy’s emergence from COVID-19 lockdowns.

In a newly published book called Unworking: The Reinvention of the Modern Office, Jeremy Myerson and Philip Ross explain that the pandemic was the latest in a series of shocks to the established system of work.

“We are witnessing the ‘swan syndrome’ in workplace change,” they write. “What looked on the surface to be a smooth evolution of the working practices, technologies and ideas first implemented one hundred years ago is, below the waterline, a deep disruption to our way of working – and we’re paddling like crazy to keep up.”

How do virtual offices help?

Virtual offices, including those operated by serviced office providers, remove the monolithic nature from physical workplaces, transforming the office into “one node in a dynamic organisational network”.

The authors explain: “For the first time, virtual presents coexists with physical presence in the work environment. Its momentum has been driven neither by developers nor by owner-occupiers, as in previous eras of the office, but by service providers.”

As offices transform from isolation to connected nodes, the nature of the work carried out is changing too – the authors term this a shift away from repetitive ‘process work’ to less structured and more creative ‘knowledge work’.

Embracing a digital lifestyle

Virtual offices, as part of serviced offices, allow workforces to benefit from physical contact details, without being physically tied to those premises.

In their book, the authors write: “The postal address, telephone number and fax number that allowed communication with physical premises have all become virtual and disconnected from the bricks and mortar that was once the home and hub of corporate technology.”

As Gen Z, born in 1995-2012, becomes the dominant generation in the workplace, this virtualisation is likely to continue, with the emergence of ‘synchronous interaction’ and the notion that “everything is done together”.

Adopting virtual offices

We are at a pivot point, whereby the majority of businesses still operate a mainly office-based workforce with remote working individuals, but have yet to embrace the full benefits of running a virtual office.

Serviced Office Company’s virtual offices in London, Telford and Manchester give you a business address and working contact details in a desirable location, without the need to take physical office space on-site.

If you ever need to hold a meeting in-person, we have for-hire meeting rooms in all of our serviced office buildings, allowing you to seamlessly transition to a physical workplace as and when you need to.

And as your business grows, you’re free to build your virtual workforce, or to occupy bricks-and-mortar serviced offices in our buildings, subject to availability – giving you the flexibility for your business to respond to the changing nature of UK office work in the years ahead.

To find out more about our serviced offices, meeting rooms and virtual offices in Telford, Manchester and London, contact the Serviced Office Company today and we will be happy to discuss your needs and arrange an in-person tour of our facilities.

Looking for the perfect serviced office space in London?

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At the Serviced Office Company we have worked very hard to create the serviced office space London’s small businesses and new start-ups need in order to get established.

The quality of your office space can play a big part in your productivity and professionalism, especially when starting a new company or working as a sole trader.

Our serviced offices in central London cater for individuals and small businesses alike, with coworking and hotdesking facilities when you just need a desk for the day.

Prime London serviced office locations

We have secured some of the best London serviced office locations and fully refurbished the premises to the very highest of standards.

Our London locations include Davenport House, adjacent to Canary Wharf and the vibrant London Docklands.

There’s also Millharbour Court, our recently opened business centre that offers serviced offices, meeting rooms for hire and (in our opinion) perfect hotdesking facilities.

What makes perfect serviced office space?

‘Perfect’ serviced office space depends on two things: the offices themselves, and the services we provide.

All of our serviced offices in London, Manchester and Telford are appointed to high standards, with designer office furniture, telecommunications pre-installed and access to kitchen facilities and comfortable breakout rooms.

In our hotdesking facilities, you’ll find an open-plan space conducive to collaboration with fellow entrepreneurs. If you work alone, it’s the perfect way to meet like-minded individuals and potentially make lifelong friends.

What if a virtual office is perfect for you?

As well as our physical serviced offices in central London, we also proudly provide virtual offices in London, giving you contact details at the heart of the city’s business district.

The benefit of a virtual office is that you don’t have to travel to it. Instead, you get to use our offices on your contact details, and we will forward on any correspondence we receive on your behalf.

With meeting rooms for hire in our London premises, there is the option of meeting potential investors, customers or job applicants in person at the relevant address.

But if your business is largely virtual, then we appreciate that the perfect London office space for you might be no space at all.

Want to know more?

If you would like to know more about our serviced offices in London and why we believe they are the perfect choice for London-based businesses of all sizes, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us and a member of our team will be happy to discuss more of the details.

We welcome all enquiries – we love talking about all of our premises, and we’re open to ideas and suggestions too, so if there’s a particular feature or piece of equipment you need and you haven’t been able to find it as yet, let us know and we’ll see if we can accommodate you.

All our details are on our Contact page. New and existing customers can call us on 0800 319 6600, email us at info@servicedofficecompany.co.uk, or fill in our online contact form and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.

What features make the best serviced office suites?

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With stunning serviced offices for rent in Telford, Manchester and London, what features make SOC’s rooms the best serviced office suites around?

In our opinion, too many providers think serviced office space is just that – empty space for tenants to furnish and fit out from scratch.

Serviced Office Company’s suites are different. We welcome personal touches and will try to accommodate requests, but we’ve worked hard to give tenants everything they need to be productive from day one.

Unbranded interiors

When we say ‘personal touches’ we include the option to add your own branding to your serviced office interiors.

Our office suites are designed to provide an aesthetically pleasing, but ultimately neutral canvas. You can move in as-is with no problem at all, but if you want to add some colour in your business’s brand identity, you’re more than welcome to do so.

There are some brand names in our offices – those on the labels of our designer office furniture. Herman Miller, Sense Desking and Mirra Chairs are among the household names you’ll find waiting for you the day you take occupancy of your office space.

No hidden costs

Another misguided belief by some providers of serviced office space is that everything other than the space itself is an added extra, to be charged per use.

SOC provide serviced office suites with no extra charges or hidden fees. What you see on our website list of features and benefits is what you get, all included in your rent.

The exception to this is our meeting rooms for hire on-site. But because you only pay for those when you need them, your costs will still be lower than the expense of renting a meeting room all year round, only to have it stand empty for most of the time.

We believe this transparency on pricing is an essential addition to what makes the best serviced office suites – after all, positive return on investment is what your business is all about.

Eco-aware

Finally, it’s essential for the best serviced office suites to be as environmentally friendly as possible, and we have worked to include the kinds of features that ensure our buildings are eco-aware.

Climate controls, recycling facilities, water saving devices and highly efficient heating & cooling systems all help to make certain that this is the case.

To save energy, we have motion sensitive automatic light switches, and to encourage clean transport on the daily commute, we make sure to provide on-site bicycle racks.

Any questions?

The features mentioned above are not an exhaustive list of what you get in an SOC serviced office suite – not even close, in fact, which is another reason why we believe we provide some of the very best serviced offices in Telford, London and Manchester.

If you have any questions about any of our locations or services, and you can’t find the answer on our website, please contact us directly as your call or email will be very welcome.

Emails can be sent to info@servicedofficecompany.co.uk and general telephone enquiries can be made on 0800 319 6600 no matter which of our serviced office locations you want to ask about.

Connectivity keeps serviced offices healthy

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It’s good to stay connected, and recent research shows that many of the features of our serviced offices in Telford, Manchester and London match those of a healthier workplace with healthier employees.

A study in the March 2022 issue of Building and Environment looked at different office layouts, such as private offices, shared offices and open-plan offices.

The researchers measured features like ‘connectivity’ – the availability of lots of different ways to move around the workplace – and compared these with the amount of time employees spent in a sedentary position.

In their conclusions, they wrote: “Participation in work-related physical activity was positively associated with local and overall connectivity in open-plan offices.”

“There was also a positive association between participation in work-related physical activity and local connectivity in shared offices,” they added.

What is office connectivity?

In this sense, connectivity is not about internet access or telecoms – it’s about how easily workers can move around the space:

  • Local connectivity is the number of routes between parts of the office, good access to hallways and kitchen facilities.
  • Overall connectivity is the number of routes to reach meeting rooms, toilets and the main entrance into the building.

Serviced offices cater for connectivity well, with open-plan areas that can be configured to suit your needs, and plenty of on-site facilities that enable employees to take healthy breaks without harming productivity.

With meeting rooms for hire on-premises too, your serviced offices have even more versatility when you need a little more space, and somewhere more formal than a comfy and casual breakout room.

How does connectivity help?

Connectivity is what makes offices usable and comfortable, without a feeling of claustrophobia for employees once they are seated at their workstation.

Modern open-plan serviced offices are more connected than ever – our Millharbour Court Business Centre in Canary Wharf is a prime example, with offices containing up to 22 desks, cosy breakout spaces with coffeemaking facilities, meeting rooms for hire and bright, airy co-working space.

Meanwhile our St James House serviced offices in Telford are our biggest premises yet, spanning over 50,000 square feet in the leafy surroundings of Central Park.

All of this means when employees need a break from their desk, they have options, without leaving the building – bringing them back faster, feeling more refreshed, and in better long-term physical health.

Find out more

To find out more about any of our serviced offices in Telford, London and Manchester, take a look at our Locations page, where you can see a full list of facilities along with photos, videos and virtual tours.

If you’d like to see any of our premises in person, just click Book a Tour and fill in our enquiry form to let us know which location you’re interested in – we’re proud of all of our serviced offices, meeting rooms, co-working spaces and hot-desking facilities, and we love to show them off!

For any other enquiries or general questions, just fill in our form, call us on 0207 510 9400 (or 0161 457 2000 to call direct to our Manchester serviced offices) or email info@servicedofficecompany.co.uk and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.

Office aesthetics attract top talent

Posted on by aleks

A good-looking office is more than just a pretty place, and can have a material impact on your ability to attract and retain top talent, according to a new study.

The research, published in the March 2022 edition of Employee Relations, proposes that “workplace aesthetics acts as a driver for job choice when included with an employment offer”.

In essence, this means that if your company is based in a visually appealing building, candidates are more likely to accept a job offer.

While aesthetics has long been associated with employee satisfaction, the researchers say their study is the first to look at office aesthetics “as a component of job-offer choice”.

What they studied

The research compared a total of six different factors influencing candidates’ decision to accept or reject a job offer, including three aesthetics and three non-aesthetics.

After examining these, the researchers estimated their significance in the candidate’s overall decision, and found that aesthetics had a measurable impact on the outcome.

“The results indicate that aesthetic attributes in the workplace can be equally important in the decision-making process as non-aesthetic attributes and that aesthetic attributes deliver as much utility as non-aesthetic attributes in driving job choice,” they write.

For human resources managers, the study suggests emphasising office aesthetics in job offers not only for employees who work full-time on-site, but also for those whose role includes some time working remotely.

What makes good office aesthetics?

While aesthetics is subjective, many of the core features of our serviced offices in London, Manchester and Telford have been designed with aesthetics in mind.

This includes bright, open spaces with plenty of natural light and outdoor views, as well as ergonomically designed office furniture by well-known designer brands.

Light and colour deliver plenty of visual impact, without creating a distraction from the work itself, and our meeting rooms for hire on-site are equally bright and airy.

Combined with comfortably furnished breakout spaces and contemporary hot-desking facilities, this all adds up to a workplace where the top talent can feel happy over the long term.

Want to take a look?

We’re proud of all of our serviced offices in London, Telford and Manchester, including our newest locations, Millharbour Court Business Centre in Canary Wharf and St James House serviced offices in Telford.

You can find more information about each of our premises on our website, with plenty of photos and virtual tours to help you decide where to locate your business, and you can add your own colour scheme when you move in if you wish.

We’ve even added 360-degree views of our interiors to Google Maps, so your job applicants can see the bright and spacious offices they will be working from when deciding to accept your offer.

If you would like to arrange an in-person tour of any of our facilities, or you want to ask us anything about our serviced offices and meeting rooms in Manchester, Telford and London, please fill in our contact form, email info@servicedofficecompany.co.uk or call us on 0207 510 9400 – all enquiries are very welcome.