32 . Glasgow Business March/April 2014
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• A new location could boost staff morale or give the business the feeling of a fresh start
• Your choice of a new space can help re-brand the company or atract new staff
• You can choose how much space you need at this point in your business’s life cycle
• Te move can fit your specific requirements, so if you prefer to have an open-plan office environment, that can be a prerequisite
• A new location could beter serve not only your staff, but your customers or your need for access to certain facilities or amenities.
Moving: Against
• Higher investment may be required once you take into consideration any related legal fees, construction or moving costs, as well as the expense of new office furniture or equipment
• You may face dilapidation costs incurred in your original location
• A move could cause disruption and friction with your staff if it’s not well planned, communicated and executed
• Te distraction could sidetrack senior staff from their core business functions
• Tere may be a period of readjustment if staff
are working in an entirely new environment, for example in an open plan office aſter working in a modular space
• Te change in location could impact your staff’s access to amenities and transport links, or make their commutes longer or more complicated.
Staying: For
• Te cost of refurbishing your existing space could be significantly less than the cost of moving, once you factor in removal costs and associated professional fees
• Fiting out your current space could be less complex and require less management downtime
• A refurbishment could provide an opportunity to rethink and reconfigure your existing space and could even release any spare floor area for potential sub-leting and possible income generation.
Staying: Against
• Even a refurbishment could have a potentially significant disruption to the business, which would have to continue to function as the work goes on
• Depending on the extent and complexity of the refurbishment, it could result in higher
Hire purchase, lease or loan – it’s a taxing decision
Any refurbishment or a move will require significant capital investment, but there are options for how you deal with the costs. With financing, your payments will be
spread over a longer period, giving you flexibility and allowing you to proceed with your plans without having to build up capital. There are typically three options to fund a
refurbishment – hire purchase, lease or loan. You should also be aware of your company’s tax position – tax relief on office fit-outs is achieved through capital allowances, although you should be aware of what qualifies as “integral
features” and what doesn’t attract any write- down allowance. You can expect to achieve capital allowances on 50-60 per cent of the total expenditure Leasing your office fit-out is another option, along the same lines as you might choose to lease company cars or any other office equipment.
By leasing the work, you can free up
cashflow for your everyday business needs, and the repayments attract 100 per cent tax relief on payments, making it the most tax efficient method of refurbishing a building.
Making yourself at home in the office
Maybe we can call it the Google effect – after the internet giant and its promotion of a more informal, playful office space – but one recent trend for businesses, especially those related to the internet or new media, is to refurbish their workspaces or move into offices which feel less corporate. The trend includes not only open-plan work spaces, but other features which encourage collaboration and even accidental interactions,
more comfortable common areas which encourage staff to leave their desks, and generic “thinking” areas, which encourage staff to free their thinking from a more restrictive, corporate mindset. “We’re seeing a lot of businesses turning ‘softer’ and less corporate in their approach to their office space,” said Manoj Jadeja, National Account Manager with John Lewis’s Solutions for Business team, which works with
the company’s commercial customers. “That means more break-
out areas, comfortable sofas to allow staff to both relax or work on various mobile devices such as tablets, less formal meeting spaces and more quiet zones where employees can have time and space to themselves.” The result, according to Manoj, is a work environment which is becoming more like home – and more productive as a result.
costs than simply moving to a new purpose- built office.
Other key considerations
Once you’ve considered the basic pros and cons, there are some other key considerations. Carrying out an audit of your current
workplace could help you in your decision- making process, in the same way you would audit your books. What is the value of the space you’re
currently in, what assets does it have and what would it likely cost to make upgrades or refurbishments? And don’t forget to take into consideration those unseen or difficult to categorise factors, such as the effect on morale or efficiency of your staff if you do decide to move from a well-liked location. Finally, whatever decision you come to,
make sure that you stay on the right side of the law. Te Equality Act, for example, applies to all forms of work and places duties on landlords, property managers and employers, to make sure their office environment or refurbishment is fully compliant with the act. A property solicitor can advise on any issues relating to leaving your current office and ensuring your commercial interests are protected under any new lease you sign.
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