roundtable ... continued from previous page


Finnis said landlords should think about what building performance their occupiers wanted, and employers should consider what things young talent will perceive as job ‘generation perks’.


Thomas advised creation of the right company culture.


York wondered if ‘work’ would eventually progress towards employment on a casual consultancy basis, with young talent being brought in when required.


Spencer Meredith


“The gig-economy is already here,” stated Stamatis. “That trend of doing a company gig for a few months, maybe a year, is already recognised by big businesses. A long dedicated career is bizarre to most post-millennials. They want a portfolio of short-term gigs doing different interesting things.”


Such attitudes will reflect in future workspace design, as social and business dynamics increasingly combine. Some companies, beset with this ‘work’ mindset shift and global time-zone differences, already contract staff on annualised hours rather than weekday working salaries.


Gary Chandler


The rise of short-term flexible working sounded alarm bells for Head. “Where is that long- term demand for space? Without a healthy balance, the basis on which agents undertake transactional business will have to change.”


Thomas queried if companies were focusing on the right generation. “By 2030, 50% of people in office environments will be over 50. You could have four generations in the workplace at the same time?”


Morning motorway queues show that “the expectation of 9-5 attendance and ‘presenteeism’” is still prevalent, noted Thomas.


Giles York


Stevens added: “Some decision-makers today are of a generation that still expects to see employees sat working at desks.”


Does agile working suit SMEs?


Fryer suggested agile working was popular among corporates but not among the biggest business group – SMEs. “Letting costs and lease-lengths are still higher agenda items for SMEs.”


SMEs might enjoy agile workplaces if they could afford them, he added. And, talented millennials “don’t want to work in a tatty Victorian office over a shop. We need suitable smaller premises for SMEs – a half-way house between serviced and corporate long-lease space.”


David Thomas


Thomas felt permitted development rights (presumption in favour of conversion of offices to residential) had magnified this need, especially in smaller market towns, where SME premises had been lost by conversions to mixed use and residential.


Translating good agile workplace practice to a 38 businessmag.co.uk


relevant SME scale was challenging admitted Stamatis, but “the trendy stuff doesn’t have to be just for large tech businesses.”


Chandler: “The solution is steering towards co- working space isn’t it?”


Stamatis noted New York’s Empire State Building, now full of small business offices. “US co-working environments are starting to cater for SME flexibility and growth – the innovatory part of a successful economy.”


Other Roundtablers mentioned successful ‘peer-to-peer living’ and mixed-use working communities.


“Businesses will still want their own front door,” stated Finnis. “There is a definite UK need for SME space –1,000-5,000 sq ft, flexible, good quality but at a budget. It’s unfundable, that’s the problem.”


Fryer: “It’s very frustrating. Viable business models need good demand and there is plenty from SMEs. The funding answer just needs to be found.”


How is agile affecting leases?


Stamatis saw co-working environments accelerating, and reducing business commitment to leasing. “How can you sign a five-year lease when your business might be very different in two years? As a small business, do you need an office at all?”


With reduction in lease lengths trending, he suggested the logical conclusion would be a ‘pay-for-what you use’ co-working membership model.


Bringing such flexible-use concepts to the Thames Valley could turn traditional leasing on its head, said Thomas. Property investors and landlords prefer the stable income of long leases, “but flexibility is going to be key, and it may only take one landlord to offer an occupier membership-fee model rather than rent per sq ft ...”


York also highlighted the 20-30 years steady- income investment view, set against today’s shorter-term occupier demand for cost- efficient building performance.


Thomas noted that the UK market is largely driven by US and European business occupiers well-used to short-term and flexible leasing.


Only for the office sector Fryer clarified. Leases of 10 years and above were still being taken in other commercial markets, such as industrial.


The long-term winners, said Thomas, would be landlords creating the right space and environment for occupiers rather than seeking specific lease lengths.


Do landlords have an appetite for agile?


“Intuitively No, but in reality Yes,” answered Finnis. While space requirements have fallen – average 2008-2015 occupancy density


THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – FEBRUARY 2017


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