Posted on November 25, 2011 by Rob Powell
A NEW survey has revealed for the first time that the majority of offices in the City of London have foreign owners.
The report, ‘Who Owns The City?’, undertaken by Development Securities has found that 52% of office space in the Square Mile has owners from overseas.
Germany owners account for 16% of City of London offices, followed by the USA with 10%. Middle-eastern owners have 6%, and continental Europe excluding Germany controls 5% of the offices in the City.
The rise in foreign ownership of office space at the heart of London’s financial district has been rapid over the past thirty years: in 1980, foreign owners had control of just 8% of offices.
The report is the fourth time that Development Securities, a property development company, has carried out the research. In his foreword to the report, company Chief Executive Michael Marx commented:
“Fundamental to its continuing appeal is the City of London’s intrinsic ability to attract occupiers – financial businesses that sustain the value of the Square Mile’s office stock.”
Read ‘Who Owns The City?’ by Development Securities
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Posted on November 24, 2011 by Rob Powell
OFFICE furniture was flung from a 10th floor window in Bristol on Tuesday evening.
Desks, computers and a fire extinguisher were among the items hurled by a man from high in the Castlemead Tower building, near Castle Park. Debris from the incident collected on a first floor terrace.
The man’s motives for throwing the furniture from the window are as yet unknown but reports suggest he may have been a digruntled worker.
See coverage and photos in the Daily Mail and ThisIsBristol.co.uk
Castlemead, in Lower Castle Street, is a 17 storey tower built in 1981.
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Posted on November 24, 2011 by Rob Powell
WORKERS have been encouraged by David Cameron to take their children to work during next week’s public sector strikes.
Speaking in the House of Commons yesterday during Prime Minister’s Questions, he said:
“When it is safe for people to take their children to work, organisations should allow them to do so.”
Around three million public sector workers are expected to take part in the nationwide strikes on November 30th which are in response to changes to pensions.
Unison General Secretary Dave Prentis said:
“We are fighting for a fair pensions deal – not for gold plated pensions, but to give members dignity in their retirement.”
David Cameron’s comments were a response to a question from Corby MP Louise Mensch, who said “one of most disruptive impacts of next week’s strikes will be on mums and dads with children in school.”
Will your office be encouraging workers to bring children to work rather than stay at home to look after them?
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Posted on November 18, 2011 by Rob Powell
A SERVICED office provider is giving businesses the chance to design bespoke offices.
MWB Business Exchange has unveiled its Signature Office range of distinct designs that can be deployed to offices within their business centres.
Tenant businesses can mix and match the styles to come up with offices that have their own unique look and feel.
MWB Business Exchange is initially offering the style options at its 33 Cavendish Square business centre in London.
MWB Business Exchange Chief Executive John Spencer said: “The Signature Offices concept really is a revolutionary one. It grew out of us listening to our clients. They told us that they want more control over the design of their space.
“They want to wow their clients and feel it’s their space. That’s why unlike our rivals, we don’t cover our centres with our brand name. The Signature Office option will offer an unparalleled level of bespoke excellence that will allow companies to feel it really is their space.”
Cavendish Square General manager Frankie Chrysanthou added: “If a client wants a magenta pink office, we will get him magenta pink. We’ve even put in a whole wall of chalk board for one of our clients which gets scribbled on by the staff every day.”
The service will be rolled out to the rest of the company’s London business centres and then go UK-wide.
Enquire about office space at 33 Cavendish Square
MWB issues Management Statement
An Interim Management Statement from parent company MWB Group Holdings said that revenue for the serviced office provider was up 6% for the four months to 31 October, compared with the previous year.
Occupancy at its office also rose, with the company “optimistic that market conditions will continue to improve and reflect positively on occupancy”
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Posted on November 18, 2011 by Rob Powell
AN OFFICE block belonging to UBS has been taken over by protesters in London.
The empty four-storey office block in Sun Street, close to the City, is now in the hands of the Occupy London movement who already have a camp site outside St Paul’s Cathedral.
The group announced earlier this afternoon that the building would be reopening tomorrow (Saturday) as a “Bank of Ideas”
Sarah Layler of Occupy London added: “The Bank of Ideas will host a full events programme where people will be able to trade in creativity rather than cash. We will also make space available for those that have lost their nurseries, community centres and youth clubs to savage Government spending cuts.”
Banners have been attached to the building, saying “The Bank of Ideas” and “UBS You Owe Us.”
22-29 Sun Street is owned by Sun Street Properties, which in turn is owned by UBS.
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Posted on November 17, 2011 by Rob Powell
AON, the risk management company, has pre-let almost 200,000 sq ft of office space in the City’s new Leadenhall Building.
Already nicknamed the “cheesegrater”, the new skyscraper at 122 Leadenhall Street, London, will reach 47 storeys when built – with ten of them taken by AON.
The Richard Rogers-designed Leadenhall Building is a joint venture between British Land and Oxford Properties and will stand opposite the famous Lloyd’s of London building.
Chris Grigg, Chief Executive of British Land said, “This significant letting to a leading global business is good news for the City and demonstrates the success of our commitment to creating well located world class buildings that provide long term value to occupiers. I am very pleased to welcome Aon to The Leadenhall Building and continuing our well established relationship with them.
Robert Brown, CEO Aon Limited said, “We are delighted to have chosen The Leadenhall Building as our new London headquarters. The Aon Centre at The Leadenhall Building places us at the heart of the City’s insurance sector and the building’s impressive location and offices reflect our standing as the leading global professional services firm focused on risk and human capital management.
Construction of the 224m-high office building in the City of London is currently under way.
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Tagged Cheesegrater, Lettings |
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Posted on November 16, 2011 by Rob Powell
MOBILE phone giant Nokia is to turn an iconic London office block into the canvas for a spectacular show.
The 800 windows of Millbank Tower will light up as video is projected onto them while deadmau5 provides the audio backdrop.
Described as a 4D experience, deadmau5 commented:
“I’ve got to play some awesome shows but never from the roof of a building. Wait until you see the scale of this production.”
The 30 minute performance on the skyscraper will take place on November 28th and is a publicity stunt for Nokia’s new Lumia smartphone range.
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Posted on November 11, 2011 by Rob Powell
A PILOT scheme aims to boost the number of “work hubs” in the county of Devon.
Devon County Council are looking for proposals to come forward to convert existing space in Totnes and Barnstaple into new work hubs.
The hubs, a network of which are emerging around the country, offer flexible hot desks to home workers and micro-enterprises that only have an occasional need for professional office space with high speed internet.
The council, along with the Department of Transport, have a £180,000 funding pool with grants of up to £90,000 available to successful tenders.
Councillor Will Mumford, Devon County Council Cabinet Member for Economy, Enterprise and Employment, said: “This is an exciting opportunity for organisations to secure financial and business support to help in the development of innovative work hubs.
“We believe that work hubs should be locally owned and operated, so we’re keen to hear from organisations in the public, private or voluntary sector who believe they have what it takes to turn our vision for work hubs in Devon into a reality.”
The deadline for applications to get work hub funding is Friday 6th January. More information is available at DevonWorkHubs.co.uk
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Posted on November 9, 2011 by Rob Powell
These offices in central Greenwich, south-east London, were once upon a time home to an innovativee attempt by six London boroughs to share computer services.
Back then, computers were very expensive and rather than own computers, local authorities would rent computer processing time. The treasurer at Greenwich Council, John Humphries, worked with colleagues to establish a new computer centre where six Metropolitan boroughs would own their computer.
The computer itself was a LEO III, and the building came to be known as John Humphries House – named after the man who helped make it happen but sadly died just months before it opened.
The local council retained the offices for years before they were sold into private hands, with many small businesses renting out individual offices and the car park becoming a popular vintage market at weekends.
These offices are shortly to be demolished and in their place will be a new purpose built campus library and School of Architecture for the University of Greenwich.
Find out more about the history of John Humphries House.
Offices.org.uk is looking for more stories of offices that have an interesting history. If you know of any offices that were previously used for something else or have been converted from another use, email rob@offices.org.uk
Posted in London |
Tagged Offices that used to be... |
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Posted on November 7, 2011 by Rob Powell
CAMDEN Council has given the green light to a mixed use building at Pancras Square which will house a new leisure centre and council offices.
The 13-storey development, which already had outline planning permission, will sit as part of a the large King’s Cross Central vision for the area around Pancras Square.
On the lower floors, the building will offer new swimming pools, a library and the council’s “contact centre”. The floors above will provide over 15,000 sqm of office space with most of it being taken by the council.
Offices will enjoy terraces overlooking Camley Natural Park and the Pancras Road.
The scheme was backed by councillors at a meeting of the Development Control Committee last week. Cllr Braithwaite described it as a “a fantastically exciting and well executed scheme.”
The council believes that the building, which they hope will achieve a BREEAM ‘Outstanding’ sustainability rating, will save them save in excess of £77m that would have been needed to refurbish and maintain existing public buildings.
Posted in London |
Tagged King's Cross Central, Planning |
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