Re-evaluating Your Property Strategy
We have recently spent time supporting our clients in reviewing their future office needs and with the rapid introduction of home and flexible working, we have realised that companies may need some help with reviewing the way their offices work in the future.
This involves developing a strategy to implement changes towards a hybrid working environment that supports collaboration, ad-hoc gatherings and office spaces that can be reserved by hybrid workers.
It is anticipated that approximately 20% of the global workforce will become permanent remote workers versus the current 10%. In a 2020 survey of Google employees, 62% want to return to the office, but not permanently. Google in the UK has given their employees an allowance to help them set up their home offices and are rethinking their entire real estate strategy.
As part of this process, we have looked at the financial impact of teams working from home and the changing needs of the office space and have developed a package of support services that can help reduce some of your real estate costs and hopefully create a balanced working environment at home and at work that supports these changes.
Below, we have highlighted some if the benefits of making changes to your office space and how it will affect the profitability of your company while offering a positive impact for employees.
South East M3/M4 Based Company
One of our clients recently decided during the lockdown to re-evaluate the way they utilise their office space, following enforced home working by the Covid-19 pandemic. They found that without using their current office space and with all staff working from home, targets have still been met.
This made them realise their office could be re-engineered to serve them differently, re-evaluating their need for a new 16,000 sq ft head office, and considering 9,000 sq ft with hybrid working practices for their teams.
This approach demonstrates a range of savings:
| Annual Rental per Sq ft in Basingstoke Area | £22.50 @7,000 sq ft | £157,500 |
| Annual Service Charge | £5.00 per sq ft @7000 sq ft | £35,000 |
| Annual Business Rates | £6.50 per sq ft @7,000 sq ft | £45,500 |
| Annual Energy Costs per Year | Estimate | £12,000 |
| Reduced fit out costings | £280,000 | |
| Total savings per year | £250,000 | |
| Total savings over 5 years | £1,530,000 |
London Equivalent
A London-based company following the same process would be able to make the following savings by reducing office footprint from 16,000 sq ft to 9,000 sq ft:
| Annual Rental per Sq ft in London EC4 Area | £55 @7,000 sq ft | £385,000 |
| Annual Service Charge | £10.00 per sq ft @7000 sq ft | £70,000 |
| Annual Business Rates | £25.00 per sq ft @7,000 sq ft | £175,000 |
| Annual Energy Costs per Year | Estimate | £12,000 |
| Reduced fit out costings | £385,000 | |
| Total savings per year | £642,000 | |
| Total savings over 5 years | £3,595,000 |
Download Complete Overview
If you’d like to find out more, including funding options, technology and homeworking solutions, and dealing with sublets and property handovers, why not download our whitepaper.