Business Impact:

Does your present portfolio of occupied accommodation have a positive or negative impact on the day to day activities of your business?  It can often be the case that businesses continue to occupy and operate out of facilities long after those facilities have served their useful purpose. 

Technological change, production developments, businesses processes and changed working practices can often leave the bricks and mortar way behind in terms of usefulness to the business.  But it’s not always easy to make the change and relocate.  There are many considerations; some more tangible than others and not all business owners are able to face up to them.  It could be that the lease still has time to run, or the Company has a long standing history at the location and it is loath to break that link.  Remodelling and reworking of the workspace may be a possibility, but what if the amount of space or its geographical location is unsuitable?   

Core business activity is the key, after all, the real estate is only there to serve the business purpose, so the questions to ask revolve around the key drivers and performance indicators in the business and their ability to be achieved.  Assessment and analysis of the built environment together with the business plan and programme will help determine whether your facilities are supporting your business or the other way round.

James Alexander Consultants are expert in assessing your portfolio and, with you, determining a strategy to develop the correct balance of assets, their relevance and performance for you.  We develop, plan and implement the strategy, leaving you to focus on core activity and opportunity.

eMail us on innovation@jaltd.co.uk or see our contact page for our numbers.  We look forward to speaking with you.

U is for...

Utilisation:

Utilisation of your space, that is.  Efficient space utilisation within an organisation can have a number of positive knock on effects.  There are the more obvious ones, those promoting operational efficiency and production and also those relating to staff wellbeing and personal growth.

The most radical change in the office based working environment in recent years has been the shift from individual working to collaborative working.  The practice of colleagues coming together to work for parts of the day in formal or informal work groups, far beyond the understanding of “meetings” has been on the rise.

Responding to this by addressing the look and feel of the office workplace has been a key step forward in both the promotion of the new styles of working and also the opportunity to contain and possibly reduce the cost base for the business.

Utilisation improvements can be brought about by the application of a number of techniques and principles, all designed to improve take up and application of spatial usage.

• Footprint:  keeping in mind the essential means of escape routes consider whether the personal footprint could be reduced.  It is recommended that 11m³ per person is achieved, but the reduction of the furniture footprint (smaller workstations) is one way which could help. 

• Working away from the Office:  technological development now means that providing essential staff with the means for mobile communication is within reach of all organisations. This does not work for all job functions and should not be taken as a wholesale opportunity to close the office, but those who are out of the office more than they are in do not, generally, need workstations.

• Technology: developments also mean that less equipment is required to provide desk top solutions for staff, coupled to a reduction in workstation size leads to smaller footprint.  Printing and photocopying devices are now available with much smarter interfaces and options.

• Maximise: have you ever wondered why the meeting and conference rooms are empty for most of the time?  Rethink the strategy and maximise usage, software packages exist to help with this.

• Open Plan:  it’s not new to suggest going down the open plan route, but think about doing away with personal offices.  Research has shown that by careful space planning, suitable provision of meeting rooms, spaces and break out areas the need for personal offices is significantly diminished.

James Alexander Consultants can help you find your way through to the best solution to your accommodation needs.

eMail us on innovation@jaltd.co.uk or see our contact page for our numbers.  We look forward to speaking with you.

P is for...

Planning & Strategy:

Occupying business premises is no laughing matter.  The costs involved can be significant and the penalties, should you get it wrong, can be severe.

Having said that, the opportunity for it to go well is significant!  Like all property transactions in the UK (well England and Wales anyway!) the pace of movement is usually somewhere akin to that of the proverbial snail.  Lease break clauses do (should) not usually sneak up on you, they are telegraphed well ahead of time (when the lease is signed?).  So the opportunities for you to plan aspects of your estates strategy are easily able to be recognised and addressed.  However, that is not the whole picture.  Not all elements are so easily planned.  As we have said many times before, the real estate only exists to support your core activity, it’s there to help you to produce your widgets or build your social media empire or whatever.

And (yes, you can start a sentence with and) that’s where the challenge comes.

Planning a strategy to match your real estate occupancy to your business’s operational requirements is not too difficult in principle, but will throw up some very challenging questions to you and your colleagues.  I was with a client recently and the discussion revolved around the business’s requirement to relocate to larger operating premises, the availability, or lack of, suitable prospects in the locality and the impact a more significant geographical move to achieve the right accommodation could have on the business in terms of the potential for the loss of key staff.  An interesting conundrum and one that the jury is still out on.

Size, location, mix, usage and cost will all play a part in developing a coherent strategy for real estate and the activity should be undertaken with the same thoroughness that is applied to the operational aspects of the business.

James Alexander Consultants can help you find your way through to the best solution to your accommodation needs.

eMail us on innovation@jaltd.co.uk or see our contact page for our numbers.  We look forward to speaking with you.

D is for...

Dilapidations:

There comes a point in every lease when the subject of dilapidations raises its head.  This need not be as daunting a prospect for the tenant or lessee as it may seem, however it is one that should be approached carefully.  In general terms most institutional leases will require the lessee to return the asset to the landlord at the end of the term in the same condition as they originally took it over.

However……!

Negotiation is the key.  In general terms the landlord is looking to make sure that their asset has not been adversely affected by the tenant’s occupation.  Now, being good lease abiding tenants, all clauses in the lease relating to refurbishment and alterations will have been abided by.  These usually form a requirement for redecoration on a periodic basis in longer leases and for any alterations, upgrades or refurbishments requiring approval from the landlord before proceeding.  Therefore, the landlord will know what general condition the asset will be in and, with regard to tenant upgrades and refurbishment, these will have been undertaken up to the latest regulations, so will, potentially be seen by the landlord as improvements.

If you are intending to exercise a break in the lease, your lease will determine the notice period to give, if the lease is terminating then the date will be well known. These are the ideal timeframes to commence discussion with the landlord with regard to dilapidations.  Each landlord will be different as will each situation.  Remain open to suggestion and do your best to limit your liability.

James Alexander Consultants are expert in assessing your portfolio and, with you, determining a strategy to develop the correct balance of assets, their relevance and performance for you.  We develop, plan and implement the strategy, leaving you to focus on core activity and opportunity.

eMail us on innovation@jaltd.co.uk or see our contact page for our numbers.  We look forward to speaking with you.

B is for...

Business Impact.

Does your present portfolio of occupied accommodation have a positive or negative impact on the day to day activities of your business?  It can often be the case that businesses continue to occupy and operate out of facilities long after those facilities have served their useful purpose. 

Technological change, production developments, businesses processes and changed working practices can often leave the bricks and mortar way behind in terms of usefulness to the business.  But it’s not always easy to make the change and relocate.  There are many considerations; some more tangible than others and not all business owners are able to face up to them.  It could be that the lease still has time to run, or the Company has a long standing history at the location and it is loath to break that link.  Remodelling and reworking of the workspace may be a possibility, but what if the amount of space or its geographical location is unsuitable?   

Core business activity is the key, after all, the real estate is only there to serve the business purpose, so the questions to ask revolve around the key drivers and performance indicators in the business and their ability to be achieved.  Assessment and analysis of the built environment together with the business plan and programme will help determine whether your facilities are supporting your business or the other way round.

James Alexander Consultants are expert in assessing your portfolio and, with you, determining a strategy to develop the correct balance of assets, their relevance and performance for you.  We develop, plan and implement the strategy, leaving you to focus on core activity and opportunity.

eMail us on innovation@jaltd.co.uk or see our contact page for our numbers.  We look forward to speaking with you.

Take stock and review

The commercial property sector is to come under further pressure during 2012 in the light of the current economic climate and the uncertain times ahead for the Euro Zone.  Both rental and capital values started to show sign of weakening during the Q4 last year and are expected to continue to decline during 2012 as the continuing uncertainty over the future of the British recovery continues.  Tough market conditions in the retail sector have led to have affected high streets across the country.  Even the usually resilient London market is starting to show significant stress with rental levels and capital values starting to decline as the number of potential transactions slows.

However, all is not lost!  With the decline in value for the landlord comes the increase in opportunity for the tenant.  Now is the ideal time to undertake a comprehensive review of all your lease and occupancy arrangements.

• Are you able to exercise any lease breaks?
• Are any leases up for rent review?
• Are you holding over?
• Have your business needs changed?
• Is your occupancy at the optimum?
• Could you place any non essential requirements in better value accommodation?
• Is there an opportunity to outsource activities?

Every cloud has a silver lining, see what lies behind this one for your business.

Innovation@jaltd.co.uk

National Planning Policy Framework

The Planning Minister, Greg Clark has published the draft National Planning Policy Framework for consultation.  Key objectives of the reforms are to make the planning system less complex and more accessible, and to promote sustainable growth.  As well as discussing sustainable growth the consultation document addresses its brief under three headings: Planning for Prosperity, covering business and economic development, transport and communications; Planning for People, covering housing and Green Belt issues and Planning for Places addressing climate change and the natural environment.

 

The consultation is open until 17th October 2011 and the government is holding a series of public planning reform events during September in London, Leeds, Birmingham and Bristol.