When the full impact of Covid hit in March 2020, there was certainly a fear that the forced closure of ‘none-essential’ offices could have had a lasting negative impact on the sector – but in fact, it’s had the opposite effect.
The more time that passes under restrictions, the more obvious it becomes that offices are essential not only to benefit business growth and client needs, but for staff members too. Nuffield Health recently revealed that 80% of our population feel that working from home has had a negative impact on their mental health. Other statistics in its recent report included 25% of those surveyed were finding it difficult to cope with loneliness and isolation from colleagues, with 30% finding it difficult separating their home lives from their work lives, and over a quarter reporting difficulties switching off at the end of the day or working week.
Our corporate mission is to support our local economy, business and communities with a full-service approach to residential and commercial property. Our vision is to work hand-in-hand with key organisations and people to support the ever-evolving built environment of our region, making it a consistently better place to live, work and socialise. Part of this vision includes maintaining a passion for championing successful office working being the foundation of our culture and economy.
Take, for example, the coffee on the commute, business or colleague lunches in closeby restaurants, after work drinks, the life-admin tasks we do on a break and the public transport we take – all of these activities create and maintain direct, indirect and induced jobs and businesses, particularly in hospitality and retail.
The office sector is undoubtedly changing and it remains vital for modern working environments to provide safe and flexible spaces. Environments like this encourage sharing ideas, meaningful and productive conversation and collaborative working. The lack of office working has made many businesses recognise that collaboration is key to growth.
Even the global tech-giants like Google, Facebook and Amazon, have now gone on record encouraging staff to return to the office or at least a hybrid approach to working. Amazon also issued a statement to employees last week saying: “Our plan is to return to an officecentric culture as our baseline. We believe it enables us to invent, collaborate, and learn together most effectively.”
Chancellor Rishi Sunak has also been quoted to say that home working is no substitute for an office environment with “people riffing off each other” and that “You can’t beat the spontaneity, the team building, the culture that you create in a firm or an organisation from people actually spending physical time together.” The chancellor argued that an office environment was important for new team members to learn how organisations work.
There continues to be new and exciting opportunities for businesses to occupy modern and innovative office spaces which are designed with collaboration and growth in mind. A testament to the importance of office working is the recent move for one of the region’s leading housebuilders, Story Homes, which has now occupied the ground floor at Scotwood House. The space was recently purchased by a local consortium and was refurbished in a multi-million pound project to bring better office facilities to businesses based in the region. We were delighted to utilise the full-service Bradley Hall approach on the Scotswood House project, from sourcing the building to negotiating the purchase, providing a building survey as well as lettings and property management. We look forward to welcoming more local businesses, specifically exciting start-ups and SMEs to the upper floors of Scotswood House which is now home to Riverview Business Centre.
Another exiting project within Newcastle city centre includes Hadrian Newcastle, a multi-million-pound Newcastle business hub are redefining traditional commercial property leases to make city centre occupation more accessible to SMEs. The £5m project by SONA Estates will offer bespoke and flexible office spaces for businesses including acting as an incubation center for start ups, with licenses starting from three months. SONA Estates has thoroughly considered the needs of the clients to provide a fantastic business hub which will provide many organisations with an unrivalled opportunity to benefit from short licenses with low, all inclusive, rates. The option to occupy a ready-tomove-into space, choose the option of a furnished suite, commit to three months including rent, service charge, insurance and electricity bills from £19 per sq ft. When put to the comparison of other Grade A offices in the city demanding all inlusive costs of £30-£40 per sq ft, Hadrian Newcastle is offering a great incentive for occupiers.
Larger projects in the city include Newcastle Helix, the 24-acre innovation quarter which sits alongside the recentlycompleted Lumen. Newcastle Helix represents a partnership between Newcastle City Council, Legal & General and Newcastle University, bringing together industry leaders, businesses, and top researchers to form an internationally renowned innovation cluster. Councillor Ged Bell, Cabinet Member for Employment and Culture at Newcastle City Council said: “In challenging times Newcastle Helix is playing a vital role in the recovery of our economy – fostering innovation, attracting businesses, and creating jobs for those who live and work in our city.”
The above list fantastic opportunities for businesses of all sizes in just Newcastle alone, with endless opportunities cropping up across the North as a whole. As a business with an established branch network, we are enthusiastic about the fact that the best work stems from being in an office environment. Our response to the short-term initial government-enforced closures in response to Covid-19 was to extend our hours of communication with our clients, but we were certainly passionate about reopening our offices again as soon as we could, whilst obviously following Government guidelines. Our business is built on a culture of hard-work, agility and tenacity, so whilst the pandemic presented challenges, we are proud to have continued in supporting our clients with a high level of service and found solutions to deliver on many projects throughout.
For more information head to www.bradleyhall.co.uk
