Over the last few years the office leasing market has evolved at a greater pace than previous decades put together. How have the changes, desired by occupier clients impacted how landlords such as Orbit Developments present their buildings and work spaces. Learn how the office is reborn and what might the future hold.

The global events of the start of this decade have had an impact on everyone and every sector of business. 5 or so years later this is a period hardly referenced now by businesses as they consider their office space requirements. It feels like for the majority of businesses they have established that their new normal is. We’ve all learned that face to face meetings beat virtual calls but at the same time, time is precious, so we have become more selective in how we plan each meeting.

Nearly all businesses see office space providing a role for their staff. It may be a smaller space than before, it may look and feel very different to how it did before and it may not be a venue you travel to everyday or every week, but it’s generally there for staff at some point.

A lot has already been said about how workspaces have taken huge strides in improving the quality of the space. The design lead approach to space to ensure various metrics are being met that goes well beyond ‘how many desks can I fit in?’. That has continued with landlords delivering increasingly fitted and frequently furnished workspaces. This is not now just a city centre trend. The team at Orbit have donned their creative caps and alongside a team of design experts have taken a step back to look beyond the usual carpet, decoration and general tidy up when a space becomes available. Now it’s about providing that show home finish, not only the right size of space in the right location but considering what elements occupiers in that marketplace might require as part of a fit out, do we go for the exposed look, how far can we take environmental improvements even on a suite-by-suite basis?

So what do we mean by ‘show home’ finish? Well, if you’ve even looked at new build residential development you will have seen the show home. That’s what sells the dream. You can pay more for the developer to have created this with their years of experience and wealth of skilled contacts, or you can buy an empty box where you have the peruse carpet, lighting and kitchen catalogues and buy mountains of those little pant tester pots. So now we see this approach in commercial property with companies looking for the easiest and usually quickest move into something show home ready. To be able to invest in a portfolio of any size with this level of expenditure you need a strong well-established landlord who can deliver, something we’ve been doing for over 60yrs across south Manchester.

The office reborn? For landlords such as Orbit who have the time served knowledge and experience to invest and deliver engaging workspaces and shared areas this is very much true. A landlord with the appetite, experience and skills to evolve their offer to match the demands of the modern client across a portfolio that spans well beyond the northwest.

What about the future? Hands up if you predicted 2020? So whilst we can’t reliably predict what’s around the corner the trends, we are seeing point towards a continuation of working closely with clients to deliver on their final needs and delivering more ready-made spaces fit for the modern office client.