WFH - a new model
Discussion
Just curious really. In view of the current situation, do we think that businesses will wake up to the cost reality of people working in office spaces and allow more flexibility for employees to work from home? Whilst I appreciate some people simply don't have the space or right environment (children, etc) and certain jobs simply don't allow it, will this become more of the norm?
Also appreciate that if you've always worked in an office environment, it can be quite an adjustment and, ironically, quite isolating. Does anyone think there's scope for more office 'hubs' where a number of individuals can have a dedicated work space (perhaps on month to month, subscription model) with shared facilities in a larger unit? Appreciate there are office spaces in cities (the likes of Regus, etc) for smaller businesses, but what about for individuals?
If you work from home on a regular basis, would you consider setting up your single desk office in a suitable serviced environment with other individuals in a similar industry. Would employers give an allowance for remote employees to work in that sort of environment?
I've been looking for a tenant on behalf of my Dad - it's 5500sq feet of office/retail space in a great rural setting - proving too large as a single unit to find a tenant. Wondered if there'd be a market to investigate the above. Almost like a small business park model, but for individual workers.
Any thoughts would be much appreciated.
Emma
Also appreciate that if you've always worked in an office environment, it can be quite an adjustment and, ironically, quite isolating. Does anyone think there's scope for more office 'hubs' where a number of individuals can have a dedicated work space (perhaps on month to month, subscription model) with shared facilities in a larger unit? Appreciate there are office spaces in cities (the likes of Regus, etc) for smaller businesses, but what about for individuals?
If you work from home on a regular basis, would you consider setting up your single desk office in a suitable serviced environment with other individuals in a similar industry. Would employers give an allowance for remote employees to work in that sort of environment?
I've been looking for a tenant on behalf of my Dad - it's 5500sq feet of office/retail space in a great rural setting - proving too large as a single unit to find a tenant. Wondered if there'd be a market to investigate the above. Almost like a small business park model, but for individual workers.
Any thoughts would be much appreciated.
Emma
Maybe somewhere in the middle, or a bit of both:
What you are describing sounds much like Regus hot desking. I think your experience of not being able to find a tenant for a larger space is symptomatic of the general move towards flexible working where businesses often dont need to have 50 people all in the same building most of the time. The c19 crisis has accelerated the trend.
We were about to buy a 2nd office unit (but have put it on hold until everything has resolved) and our plan was to split it down into small 500-750 sq ft spaces on the same reasoning you describe. Commercial property agents at our 1st building and the new one (in different parts of the country) have said that demand for smaller units (1000sq ft and below) generally outstrips supply, with larger units often remaining empty/harder to fill.
Hope that gives some food for thought.
What you are describing sounds much like Regus hot desking. I think your experience of not being able to find a tenant for a larger space is symptomatic of the general move towards flexible working where businesses often dont need to have 50 people all in the same building most of the time. The c19 crisis has accelerated the trend.
We were about to buy a 2nd office unit (but have put it on hold until everything has resolved) and our plan was to split it down into small 500-750 sq ft spaces on the same reasoning you describe. Commercial property agents at our 1st building and the new one (in different parts of the country) have said that demand for smaller units (1000sq ft and below) generally outstrips supply, with larger units often remaining empty/harder to fill.
Hope that gives some food for thought.
Thanks for responses so far, it's much appreciated. Initially, I thought about setting up a 'creative hub' (my background is media - well, many moons ago it was) so it seemed like an obvious one. Many people in the industry are now working from home but it does lose some of the creative process. An office environment means you bounce off each other, a home office means you just procrastinate and plumb the depths of social media whilst raiding the fridge...
I also thought about the space that's available. As well as permanent desks, it could incorporate a photographic studio/artists space/pottery kilns, etc and there is another 5000 sq ft to grow into. There's plenty of parking and outside space. It is rural, but about 3 miles from a market town and about 15mins to the A1. Could use some of the space as a conference/meeting room and has kitchen, WCs, etc already.
I guess I'll have to do some market research to gauge local need and pricing structure, etc
Any more thoughts, do keep them coming.
Emma
I also thought about the space that's available. As well as permanent desks, it could incorporate a photographic studio/artists space/pottery kilns, etc and there is another 5000 sq ft to grow into. There's plenty of parking and outside space. It is rural, but about 3 miles from a market town and about 15mins to the A1. Could use some of the space as a conference/meeting room and has kitchen, WCs, etc already.
I guess I'll have to do some market research to gauge local need and pricing structure, etc
Any more thoughts, do keep them coming.
Emma
It's Northamptonshire, PE8 area.
Agree about the splitting it up, locally the rural business parks are always full - it also spreads the risk. As I said, it's my Dad's premises. He's not really in a position to make the decisions and we'd hoped to find a single rental as an expedient solution (infact, we had a start up dog day care place going in but it fell through - think she got cold feet). Clearly, after a year of little interest (aside from a kids activity centre) we need to have a rethink and invest if necessary.
Currently, half (the spare 'growth' 5000 sq ft is rented as single storage - but is on a service contract) and the other half (it's actually 6300 sq ft) is sitting empty. It is on with a local agent but I think we need to think a bit more outside the box.
Thanks all, really do appreciate it.
Emma
Agree about the splitting it up, locally the rural business parks are always full - it also spreads the risk. As I said, it's my Dad's premises. He's not really in a position to make the decisions and we'd hoped to find a single rental as an expedient solution (infact, we had a start up dog day care place going in but it fell through - think she got cold feet). Clearly, after a year of little interest (aside from a kids activity centre) we need to have a rethink and invest if necessary.
Currently, half (the spare 'growth' 5000 sq ft is rented as single storage - but is on a service contract) and the other half (it's actually 6300 sq ft) is sitting empty. It is on with a local agent but I think we need to think a bit more outside the box.
Thanks all, really do appreciate it.
Emma
Yes, I refused the kids place. He doesn't need the money that badly. 'Hey, we want to find a place to drop our screaming kids off because we don't want them blowing off steam at home.' Can you even imagine? Although I could do it on a temporary basis, charge what I like and make a killing!
My dad lives on site and tempting though it sometimes is, I don't want him popping off just yet.
My dad lives on site and tempting though it sometimes is, I don't want him popping off just yet.
I’m in Hampshire so don’t cover your patch. I’m having a similar issue with a c4500sf converted barn that has B1 use. No takers for it as a whole and even looking to lease it to multiple occupiers you then have challenges in regard to shared facilities (kitchen/wcs) and the practicality of billing utilities, internal security etc etc. It’s a tough one. Price is a big consideration of course, not to mention the business rates on something that size will be high I imagine.
Edited by anonymous-user on Saturday 21st March 18:25
Thanks for all the responses - seems like I started this thread an age ago! I'm going to be taking a proper look at doing this with some local research - it does seem that most hot offices, etc are based around cities. Depending on set-up costs and what the local response is, I think it's probably well worth looking into in a rural but easily accessible environment. I'll let you know how it goes. Biggest hurdle currently is probably planning feedback from the bankrupt council so it may be a while!
Thanks all,
Emma
Thanks all,
Emma
DSLiverpool said:
I think were going to decide to review in August but plan to WFH completely (not thinking of it as a temp measure) our H&S advisor says we need to improve our insurance and give an allowance for the work environement which is something were looking into now.
If you mean a home office allowance our accountants have always recommended £520 per annum per HO as an acceptable allowance that hmrc is happy to not include as personal income.Thanks for all the responses. Interesting times indeed. Fortunately, I've now got a couple of contacts within the sector (turns out one of them is very local and has already asked my friendly agent about the site) both from a consultancy pov and the other another local-ish who's looking to increase capacity for pre-existing WFH premises. I'll let you know how it all develops!
Thanks all,
Emma
Thanks all,
Emma
Just an update really. After some local research, initial reaction has been very positive both from individuals and city based companies who're keen to carry on supporting the WFH model for employees. Peterborough/Huntingdon are our local London lines, with many people commuting (it's about £7K, parking on top, often standing room only). I think the majority of people I've spoken to have (those still working) have actually enjoyed work more, on the basis that they've got another 2- 2.5hrs in the day based of their door to door commute.
From a planning pov, the only issues we might face is the Highways increase in traffic to a rural site. It's not accessible by public transport, but I think if we kept the target market area quite small (perhaps 10-15m radius), we'd capture many of the rural villages and would encourage cycling. Equally, if commuters are going to the stations, then the cars are already on the roads - all going in the same direction. Get your daily exercise in on the way/way back from work. That would obviously mean showering facilities, etc but is entirely doable with the available space.
I've taken onboard all comments since the original post, both positive and negative. Having had a couple of months to reflect, we wouldn't look into offering hot desking, but a dedicated personal space, some break out areas and meeting rooms that can be booked exclusively.
We've had confirmation of decent telecoms and connectivity so that's one potentially large hurdle overcome.
For those of you who'd consider using something like it (especially as an individual), what kind of facilities would you see to make it the best place you've ever worked? And, if you wouldn't use it, what would convince you to change your mind?
Thanks all, very much appreciated,
Emma
From a planning pov, the only issues we might face is the Highways increase in traffic to a rural site. It's not accessible by public transport, but I think if we kept the target market area quite small (perhaps 10-15m radius), we'd capture many of the rural villages and would encourage cycling. Equally, if commuters are going to the stations, then the cars are already on the roads - all going in the same direction. Get your daily exercise in on the way/way back from work. That would obviously mean showering facilities, etc but is entirely doable with the available space.
I've taken onboard all comments since the original post, both positive and negative. Having had a couple of months to reflect, we wouldn't look into offering hot desking, but a dedicated personal space, some break out areas and meeting rooms that can be booked exclusively.
We've had confirmation of decent telecoms and connectivity so that's one potentially large hurdle overcome.
For those of you who'd consider using something like it (especially as an individual), what kind of facilities would you see to make it the best place you've ever worked? And, if you wouldn't use it, what would convince you to change your mind?
Thanks all, very much appreciated,
Emma
We have considered a gym area - there's plenty of space, it'd just be the costs involved in setting it up and how you'd charge for it. Great if we include it in a weekly fee, not so great if you don't want to use it (and it's included). Same with a café - there's a kitchen at the moment so it's probably something to consider later down the line. It'd obviously be dependent on the numbers to make it worthwhile. There are plenty of places round here that 'could' do some easy food, sandwiches, etc for daily delivery. Or stock some fridges with food choices on a daily basis and clients would get a tot up at the end of the week/month. It's all stuff to consider but ultimately, I'd like to make it as easy as possible for users, hence asking for the valuable feedback so keep them coming!
48K, I think a secure bike parking space would be a requirement for planning anyway so it's something we'd definitely make a feature of. We have a great independent, very successful bike shop in the market town three miles down the road so would also encourage using them to have your bike serviced, etc. They'd likely come and pick them up/drop them back. It's one less thing to worry about for the client.
One other quick question, how do people feel about having dogs at work (manageable ones, not necessarily brought in on the back of a bike), there's loads of outdoor space for walks along the river/fields. Is this generally a good thing, or a no no - remember to consider that this is a rural area, lots of open countryside and affluent villages so I'd imagine quite a high proportion of dog owners...
One other quick question, how do people feel about having dogs at work (manageable ones, not necessarily brought in on the back of a bike), there's loads of outdoor space for walks along the river/fields. Is this generally a good thing, or a no no - remember to consider that this is a rural area, lots of open countryside and affluent villages so I'd imagine quite a high proportion of dog owners...
One thing I didn't anticipate when we shifted to WFH, is the large number of 'expat' UK citizens living overseas who work for UK companies. They have even lower living costs and wage requirements.
Mother tongue UK english is still a differentiator in many sectors. Some of our competitors have operations in low cost areas of USA and South Africa, but UK is still a plus.
Shnozz said:
What would be a good idea would be to create a group of nearby countries, broadly operating within an hour or two of time zones, allowing freedom of passage between them without limit and the right to work within those countries should you desire to do so. Some sort of "union".
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