Landlord lessons for the ‘20s
London’s post-referendum occupational market has remained very active, just as we anticipated, with 47.8 million sq ft let since June 2016. We look at three lessons from this recent market experience that will be critical to the occupational market’s success in the ’20s.
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Qualities not quantities
Recent metrics indicate a robust occupational market. Yet it is the qualities, rather than quantities, of demand that will have greater bearing on the future direction of the London office market. There are three key qualitative elements characterising recent demand, namely:
A clear mobility of occupiers towards the very best quality product that provides solutions to strategic business challenges, such as the attraction and retention of talent.
A push for increased flexibility in both product and lease in order to align real estate to modern business realities such as shorter CEO tenures, agile business models and digital transformation.
A desire for greater service and amenity in order to create positive workplace experiences that support staff retention and deliver greater collaboration.
These three elements are conditioning landlord responses, as they seek to tune into changing customer requirements and expectations.
Increasing levels of innovation and a more customer-centric proposition have emerged from landlords across the entire market, but it is perhaps on both the eastern and western fringes of London that such a response has been most dramatic.