​An increase in flexible workspaces hasn’t led to the death of the CBD office as predicted.
However, offices that were traditionally used 5 days a week are now being re-considered as part time spaces that serve a different purpose.
 
As they return to the office, employees are no longer looking for just a desk and a boardroom. They need a space that will re-enforce the social connections pivotal to daily work. Furthermore, the office’s role in brand positioning is vital as many companies attempt to bounce back after a year at home. This fresh take on the office space, while exciting from a workplace point of view, will have significant implications for occupancy rates, as commercial tenants begin to re-assess their property strategies.

Renowned architects and urban designers Maud Cassaignau and Markus Jung likened Cremorne to the industrial areas of London and New York: “What struck us was the diversity of typologies…People seemingly didn’t know it so well. We felt that here was something really precious” 

This tiny inner pocket of Melbourne, sits quietly behind the Monash Freeway. Once a manufacturing precinct, it’s working class character still remains, with the original signs and factories a beautiful reminder of days gone by. Melburnians love the suburbs that pay homage to our past, but Cremorne has recently emerged as something more…
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This year has seen many companies return to a flexible working model, where individual workers and teams split their time between a physical working environment and a virtual one. This new working landscape has presented a challenge for culture, as companies question the role played by the physical office space in maintaining it.
 
Historically, cultural “rituals” that were once enacted in the office, can no longer take place or if they can, they face disruption through a new hybrid working model, where employees are not in attendance full time.  From this new framework, a need to redefine culture has emerged, with many companies forced to rebuild their cultural practices and values to retain talent and integrate new employees.

On January 18, 2021 Victoria began a staged return to the office with most workplaces in the private sector set to return to 50% capacity. By the beginning of March, offices were expected to be mostly full, with new measures put in place to make workers feel safe and supported. The media reported a steady rise in foot traffic in the CBD as companies were interviewed about their staff’s excitement over a return to in-person meetings.
 
In reality, things look a little different. In fact, the big return to the office has not exactly met expectations, particularly among landlords and business leaders.

Click here For most commercial tenants approaching the end of their lease, a “Stay Vs Go” decision will be faced. Many important factors go into this decision and in 2020/2021, there will be even more to consider. COVID has led to a sudden and rapid change in the workplace landscape. There are new behaviours among tenants and their workers – some which will outlive the health crisis and influence “Stay vs Go” decisions for years to come. In addition, the need for most businesses to cut occupancy costs has led them to re-visit their property strategy. Landlords have responded to these changes quickly, adopting new flexibilities in their lease terms in order to hang on to good quality tenants and a steady income from their assets. 

As a certified Bcorp, BRM is dedicated to using our business as a force for good. Across all services we deliver, from design, to project management and property strategy, BRM places the wellbeing of our clients at the centre of what we do. While wellbeing and commercial property haven’t always been closely associated, now, particularly with the Coronavirus outbreak, commercial property owners and tenants are taking unprecedented measures to ensure their buildings are healthy enough for the people within them. So what are the elements that make a building healthy or unhealthy?

​Office vacancy rates remain low for Melbourne in the first quarter of 2020, with the key drivers being competitive rents and a great city lifestyle.
 
The city continues to prepare for future growth with over 600,000 sqm being supplied by 2022. Over 400,000 sqm of this will come to market in 2020. *
 
The latest data from the Property Council of Australia reveals that, as of January 2020, Melbourne’s vacancy rate is the lowest in the country, with only 3.2%, compared to Sydney, which has a vacancy rate of 3.9%. This makes our city the tightest leasing market in the country.

*This article is based on data from The Property Council Of Australia 2020 Office Market Report

As with last year, people are the central focus in commercial property. Bricks and mortar matter less as the experience of the worker becomes everything. With tech disruption, political upheaval and climate anxiety on the rise, commercial landlords are beginning to hear what people want. Read on to see the key workplace elements that landlords have started to deliver.

Curating the right mix of tenants as a commercial property owner can transform a great space into a valuable cultural experience for the people within that space. The centrality of people to the workplace has become a much talked about topic within the commercial real estate industry. Savvy property owners, in a bid to stand out in the real estate landscape,  are filling their buildings with likeminded businesses that can leverage each other at a business level, together with the right blend of retail and hospitality amenities.

The result is a space that not only provides the day to day services tenants require, from food outlets to dry cleaning services, but also a carefully curated mix of office tenants that can provide professional services to each other. 

​For BRM, our services have always aimed to reach beyond the transaction itself. We put people at the centre of everything we do, from workplace consulting, to project management, workplace design, and in this case, property advisory.
 
Yes, property is about “closing the deal”, but many are quick to forget that the “deal” involves people, from the people who are making the deal, right down to the people who will be occupying and working in the actual space. For this reason, we see relationships as paramount to commercial property. Without stable and trustworthy relationships, a company facing a change in location, organisational structure or even the layout of its office desks, will encounter great difficulty.