No-one could have predicted that the way we work would change so dramatically in such a short period of time. This sudden change has led to dialogue around “the future of the office” with real estate and design experts eager to see what the long term office landscape will look like.
 
But more deserving of our attention right now, is the current state of the office landscape. How will businesses approach a re-entry into the office after the latest lockdown? What are the short term implications of these lockdowns on our office space? Two things are certain:
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1.The office itself will never completely disappear and there will always be a need for it in some form or another
2.When we eventually return, it won’t be to the office as it was pre-COVID

​Here are some of the considerations around office space right now:

This end of financial year will be like no other. Businesses across the world are beginning to feel the true financial impact of this crisis as the need to cut costs becomes more vital than ever before. 

In this rapidly evolving marketing, organisations are forced to adapt and make swift changes in order to protect themselves financially. For many businesses, the largest expense is real estate. Rental expenses remain  a key area to consider in cutting costs and it is not too late to maximise rental savings at this stage. There are 2 ways you can take action on this right now:

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.
 

It is quite commonly known that Landlords are responsible for costs and maintenance of safety requirements in retail premises in Victoria.  This is the case under both the Building Act 1993 (Vic) and the Retail Leases Act 2003 (Vic).

There has been some contention about how the two acts operate, which both apply in the case of retail premises.  The main question most landlords ask is: Can such obligations can be contracted out of or passed on to the tenant?

A recent Advisory Opinion in 2015 has helped to clarify the position of the law in regards to these issues.  While Advisory Opinions are not legally binding, they are highly persuasive to Tribunals and Courts in hearing such decisions, especially given that there are many cases in support of the conclusions reached.

​In today’s workplace landscape, the opinion of the worker counts for a lot. In fact, organisations are increasingly involving their staff in decisions that were once reserved for leadership. The workforce is largely made up of millennial workers who are used to having significant influence in the way they work, rather than being dictated to by archaic organisational structures. 

​When it comes to commercial property, change is inevitable. Leases will end, companies may grow and other issues, both external and internal, will rear their heads, forcing businesses to adapt and move forward. It goes without saying that stability and trustworthy relationships are paramount during these periods of change. 

Having a property advisor who can deliver a relocation project and fitout after years of guiding its client through various changes is uncommon, but BRM Projects provided this exact service to its client, Roads Australia ,and the results speak for themselves.

Discover how over 10 years of advice and project delivery from the same commercial property provider helped Roads Australia through some challenging periods…

​We love working on new projects with our existing clients. Optalert, is an exciting client, who has developed a technology that acts as an early warning drowsiness detection system. As its technology has grown and the company itself is increasingly becoming trusted by major global companies, its needs are changing, especially in the workplace itself and the property it occupies.
 
From our early property advisory work with the then new CEO Scott Coles in 2014, to the fitout of Optalert’s new offices that same year, BRM Projects has continued to act as Optalert’s trusted property partner throughout all of the its changes over the past few years.
 
Here is a preview of just some of the work BRM Projects has carried out for this fascinating company: