In commercial offices, the most frequent complaints from tenants and users are about air quality and air-conditioning – it is ‘too hot’, ‘too cold’, ‘stuffy’, ‘toxic’, ‘noisy’ or ‘draughty’. The problem is exacerbated by the different needs and perceptions of occupants due to a difference in gender and varying shapes and sizes. Facilities managers have
Investment returns in property portfolios controlled by REITs and property investment funds are underpinned by existing lease agreements and on-going tenant demand patterns. Future demand patterns of tenants, manifested by the willingness and ability to pay rental, will determine future income growth and ultimately property asset values. Although some investment analysts analyse the underlying business
Business processes have changed. Today, business is conducted differently from the way it was conducted five years ago and the way business is conducted today is unrecognisable compared to business models from the last decade. But, some aspects of the decision- making processes, including corporate accommodation decisions, appear to have changed little. As always, location
The media is inundated with articles talking about activity-based working (ABW) as the next best thing in office accommodation. Seldom are there industry articles that indicate there may be a downside to ABW or that it may not work for all companies. Could it be that ABW proponents have vested interest in these new workplace
Tenants have probably always had the challenge of having to try and reconcile their rental budgets with actual payments to landlords. Although this may sometimes be a result of poor budgeting, quite often it is the hidden costs that come through in the additional payments resulting from the vagaries of the ‘outgoing recoveries’ clause. For
The perennial expectations of virtually all organisations that decide to embark on the property services outsourcing journey is cost savings. This motivation – whether expressed explicitly or hidden among other more admirable objectives – also tends to be elevated to high status in tender evaluation criteria and, ultimately, is pivotal in awarding the property service
With the ongoing financial meltdown after the global financial crisis, impending global environmental catastrophes and increasing world conflict, companies are thinking about their ongoing sustainability. In many cases, companies are also being driven by their stakeholders to report on their contribution to environmental and community causes. Corporate sustainability is far more than regular profit reporting.
As workspace accommodation models have evolved – from shared desks, work from home and distributed workplaces to activity-based working – the concept of ‘third space’ has been getting frequent mentions at workplace seminars, conferences and industry journals. But, few understand what is meant by this concept and the property industry has not come to grips
Political one-liners rule the airwaves, and all parts of Australian society are trying to work out the likely impact of a carbon tax on their lives. But will this lead to behavioural changes by tenants of commercial properties and their staff – a key focus of the tax? And will the financial implications make businesses
Facility managers with large portfolios of assets all aspire to implement life cycle maintenance planning to reduce overall maintenance expenditure and improve asset performance. Yet this seldom seems to occur. Client organisations, which expect industry professionalism and more predictable asset outcomes, are usually underwhelmed by substandard, reactive facilities performance levels. The engineering logic is sound,