_Use Classes Order, engaging places and confused planners

The evolution of the workplace – from a functional, inert people container to a living, thriving multi-functional space – is one of the major trends in commercial property in the 21st century.

The imaginative example set by the tech giants of Silicon Valley in California has taken hold in the UK now, not just in London, but in major cities such as Leeds, Manchester and Sheffield.

The key driver of the dramatic change in the nature and character of where we work is the belief that a happy employee is a productive employee.

So table football, well-stocked bars, synthetic putting greens, roof terraces, restaurants, massive wide-screen televisions and the ubiquitous beanie bags are now in vogue. There’s no need to venture outside until it’s time to go home. For some, the workplace now feels like home anyway.

This radical change is already having a significant impact on the commercial property planning process, normally a subject as dry as dust. Most laymen can’t tell their property planning classes from their elbows, but now landlords, agents, marketing gurus and facilities managers are having to swot up on how they can persuade planners to allow old-fashioned offices to becoming all-singing, all-dancing, people-centric places where play co-exists with work. 

Buildings, you see, are now real-time, truly mixed-use assets. Property now plays a crucial part in talented staff attraction and retention, in teamwork and in corporate success.

So it’s simply not good enough to build or occupy a functional office with traditional facilities (a solitary water cooler ). Those never-ending discussions about last night’s television can now take place over a relaxing drink and a pizza on those beanie bags.

This new office environment, dictated as much by the lay-out and structure of a building as by its facilities (though those are vital), encourage and enhance team work and collaboration.

This, in turn, resolves conflicts and enhances personal working relationships and trust. So many companies now are striving to be learning centres of excellence, creating conditions in which employees learn not only through formal training but through relationships with their colleagues. 

As a result these “people-centric workplaces” allow for even more integration of social and lifestyle behaviour and the further softening of the structured work day, suiting both the individual and the team. This positive workplace culture will attract talented employees who now expect their workplace to cater for their social and lifestyles needs, allowing them to shine. Buildings should now be culture clubs; they are a crucial part of bringing people together as part of the brand that they work for. 

This is now happening in Leeds. One example is Platform, a traditional office building which has bought and redeveloped by Manchester-based developers Bruntwood.

This building has been redeveloped to incorporate the principles of a diverse community of like-minded people shaping a place together, with connected environments: digitally, physically, socially, but within a design-led, tech-savvy quality space for occupiers to work in.

We have ambitious plans for other buildings owned by our clients in Leeds, as we look to transform them into exciting workplaces at the forefront of the city’s commercial property market. 

People and organisations thrive as part of a community - the opportunity to build a sense of place is at the centre of what imaginative developers do when they buy and refurbish buildings. It means that the city’s heritage lives on for future generations, and businesses are part of a much longer and more engaging story.

I don’t want to get too technical about commercial property planning categories (B1 is office development, B8  storage and distribution, A2 banks and building societies and C3 is residential, just in case you want to know), but some interesting situations are now arising when the distinctions between these classes are becoming blurred.

Will, for example, modern offices continue to be classed as B1 offices uses where they have lots of mod cons such as indoor slides and table football? Or are they now turning into ‘Assembly and Leisure’ uses, which is another class completely?

Ultimately that’s a question for the planners. But there’s no doubt that new uses within the modern “office building”, such as retail, leisure, offices and sport, now create an experience.

This, in turn, creates challenges – and opportunities – for all of us in the commercial property world in Yorkshire. These are opportunities we must seize.

Eamon Fox is a Partner, Head of Offices & Development based in our Leeds Team. The team can provide you with high quality advice on commercial properties within the city and its surrounding areas in Yorkshire, including offices, industrial and alternative properties - working closely with our associated office in Sheffield.