Group IVG subsidiary Oppenheim bought the building, the former Latitude Red, as part of a portfolio of office buildings acquired from HBG Properties. It is understood that Gratterpalm have agreed a ten-year lease with a two-year rent free period at £20 sq/foot.

Gratterpalm have won a slew of awards, and they are regarded as the leading creative agency outside of London. Campaign magazine  ranked them 21 out of 100 creative agencies, the only regional agency to break into the top 25. They have also won best Yorkshire firm to work for and are in the Sunday Times top 100 firms to work for.

Gratterpalm will join i2 office in whitehall road, who fit out  a similar sized office in the building and were one of the first tenants to move in, as of May last year. The 122,000 sq/ft building has further space looking for tenants, Bray Fox Smith  were appointed  national agents last autumn and Knight Frank and Jones Lang LaSalle also advise.

See why Gratterpalm love Mondays and won Yorkshire’s best company to work for here:

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The initial stages are already well under way for Canary Wharf Group and its subsidiaries.  Canary Wharf Contractors Limited, has been given the contract to oversee the construction of the shell, the core, and the fit out of the property. The space will be completed to Grade A standard and the building itself will also reach the highest environmental standards with a BREEAM rating of Excellent.

Allen & Overy advised European Medicines Agency (EMA) on its agreed pre-let of 250,000 sq ft of the new 500,000 sq ft office building at Churchill Place, Canary Wharf, a deal proving to be the largest letting this year in the London market in 2011. Having agreed a deal of £46.50 per sq ft, the European Medicines Agency will occupy the building’s promenade and ground floor, as well as the first nine floors; they also have an option for a further four floors – totaling 27,500 sq ft of office space. The length of the lease is 25 years and EMA will receive a 37 month rent-free period, which will be used to pay for EMA’s fit-out of the building.

The European Medicines Agency is a decentralised agency of the European Union, located in London. The Agency is responsible for the scientific evaluation of medicines developed by pharmaceutical companies for use in the European Union. They are currently located at 7 Westferry Circus in Canary Wharf.

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This week O2 launched a flexible working pilot for UK staff in anticipation of the Olympics this summer. On Wednesday O2 shut its head office in Slough and the 3,000 employees normally based there, worked remotely. The rationale behind this move preempts the travel disruption expected due to the proximity to the Olympic rowing venue.

O2 is hoping that the pilot will highlight best practices that can be shared. It is anticipated that up to one third of UK businesses will encourage flexible working practices during London 2012. Transport for London is aiming to see commuter journeys reduced by a third.

O2 will monitor reductions in electricity usage and CO2 emissions as well as the impact of reduced time travel over a 24 hour period. O2 has already seen a fall of 53% in its carbon footprint having consolidated its operations into a single campus.

Ann Pickering, O2’s HR director said: “There are huge benefits to be gained in enabling your workforce to be mobile. Not only does it foster trust between organisations and employees, but allowing staff to shape their own working environment gives them back one of their most valuable resources – time.

“It also allows companies to overcome geographical boundaries and open new doors in terms of recruiting the best talent,” she continued. “So whether it’s a mum that needs to be at home for the school run or an employee that works remotely three days and travels to the office for two, with the right tools, implementing flexible working policies have the potential to transform the way we do business.”

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One of the largest office deals in Exeter sees Torex Retail move into the Revolution Building at Pynes Hill next week. The premises were previously home to the social housing firm Connaught. The detached leasehold building was vacated from early in 2011, bringing 10,000 sq ft of office space onto the market. Torex are relocating from a smaller base at Sowton Industrial Estate.

Torex provides outlet and head office technology through a mix of software, hardware, consultancy, and implementation and maintenance services. Torex expect to take on more staff as a result of the move.

Last year Morgan Sindall purchased the assets of the collapsed housing group for £28m, and will take over the majority of Connaught’s maintenance contracts. Connaught employed about 4,400 people, and although 95 employees at the Exeter head office were made redundant, 2,500 jobs have been saved.

The landlords of the property instructed Stratton Creber Commercial and Alder King as joint letting agents. The property was marketed at £145,000 per annum.

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Steelcase, one of the leading manufacturers of office chairs, commissioned two studies in order to quantify the benefits of investment into state of the art seating technology. The purpose of their research was to look at the real benefit of the ergonomic program, to ask whether increased productivity is possible, and how soon this productivity yields a return on investment for the company. The chair that Steelcase used in these tests was their Leap chair, which had been designed using in depth understanding of the human body and how to support it. Biomechanic tests had already proven outstanding fit, movement and support but they also wanted to test it in a ‘real world’ setting alongside ergonomic training for the chair users.

To ensure robust results the study recruited two companies (one public sector and one private sector), studying over 450 employees, over the course of a year. The employees who took part were sitting in their chairs for at least 6 hours a day and at least 4 of those were spent working on a computer. Data was collected covering health status: measuring pain and discomfort before and during the study on a daily and longer term basis; and productivity: objective measures made before and during the study. Additionally, volunteers were divided into 3 groups:

• Control group – received ergonomic training after the study
• Ergonomic training received – learned how to adjust existing chair
• Leap chair and ergonomic training – learned how to adjust new Leap chair

The results confirmed that the Steelcase Leap office chair and the training given resulted in significant health status and productivity improvements. Those with Leap chairs demonstrated more overall comfort which lasted longer through the day. Productivity went up in both the companies where the studies took place: the public sector company showed increases of 17.8% and the private sector productivity went up by 8.3%. No significant productivity was evident in the other 2 groups studied.

The results of this study demonstrate the good business sense of investmenting in quality furniture and training. Ergonomic office seating is an asset to an organisation and is appreciated by its staff.

Shown on the left is the Steelcase Leap office chair in use at Paragon Laundry.

The Leap chair includes the following features that contribute to its success:

• LiveBack – the chair’s back changes shape to support the entire spine
• Upper and lower back controls – allowing for the user to set ‘push back’ to suit their reclining position and adjust the amount of lower back firmness
• Height, width, depth, and pivot arms – to allow for a natural position that supports the wrists, forearms, shoulders and neck
• Natural glide system – seat glides forward when reclining, maintaining users vision and reach zones, so staying oriented with their work; encourages a less static load on the spine
• Flexible seat edge – eases pressure on the thighs and widens the angle between legs and torso so that the user feels secure in the chair
• Adjustable seat depth – accommodates different body shapes

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Squire and Partners have been appointed by Canary Wharf Group and Qatari Diar Real Estate Investment to plan the redevelopment of the Shell Centre site on London’s South Bank, providing new office space on one of the largest development sites in central London.

Squire and Partners replaced the original architects – Rogers Strick Harbour – as the plans were required to be more sympathetic to the surrounding area. The development is likely to have a mix of uses including office space, retail and residential space.

Shell‘s 27-storey headquarters will remain unchanged and will continue to be occupied by Shell. It is expected that Shell will take a pre-let of 210,000 sq ft in one of the new buildings to be constructed on the site.

An extensive public consultation process was started last month as the needs of the local community and prospective tenants have to be taken into account.

Canary Wharf Group and Qatari Diar Real Estate Investment were appointed as the developers last year and are expected to pay £150m each for the 999-year lease of the site.

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The Shard would like to attract a big investment bank like Deutsche but in these times of austerity these moves are by no means certain. CMS Cameron McKenna shelved a massive 200,000 sq ft pre-let at Principal Place on the back of financial uncertainty. At the same time surely Deutsche will be able to drive a hard bargain. The German Bank is the last big investment bank left to make a move, and is currently in discussion to exit its lease at Bishopsgate.

Will Deutsche take space in one of the buildings on its shortlist or will it flex its position of power to negotiate a better deal where it is? It’s likely to get the best deal at Canary Wharf or Cannon Place – but The Shard, part owned by Qatar national Bank is impossible to ignore – in more ways than one.

Deutsche bank is in a very strong position and whatever its decision, it’s a win-win situation. If it decides to move, it will negotiate an exceptional deal and at the same time be seen to be stepping along a path of consolidation, well trodden by its competitors when they moved out to Canary Wharf. If they stay put in Bishopsgate, it can argue a conservative careful approach during times of austerity – and that shopping around was mere prudence to negotiate the best deal.

It will be interesting to see how The Shard fares, regardless of rental values, the high profile alone of The Shard may be a disadvantage to companies needing to project a tight belt. Moving into the tallest building in Europe is always going to make a headline grabbing statement, which some banks are trying to avoid. But imagine Deutsche Bank being to The Shard, what Swiss Re is to The Gherkin. With investment banks there is a background of high finance that can strongly influence a preference for a client building, and Qatar is now a big financial hitter looking for a prominent client for The Shard.

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UBS is set to take the lease for around 18 years at a rent of £54.50 per sq ft, which will increase in line with inflation. The deal was first announced in 2010 but ironing out the details has taken a long time. The property industry has viewed this deal with interest as the unsettled economic environment has had a negative impact on the certainty of such plans; the law firm CMS Cameron McKenna pulled out of a similar deal.

Michael Burt, analyst at Espirito Santo, said: “While we had always viewed completion of the pre-let as a formality given that the building had effectively been designed to UBS’s bespoke requirements, it is still reassuring to see the transaction complete in light of CMS Cameron McKenna’s recent decision to defer a pre-let.”

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The Crown Estate has redeveloped the block as part of a long-term programme for the area. Regent Palace Hotel, which opened in 1915, originally took up the whole block. Quadrant 3 is now a multi-use block, comprising of office space, shops, flats, restaurants and bars. Dixon Jones have been the developers of this challenging London refurbishment.

The focus of the difficulty with this development was the fact that the original 1,028 room hotel was a warren of rooms with floor-to-floor heights of only 2.85m. The building was listed in 2003 following plans to completely rebuild it; in the basement there are 3 fine 1930s Art Deco bars also covered by the listing. Work on this building has required a careful balance of modern demands and sensitivity to the historical context. It was decided that the handsome corners of the building should remain and the bits between could be replaced; the original features mask the scale of the new additions.

The corners contain flats, offices and open space within the original levels and the main floorplates are now 3.8m floor-to-floor heights. The block contains 3 self-contained 18m span office zones on each floor, all served by atrium bridges – the design is simple and effective. The environmental credentials are one of its selling points: it has a BREEAM Excellent rating; this attracted Generation Investment Management, which was co-founded by Al Gore, an environmental activist.

Quadrant 3 was completed four months ahead of schedule in November 2011 with much of its retail space let or under offer; David Shaw, who is responsible for the Regent Street portfolio said: “Quadrant 3 lettings demonstrates the quality of the building and the benefits of our long term approach, which delivered AirW1 [the main office element of Quadrant 3] to a market where supply of this type of space here in the core West End is virtually non-existent.”

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Just south of London Bridge, The Shard is nearing completion, forming the focal point of the regeneration of the area immediately around London Bridge station. Once complete this already iconic London office design landmark will be the equivalent of 87 storeys, reaching 1016 ft into the Capital’s skyline – making it Europe’s tallest commercial building. The Shard is linked to its sister building, The Place, by a new public piazza, and between them they will provide over 1m sq ft of world class office space.

The architect behind the project, Renzo Piano, has created a tapering structure that is visible from almost anywhere in the Capital, causing enormous curiosity well before its completion. This is Piano’s first UK commission and he describes it as a ‘vertical town’ – a multi-use community in the sky. Given that the building will house a luxury hotel, luxury residences, restaurants and an observatory in addition to its office space, it will be accessible to the public. Piano sees this as the reason why he feels the building will be loved: its accessibility will make it understandable rather than mysterious.

Jones Lang LaSalle and Knight Frank have been appointed as letting agents for The Shard, while CB Richard Ellis and Colliers International are the appointed agents for The Place. Irvine Sellar, Chairman of Sellar Group, the developer, commented: “I am delighted to announce the appointment of the country’s leading specialist leasing consultants. With the Shard rapidly taking shape and already becoming a key feature on London’s skyline, it will offer office occupiers unique and prestigious space in an iconic landmark building.”

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Only a few years ago, to see some of the newly converted residential blocks was to to admire the details but have concerns for the future. Undoubtedly the location is stunning – a peninsula of beautiful historic buildings jutting out into what is recognised as one of the best natural harbours in the world – but the potential of Plymouth has always been talked about and rarely realised, uncertainty remained that the contemporary residential blocks would transform the area into a bustling desirable hub. Would Plymouth residents warm to the cutting edge design? Was the area out on a limb away from the city centre? Would businesses support the scheme?

As we come into 2012 the answer is now a resounding yes. Royal William Yard is a hive of activity, beginning to show signs of being the envy of the region – not only living up to the hype but perhaps exceeding expectations. A feeling of energy pervades the development. When we visited “River Cottage“, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall‘s celebrity restaurant over looking the corner facing North towards the River Tamar, it was packed with diners lapping up the ambience. River Cottage isn’t the only place to relax with friends or catch up for a business meeting, all the restaurants we saw were packed, beautifully designed and in keeping with the surroundings.

Local diners are increasingly joined by destination tourists travelling to enjoy the ambience and the success of the office buildings adds to the vitality of this inspiring environment. The main office building already has achieved nearly 50% occupancy. First movers include Hoare Lee, Interserve, Cowlin and  Ward Williams. Plymouth University are also occupying a large top floor space temporarily for their art college – a space with high ceilings, rafters and sky lights which would be an office designers dream to work with.

Emily Handslip, Head of National Lettings for Urban Splash, showed us around the soon to be completed ” Cooperage”, an incredible building where the main office floor is an enormous, light open space that is possibly the most beautiful office space we have seen in Plymouth (see picture left). We hope that the new office relocation attracts a firm that does not feel the need to close down the open space and maintains the high ceilings.

Going beyond the Cooperage there are two further spectacular Georgian buildings. “Residence One” is waiting to be brought to life as a boutique hotel, behind which is a secret walled garden leading up to a small observatory that looks out across Plymouth Sound towards Drake’s Island, with a quite spectacular view. One can’t help but imagine the octagonal cabin transformed into a luxurious hot tub spa, from which to observe the America’s Cup racing while enjoying a glass of champagne! “Residence Two” is a office building for smaller companies, but all the details are still delightful – even the mail box cubby holes are a collection of US Mail type metal domed boxes. It’s touches like this that make you realise the attention to detail in this project – turning a good space into a great space to work.

Urban Splash are to be congratulated with what they have achieved with Royal William Yard, not only rescuing an historic building for the benefit of Plymouth City, but also having the vision and determination to see it through without compromise. Urban Splash have employed Gillespie Yunnie Architects, a visionary firm of local architects based near Totnes to work with them on this project. It’s wonderful to see local talent transforming local landmarks. Business Interiors worked with Gillespie Yunnie on the Devon Wildlife Trust offices in Exeter, where they converted a disused water mill into an inspiring office headquarters.

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Neil Thompson of GPE said, “240 Blackfriars Road will be a prominent, high quality building of outstanding design which will help to continue the regeneration of this part of the Southbank.”

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