Research | The Great Room

The Great Scheme of Things

October 17, 2023November 2, 2021 by Jessica Rose Brian

For founders trying to focus on the bigger picture, coworking offers fully customisable, hybrid solutions that take care of all the details, so you can focus on what matters.

The last year and a half has been a rollercoaster ride of changes: companies were thrust into remote working, pivoting to operating online almost overnight. Since then, it’s been a push-me-pull-you scenario amid ever-changing distancing and numbers regulations. The constant shift, and the trajectory it ignited for the work-from-anywhere approach, have powered changes that were beginning to happen already, albeit slowly.

Businesses need to adapt their technology, and their people

As Kevin Sneader and Shubham Singhal point out in McKinsey Global Institute’s piece, “The next normal arrives: Trends that will define 2021 – and beyond”, the combination of Covid-19 and advances in digitisation and automation have been a potent one. They quote Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, who said in April 2020, “We’ve seen two years’ worth of digital change in two months.”

We’re not on the other side of this yet — what changes, then, are yet to come? While this is anyone’s guess, the consensus is that businesses need to be ready for change, and they need to be positioned for adaption.

The role of the office plays a significant role here. It looks like hybrid strategies that offer a mix of remote and in-office work are the way forward. As Sneader and Singhal argue, businesses also need to adapt their workforce “to the requirements of automation, digitisation, and other technologies.”

Coworking offers change-ready solutions

Organisations need solutions that reduce the burden: solutions that can adapt to them rather than the other way around. In particular, they need office solutions that are primed for change. This is the benefit of a coworking environment like The Great Room. Offering a mix of hot desking, fixed private offices and meeting space, The Great Room delivers flexibility: you choose the combination you need, and you can sign on for as long or as short a time as you want.

When compared with the rigidity of long-term office leases and fixed floorplates, coworking is a dream. With coworking, you’re no longer paying for empty desks and excess square footage you don’t need because half your staff are working remotely three days a week. At The Great Room, for example, there’s an in-house app that allows team members to book their desks in the office. This takes the load off office managers, and it reduces the risk of team members coming all the way to the office, only to find it’s at full capacity.

How coworking provides uncompromising solutions in real-life scenarios

Let’s look at a real-life example. AZOTELS Hospitality, a high-end hotel group founded by Adrian Zecha, needed a mix of privacy and connection in a vibrant work environment.

The Great Room in Bangkok was able to offer them a hybrid solution that matched their needs perfectly, setting them up with a private office, which supports confidentiality when they need it, as well as space in which to focus.

AZOTELS Hospitality also has hot desks, giving the team space to work in dynamic surroundings when they want to. “The Great Room delivered a turnkey solution that gave our hotel company the ability to scale without the initial overheads costs associated with a more traditional office set-up,” says Leanne Reddie, Commercial Sales & Marketing Director at AZOTELS Hospitality.

Plus, as their team grows, depending on the team’s needs, they can simply add more hot desks into the mix or move to a larger private office. In addition, the hospitality-driven nature of this coworking environment speaks to the AZOTELS Hospitality brand, making The Great Room the perfect partner. Says Reddie, “With the evolution of the working environment in this post pandemic era, The Great Room represents the office of the future.

Coworking provides on-brand settings and on-time support

In this way, The Great Room was able to quickly cater to AZOTELS Hospitality’s needs for a workspace in the right location, and one that felt on-brand. Indeed, this is one of the (many) perks of The Great Room: it’s luxurious enough to represent the quality of your brand to clients and stakeholders.

With facilities such as the ‘great room’ itself – that ultra-comfortable, stylish community space – premium in-house events, the barista-level coffee, as well as wellbeing spaces and outdoor areas at locations such as Afro-Asia, there’s a strong foundation from which to reinforce your brand and build corporate culture, as well as bolster employee engagement. All without management, marketing or HR having to lift a finger.

Support is another key benefit of coworking spaces. Premium coworking environments like The Great Room have expert, in-house support staff that are ready to handle any issues that come up – from helping with VC technology and booking meeting rooms and event spaces to adding extra desks when companies suddenly find unexpectedly high numbers of staff coming into the office.

For many organisations, it’s a weight off their shoulders to have someone else take care of the fit-out and all the admin associated with workspace. And, in the grand scheme of things, in a working world that’s constantly in flux, it’s details like these that make all the difference.

The Great Room has seven locations across Asia’s gateway cities, including five in Singapore. All are located in prime neighbourhoods, with workplace solutions designed to support a wide range of hybrid strategies and flexibility requirements.

Find oUT HOW WE CAN HELP YOUR BUSINESS ADAPT TO THE FLEXIBLE FUTURE OF WORK. SELECT THE CITY BELOW FOR MORE DETAILS.

The Great Return: Post-Pandemic Coworking

October 17, 2023May 21, 2020 by wanqian

Re-thinking the way we work in a post-pandemic world

As cities around the world ease regulations, it is back to business for many. But let’s face it: returning to your job post-pandemic isn’t going to be like heading back to the office after a long vacation. Just as it has shown the resilience of the workforce, the pandemic has also put the spotlight on the fissures between traditional ways of running a company and the needs of the people who make it.

We spot the big trends that will change the way we work: and some of them are pretty welcoming.

Breathing room in workspaces

It’s in with more personal space and out with densely packed offices. Global commercial real estate services organisation Colliers International notes that, given the recommended six-foot social distancing recommended by the Center for Disease Control (CDC), office layouts will have to change. This could mean repurposing work areas, such as converting conference rooms into workspaces. Speaking to VOX, Kate North, vice president of workplace strategy at Colliers International real estate company also shares that every floor plan should be assessed for distancing and safety as we move into a post-pandemic future.

Stay nimble

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, large corporations had started placing some employees in coworking spaces as a way to accommodate remote workers. This is likely to continue given the trend to “de-densify” – and also the heightened need to stay financially nimble in uncertain times. At The Great Room’s Singapore, Bangkok and Hong Kong venues, our multi-tasking spaces stand as a premium solution for corporations – from expanding firms seeking flexible options to house remote teams to those who want to improve agility by transitioning from traditional office space commitments to flexible or coworking space arrangements. Speaking to Recode by Vox, Julie Whelan, Americas Head of Occupier Research at CBRE, weighs in: “If anything, this crisis highlights why flexibility is valuable for companies,”

Wellness at the office

We aren’t talking about ergonomic furniture or fancy sleep cocoons. A Forbes article proposes that, post-pandemic, companies should go straight back to basics when it comes to caring for the wellness of their staff, such as having good air quality and lots of natural light. Yet staff wellbeing is not just about the workplace environment, it is also in the simple, little things that impact emotional wellness: little perk-me-up treats just before the day closes, just to get to charging full speed to the finishing line; meaningful afterwork sessions that are enriching in many ways. Undeniably, not every company’s HR team will have the capacity to think so deeply into the ways to maintain staff wellness – which is why, at The Great Room, we do the thinking for you, offering a host of perks and activities for your staff. After all, our ethos is it’s all work, it’s all play.

A community that works together, recovers together

As the saying goes: if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. Corporations and individuals alike need to stand together to face tough times, and to do that, having a community is key. The benefits are multi-fold: having a business community means the possibility of sharing resources – from costly IT infrastructure to something as miniscule as stationery. This spreads the financial outlay across more users, translating to better cost efficiency. Having a business community also accords one support – be it through collaborations or simply through knowledge sharing. And in that sense, coworking spaces are economic engines in their own right, says Forbes. Indeed, those who work together, also grow together.

Find out how we can help your business adapt to the flexible future of work.
Select the city below for more details.

COVID-19 Covered: How to Ramp Up your Brand Positioning in a Pandemic

April 2, 2024April 23, 2020 by wanqian

There is no better time than now to build and strengthen your brand positioning and messaging through digital platforms

The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed the world into a new normal: a life conducted online. How can companies leverage on this to build and strengthen their brand position and messaging during this extraordinary time? Experts from The Great Room community weigh in.

Now. Now. Now.

Kevin Wang, Principal Consultant of digital growth consultancy Webprofits, which operate out of our coworking space in Singapore, points out why digital marketing is ever more important in this current climate: people are more active online now than ever, with Facebook/WhatsApp reporting 40% increase in usage due to the pandemic.

And with companies tightening budgets, resources should be strategically deployed to deliver the greatest impact. “CPMs (cost per thousand impressions) are cheaper on digital platforms. We are seeing CPMs dropping across industries, and within our network of digital partners we have seen between 15% – 70% decreases in CPMs,” shares Kevin.

And while it might seem counter-intuitive to be spending on marketing during an economic downturn, Kevin also highlights that brands that maintained ad spend during a time of crisis have, historically, came out much stronger than those who reduced their ad spend. It is just as the old marketing dictum goes: “When times are good you should advertise, when times are bad you must advertise”.

“The spread of COVID-19 and its resulting isolation measures have been an accelerator for digital-first marketing and advertising,” opines and Angie Akaraskul, the Client Services Director at social video company Brave Bison. According to App Annie, social media use has increased by 20% with consumers now spending more time online than ever before due to ‘stay at home’ and ‘work from home’.

Business as Unusual

Unusual times call for unusual strategies, for the same messaging that could be well received normally could now come across as offensive and tone-deaf. Kevin and Angie both stress that the key to getting your message heard the right way, you have to first listen: not just to anything, but your customer’s pain points.

“The best and the most long standing brands are the ones that place their consumers at the heart of everything they do, from product development to purchase,” says Angie. And consumers are now likely be feeling:

Worried and fearful. Consumers are likely to feel shaken and worried about the financial security of their future, so they’re more likely to think twice before making a purchase – especially on higher-value goods.
Bored and anxious. Consumers are more likely to buy into escapism and are looking to recreate their normal routine from the comfort and safety of their homes.
Missing family and friends. Consumers want to feel connected more than ever before and are eager to learn more about new ways to connect with loved ones.

Angie highlights that while some Fortune 500 brands have taken high-level CSR initiatives and reacted well to the current consumer climate and sentiment, it is also possible to successfully pivot in a simpler and equally innovative way: “A number of fitness brands are now hosting virtual workouts (F45, Nike, Yoga Movement), bespoke travel experiences have transformed into bespoke stay at home services (Random Dots) and Shanghai Fashion Week has partnered with Alibaba for a see now and buy online shopping experience. The point is to create meaning to your brand by fulfilling your consumer’s needs; show them you care!”

Build your platform(s)

For brands with a different positioning, Angie identifies three emerging platforms to leverage on: video-sharing social networking service TikTok; social networking service Houseparty, which has surpassed 9m downloads in March alone; and Yubo, the leading social discovery platform for Gen Z, which has seen an increase of three million users, to 28 million users, since the lockdown. Citing the example of TikTok, she says to brands who want to reach out to Gen Z and Millenials, but are cautious about using a less established platform: “As a disrupter platform, there’s less competition for share of voice on TikTok which means there’s more opportunity for brands to reach their audience.”

And though extremely established, YouTube continues to be an important platform. “A recent study found that during the Coronavirus crisis, 64% of consumers expected their YouTube consumption to go up. This shows the massive global relevance the platform still holds in the industry and should still be considered as a pillar in any strong marketing plan,” says Angie. “Brave Bison has used YouTube to great success in the past, from telling brand stories to reach a wealth of new audiences, to gaining brands global recognition catapulting them into the next stages of growth.

The platform offers great versatility and its huge audience can be tapped with the right content.” Similarly, while new platforms present exciting opportunities and new ways of interaction, Kevin feels that Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn remain key platforms in these times. “If you are not mastering your messaging on these three platforms, there is no point expanding your presence on other platforms,” says Kevin, who feels that the biggest opportunities for the majority of brands still lies in optimising engagement on these ‘traditional platforms’.

Moving pictures

Brave Bison – which produces, distributes and monetises videos for digital platforms – also prescribes video as the content format of the times. The World Economic Forum reports that over 50% of Gen-Z’s report an increased consumption of online videos more than any other mediums since the lockdown, presenting a huge opportunity for brands to acquire a new fan base and deepen their relationship with existing ones.

“Brave Bison can confirm these findings as we have started to see its effect on our O&O channels. As of March 22, there has been a 13.2% increase in minutes viewed on Facebook compared to the previous two weeks and our influencer partners have also seen a 30% uptake on content,” reveals Angie.

Yet this doesn’t mean pushing out any moving picture – you need to push pictures that move, says Angie: “The rapid rise of successful YouTubers and TikTokers is proof that all that’s needed to create an effective piece of content is an authentic story, a credible voice and a smartphone.”

Goals versus Storytelling | The Power of Storytelling

April 1, 2024April 16, 2020 by wanqian

Workplace goals are useful, but they’re just part of the process. Here’s why storytelling matters.

Who doesn’t love a great story? Whether you’re reading it, watching it, or listening to it, a compelling story will have you captivated; for minutes if not hours. Stories are something we hear and tell every day; to ourselves, to our friends, to our colleagues. Here’s how to wield the skill of storytelling for your own success, and for the success of your team and your organisation.

Telling your own story

Goals are a useful tool, but they’re not the end game.

“A goal has a timeline, there is a strategy put in place with an end date and a determined outcome, either yes, it has been achieved, or no. If not, then you adapt the goal yet again for another end date,” says Selin Demir, General Manager of The Great Room in Bangkok, a hospitality-led premium co-working space conveniently located in Gaysorn Tower, at the heart of Central Bangkok, with additional locations in Singapore and Hong Kong.

Bigger than goals are stories. American author, blogger and speaker Jeff Goins has plenty to say on the subject of goals versus storytelling. “All a goal can do is help you achieve something. The real trick is to get clear on the something,” says Goins, who wrote The Art of Work and Real Artists Don’t Starve, among other books, after he left his role as a marketing director to pursue a full-time career as a writer.

What, then, is that something for you? Goins puts forward five questions that may help you determine what that something is – and figure out how to pursue it.

What do you want?
What will stop you from getting what you want?
Who must you become on this journey? (“The game is always about wanting, growing and learning,” says Goins, who points out that you may learn more from not getting what you want than from getting what you want.)
Who will help you on your quest?
What will you learn?

As you can see, these questions are much like the questions you would ask if you had a story you wanted to tell, or an idea you wanted to turn into a story.

To begin with, you, as the writer of your own career/life story, may not know the answer to all five questions, and that’s okay, in fact it’s part of the fun. But it will be extremely helpful if you can figure out the answers to questions 1 and 2 when you’re first kicking things off.

Knowing these two answers will help you set relevant goals that will help you achieve what you want.

Create collaborative stories

Whether or not you realise it, you’re constantly using stories in your interactions with others. In the workplace, you might use them to convince colleagues, clients or potential investors to support whatever you’re working on; you might use them to galvanise teams in challenging situations; and you might use them to help those you manage understand where there’s room for growth.

Stories also come in handy in presentations, or when you’re speaking to a crowd of people. An audience is, after all, more likely to remember you if you’ve told a story – your ideas are more likely to stick. “Stories add a human touch,” says Demir.

“I’m a fan of anything that brings people together and storytelling is one aspect of this,” adds Demir. “It’s unique to everyone, specific to one person yet widens all our perspective. It can help build trust and a long term partnership too. Good storytelling allows you to bond with people beyond working relationship or even friendship. It taps into your emotions, motivations and creativity, even if you don’t think you’re creative (like me)!”

The challenge, of course, lies in communicating these stories, especially when, as Demir says, people’s backgrounds are so diverse that stories can get lost in translation – and then there’s no buy-in.

The key, says journalist Carolyn O’Hara, lies in getting clear on the message you want to convey, and tailoring it to fit your audience. This is the baseline of any story: know your message and your audience from the get-go, and always weave your story/stories around them.

And, says O’Hara, don’t make yourself the hero of your story. Sure, use your own life experience as the starting point, but avoid turning your story into an opportunity to celebrate your own achievements: do that, and you’ll instantly lose your audience’s attention. Instead, focus on a struggle and the lessons learned or experiences had – whether yours or someone else’s.

Back to goals

While Goins is in favour of stories instead of goals, we’d argue that goals can be a valuable part of the storytelling process. With your own stories, goals can help you achieve your answer to question 1 (what you want).

Goals can also be useful milestones when you’re working with others, too. Treat them as the anchor points in the bigger picture, which can sometimes be hard to see.

“Goals clear your mind, helping you and your team focus,” says Eva Zhang, General Manager of The Great Room Hong Kong, a premium co-working space at One Taikoo Place in Quarry Bay.

Zhang’s tips for achieving workplace goals? “It’s all about setting the strategy and action plan to accomplish the goal,” she says. “Setting up SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timely) goals is key. We do this quarterly with OKRs/KPI, and adjust when the situation changes. Hong Kong’s current situation is a good example.”

Once the SMART goals are set, Demir says she then asks herself, “Are we all aligned? This part is about making sure each team member’s understanding and contribution to the goal is relevant to them – like making sure the parts are assembled properly.

“Checking in with the team and reviewing the performance is crucial, as it’s like oiling the machine as it operates. It’s done in a timely matter that’s relevant to the goal. This allows us to adjust as we go along. If it doesn’t work out, we realign ourselves accordingly. Of course if it does and is achieved, we celebrate. We never forget to celebrate.”

Go Deep: How Focused Work can Set You up for Success

April 2, 2024April 2, 2020 by wanqian

Forget multi-tasking. Deep work is the key to boosting productivity and performance. Here’s how to do it.

Last year, a McKinsey Global Institute survey, “The social economy: Unlocking value and productivity through social technologies”, found that most professionals spent an average of 28% of their work-week reading and answering emails. Your inbox is probably just one of the many distractions you now face throughout the working day, and it’s likely keeping you in a superficial state where you don’t really accomplish anything of significance. The antidote? Deep work.

What is Deep Work?

Deep work – a term coined by author Cal Newport, who wrote Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World – refers to the process of undertaking cognitively demanding professional activities that require you to block out anything that could distract you; whether that’s the tap on the shoulder from a colleague, the overflowing inbox, your admin tasks or your friends’ social media posts. Instead, deep work is about setting aside a decent nugget of time in which to focus on one task, and one task only.

Some of the world’s most successful people make time for deep work, from Carl Jung and Bill Gates to authors J.K. Rowling and Neal Stephenson. At The Great Room, which provides hospitality-led premium co-working spaces in Hong Kong, Singapore and Bangkok, Cofounder and CEO Jaelle Ang carves out space each week for deep work.

“Deep work requires large chunks of time without external conversations or split periods,” she says. “Usually, I’m able to do deep work after the kids go to bed – from 8.30 – 10.30 pm; I call it my second shift, or larger, four-hour chunks on Sunday afternoons when I need to review designs, review feasibilities, write strategy, op-eds… In the typical weekday at work, there aren’t many opportunities for deep work chunks, as my time is filled with meetings, emails and calls.”

Here are some quick tips on how to get into that focused work headspace in order to maximise productivity and performance, so you can block out distractions and finally achieve that big dream.

The Four Rules of Deep Work

Newport breaks it down into four essential rules:

1. Work deeply.

Put “smart routines and rituals” in place that will help minimise procrastination and distraction. While he says there’s no one formula fits all, he suggests ritualising your work location – pick somewhere quiet where you won’t be disturbed; at HK shared office space The Great Room, the dedicated offices and Workhall for its hot desk members were designed with concentrated, serious work sessions in mind.

In addition, ritualise how long you’ll work for and how you’ll work – get structures in place, like cutting email and internet access, predetermining a number of pages read or words written – and what you’ll do to support that work. That could be working with your coffee or tea of choice at hand, playing music designed to get your brain accessing gamma and beta frequencies… etc.

For co-working space provider The Great Room’s CEO, Ang, music works best when she’s doing right-brain work. “Like writing or designing,” she says. “I need stillness when I do left-brain work, like structuring and reviewing spreadsheets.”

2. Embrace boredom.

Deep work is like training for a sporting event: it requires effort and practice to get to peak performance. Part of that effort involves accepting that you’ll naturally get bored while you’re trying to work on your project of choice; instead of giving in to distraction and checking email or hunting down a snack, lean into the boredom. You can get past it (the only way is through!).

3. Quit social media.

It’s the opposite of deep work, offering very little ROI.

4. Drain the shallows.

Minimise the amount of time you spend on low-value tasks like email, phone calls and meetings.

Other Insights

Here are some quick, final tips to get you in the deep work zone:

Say yes to a project/subject that evokes a “terrifying longing” in you, rather than saying no to other distractions. You’re more likely to engage with your task if you’re excited or inspired by it. Say yes to it, and watch as it drowns out all the noise.

Be prepared for attention residue. If you need to get into deep mode for more than one project, be aware that part of your focus will lag behind as you switch between your tasks. The trick? It goes back to Rule #1 of deep work: work deeply. The longer you spend on each task, the more you optimise your productivity.

Consider investing in a website and application blocker like Focus or Freedom to help you combat distractions.

Systematise idleness. Make guilt-free downtime a part of every day: this will help your brain recharge and gear up for the next deep work session, and it will also help you unravel problems, too. Newport recommends ritualising shut-down, bringing downtime in at a set time at the end of every workday.

Fighting an Invisible Enemy: CEOs against the COVID-19 Slump

April 2, 2024March 26, 2020 by wanqian

Does the viral crisis call for wartime CEO mentality?

Make no mistake, this is war. Yet it is a war like no other, for the opponent is not a competition after market share or trying to outdo you in a tech race. It is an insidious virus that hijacks the lives of the man of the streets, that locks countries down, that disrupts markets to the point of sending the world-wide economy on a slide downwards. Is it time to wake up the wartime CEO in you?

Charging Through Rough Seas With A Unified Mission

The wartime CEO needs everybody to move in step, according to his plan – no room for deviances. A unified mission, clearly communicated by the leadership, is what companies in crisis need right now, according to a report by Deloitte Insights (ref: https://bit.ly/3bjHyLS) which identifies the fundamental qualities CEOs will need to guide their enterprises through the crisis. American management consultancy Bain outlines it even more clearly in wartime settings: (ref: https://bit.ly/2UbmIsh), prescribing the establishment of “a dedicated senior team in a war-room setting”, outlining macro scenarios and translating them to contingency plans.

Move fast, move aggressive

Bain further stresses the importance of swift action, recommending the outline of “no-regret moves” within days of the crisis, rather than weeks. “As CEO, you must be out in front with a planned cascade of possible actions, probably more aggressive than your team can imagine right now,” recommends a report published by the consultancy.

A perfect example: Facebook. After long battles over scandals that have eroded the trust between the company and the public, brand perception is on the uptick, thanks to the company’s swift response to the crisis. As early as February, Facebook was leading other tech industry giants to collaborate with the World Health Organisation (WHO) to discuss solutions to the outbreak. It continues to help WHO and other health organisations disseminate accurate information to its users.

The social media platform has also rapidly rolled out other initiatives, from banning ads for surgical masks, sanitisers, disinfectants and test kits to prevent scams and price gouging, to a $100 million program to help small businesses. “Aim for speed over elegance,” advises Deloitte Global CEO Punit Renjen (ref: https://bit.ly/3bjHyLS). “Resilient leaders take decisive action—with courage—based on imperfect information, knowing that expediency is essential.”

Make the difficult decisions

While Facebook sized up the situation and turned it into opportunity, few companies have the same luxury of vast resources and reserves to dip into in an economic crisis. Most would be first tackling the issue of revenue decline, scaling down operations, stabilising disrupted supply chains, and slashing costs.

In his blog post Peacetime CEO/Wartime CEO (https://bit.ly/2QGguhY), American businessman and New York Times bestselling author of The Hard Thing About Hard Things, Ben Horowitz writes: “Peacetime CEO builds scalable, high volume recruiting machines. Wartime CEO does that, but also builds HR organizations that can execute layoffs.”

Indeed, now is the time to carrying out those plans that nobody likes executing with the business’ continuity as the core mission in mind. The silver lining in this is the opportunity for leaders to show solidarity with their community: Trip.com CEO Jane Sun and chairman James Liang has announced that they will both not take any salary starting from March 2020, and members of the senior management will take voluntary pay cuts of up to half of their salary.

Amidst broad cost-cutting measures, the CEO of Singapore Airlines (SIA), Goh Choon Phong, will also be taking a 30% pay cut, while those holding executive vice-president and senior vice-president positions will bear 25% and 20% pay cuts respectively. Yet, tackling a Black Swan event as the COVID-19 pandemic isn’t just being ruthless, aggressive and goal-oriented.

It takes as much of thinking with the head as it takes thinking with the heart. While it is early days to see which companies will emerge victorious, so far, the CEOs who are winning are showing as much empathy and compassion as they are training their focus on financial performance. For ultimately, businesses are built by people, to serve people.

Hong Kong’s Decentralization of Business Districts: Why Major Brands are Moving to Quarry Bay

April 2, 2024March 8, 2019 by wanqian

Central is no longer the only core business district in Hong Kong. High Rental Prices Driving companies to look outside of Central

Thanks to Hong Kong’s continued growth as Asia’s leading financial hub, the demand for Grade A office space in Hong Kong continues to grow with vacancy rates in the traditional CBD area of Central, hitting a record low of 1.6% in 2018 according to Savills.

This, combined with the influx of Mainland Chinese companies looking to secure prime locations in Central, has drastically driven up rental prices, forcing many companies to look elsewhere for competitively priced, quality office space.

In recent the years, the focus has turned to the East of Hong Kong Island and specifically, Quarry Bay. This former sugar refinery and dockyard has developed into Hong Kong’s secondary core business district attracting both the large multinationals from Central as well as the burgeoning SME’s that are a product of Hong Kong’s ongoing success story.

However, this has not all be down to simple market economics.

“This whole theme of decentralisation in Hong Kong will continue, and follows what other financial centres in the world have experienced.” Don Taylor Director of Swire Properties.

Swire Properties

The major driver behind Quarry Bay’s success story is Swire Properties who, since the early 1990s, have developed Taikoo Place into a hub of eight interconnected Grade-A office towers with a total gross floor area of over 5 million square foot.

In 2017, it was announced that Swire would invest HK$15 billion developing two Triple Grade A office towers: One & Two Taikoo Place.

One Taikoo Place: Home to MNC and SMEs

Completed in October 2018, One Taikoo Place (OTP) has been awarded a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum Certification, adding an additional 1 million square foot to Swire’s existing Taikoo Place portfolio.

Attracting multinational tenants from the financial, legal, insurance, media, luxury brands as well as professional services, OTP has further demonstrated the ongoing decentralisation taking place in Hong Kong.

Companies in OTP
Finance : Royal Bank of Canada
Legal: Baker McKenzie, Eversheds, Simmons & Simmons
Insurance: AXA, Chubb, Metlife
Luxury Retail: Kering Group, Prada
Media: Facebook, IPG McCann
Professional Services: Ernst & Young

In addition to these large multinational tenants, Swire Properties have also chosen Singapore co-working provider The Great Room to occupy an entire floor at OTP. Designed to add both additional amenity space and flexible office solutions to both the multinationals and SME’s looking to gain a foothold in OTP, The Great Room opens in March 2019.

As the largest Landlord in Quarry Bay, Swire Properties have also been able to masterplan the Taikoo Place precinct;, utilising elevated air-conditioned walkways to connect the office towers to Quarry Bay MTR and incorporating 70,000 square foot of landscaped gardens as well as adding a variety of shops and dining spots.

New Central – Wan Chai Bypass Tunnel

The opening of the Hong Kong Government’s HK$36 billion Central – Wan Chai Bypass Tunnel in January 2019 has been another incentive for businesses to move East. This huge infrastructure project has cut the travel time from Quarry Bay to Hong Kong Airport Express Station at IFC to just under 10 minutes by car and 40 minutes to Hong Kong’s International Airport.

Relocation of Government Agencies

Recently, the commercial real estate market has been filled with news that Hong Kong’s financial regulator, Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), will relocate to One Island East, signing an 8 year lease commencing January 2020.

This has not come as a surprise to many observers who feel that this represents the SFC’s desire to save on its rent roll in Central and that the move will further encourage other businesses in the financial and professional services industry to decentralise.

Why Coworking Is The Future of Work

April 3, 2024September 24, 2018 by wanqian

The traditional workplace has just about had its day. Boasting numerous benefits in terms of profitability, sustainability, employee satisfaction and performance, coworking is clearly the way of the future.

Technology means many of us no longer need to travel to a central repository of information and hub of collaboration — what has traditionally been known as an ‘office’ — in order to get our work done. We can access the info we need anywhere, anytime, and are able to easily, effectively communicate with our colleagues despite occupying different physical spaces, whether they be across town or on the other side of the world.

In 2019, most professionals spend at least part of their day working from a ‘virtual office’ of one sort or another, using an electronic device at a café, while in transit, at home, or ever more frequently, in a coworking space in Singapore. It makes sense. Why tether yourself to one location when technology has made it possible to work wherever and whenever you find it most convenient?

Having the majority of workers commute to and from the same part of a city, at the same time of day, puts both infrastructure and the workers themselves under a huge amount of stress. There’s also an enormous environmental impact that results from fleets of private cars and public transport ferrying armies of workers great distances from their homes to their workplaces and back again, with most of the traffic concentrated in peak times. Meanwhile, a globally-interconnected marketplace and workspace make the traditional nine-to-five redundant — when your clients or colleagues are dotted across the globe, the hours of the ‘workday’ become way more elastic.

Companies are increasingly realising that coworking spaces provide an effective solution to the demands of the new working environment — and the desires of the modern worker. Basing individuals or groups of employees out of shared office spaces closer to their homes allows them to commute short distances on foot or by alternative, greener means of transport such as bicycles — while still remaining in touch with colleagues and linked in to central information systems technologically.

Working in or near their residential neighbourhood benefits staff by reducing painful, tedious commutes and the congestion and pollution they cause, and gives people greater freedom to attend to family and personal matters. Workplaces in close proximity to home are a particular boon to entrepreneurs and employees with parental responsibilities, especially women, who continue to bear a disproportionate share of the caretaking load.

So why not simply work from home? Well, the biggest issue is, people find that home-working can be a lonely and isolating experience. They crave the human interaction and fellowship that a shared workplace provides — although they increasingly shy from the overly structured, stifling environment of a corporate office.

One of the key benefits of a coworking space is that it lends a true sense of community (one of the key tenets of the coworking movement) while avoiding the office politics and rigid structure — a fixed location, fixed desk, fixed hours, fixed individuals to interact with — of a traditional, single-company workplace. Studies show that workers thrive in this more flexible setting, feel greater freedom and are inspired by the unforced relationships they develop and interactions they experience, at their leisure, with professionals from disparate fields.

But it’s not just workers that benefit from coworking. Companies, small and large, now recognise that utilising coworking spaces can provide vast economies of scale, cost savings and sustainability benefits. The traditional high-rise office block sees a huge duplication of resources — everything from multiple staplers right up to a surfeit of printers and numerous individual (hugely expensive) IT infrastructures. Coworking allows tools such as these to be shared and the financial outlay spread across users.

The flexibility of coworking spaces means that when scaling up or down, a company can be nimble and not incur the costs of replacing, expanding or contracting a fit-out, while at the same time, avoiding the penalties that can be levied for breaking a standard, long-term office lease. The cost benefits of using a coworking space come into starkest relief for small companies with around four staff — many boutique businesses like this report cost savings of 25 percent per annum by using a coworking space rather than a small, individual office.

Saving companies money, saving workers’ time and frustration, and in many ways, helping save the environment, coworking is a huge problem-solver — and the way of the future.