Mott MacDonald has signed up for an additional 20,000 sq. ft at its existing London headquarters, at Addington Capital’s Workman-managed 10 Fleet Place, as reported by React News.
The engineering giant has signed a lease for the fourth floor of the 186,000 sq. ft 10 Fleet Place. Overall, the global consultancy will have space totalling circa 60,000 sq. ft in the building, on leases running to 2040.
Occupying a popular mid-town / City location, 10 Fleet Place has been managed by Workman LLP under its Welcome Offices service since 2016. It is asset-managed by Addington Capital, which steers the property on behalf of Hong Kong-based Crosby Group, owner of the building since 2015.
Space availability at 10 Fleet Place during 2023 provided Mott MacDonald with the opportunity to fully refurbish the first and second floors without having to relocate staff. They adopted a phased approach, transferring employees into spaces once completely refurbished. Since signing their new lease, the engineering giant is currently working on refurbishing the fourth floor in keeping with its other spaces.
Monika Newton, Partner at Workman, and Head of the firm’s Welcome Offices team said: “This achievement is a true testament to the incredible collaboration between outstanding property management and asset management teams, along with the landlord’s investment in the building. Together we have delivered exceptional customer service, not only to attract new occupiers but also to retain our existing ones.”
Workman’s intelligent building optimisation system (IBOS) was installed in 2022 providing smart technology to optimise building plant and manage energy efficiency across all floors, which has delivered significant savings on electricity and gas. Indeed, IBOS has delivered a saving of 719,040 kwh, translating to £373,887 based on current contract rates.
Monika said: “We are working with Mott MacDonald and other occupiers to achieve their ESG aspirations, and know that tools such as IBOS have previously proven to help our clients achieve their corporate aspirations regarding delivery of carbon and cost savings.”
A substantial phased refurbishment programme has recently completed at the building, including new end of trip facilities, reception upgrade and new external signage (pictured). Occupiers at 10 Fleet Place benefit from top-of-the-range facilities, including 18 showers (fully refurbished in 2023), 191 bike racks, 24 folding racks and 168 lockers, secure underground parking facilities, six newly installed EV charging spaces and a Platinum WiredScore certification. The building also benefits from transport links including the Elizabeth Line at Farringdon.
Now 96% let, 10 Fleet Place is also home to occupiers including Interpath Advisory, CNBC and law firm Hogan Lovells.
Remaining office and retail space is all under offer.
Find out more about the Welcome service.
Diverse skillsets within onsite property management teams deliver meaningful service at Welcome Offices, explains Monika Newton, Partner.
From a former hairdresser to a reservist in the British Armed Forces, Welcome Offices’ onsite property management teams combine diverse skillsets.
Made up of individuals who are resourceful, imaginative, and highly capable, the teams provide an exemplary level of customer service and consistently exceed the expectations of occupiers.
“Our occupier service directly contributes to clients’ investment performance through improved occupier retention,” explains Monika Newton, Partner, who is based at Workman’s London 80 Cheapside office.
Teams are “deliberately handpicked from all walks of life”
As Head of the Welcome Offices team, Monika leads the service which was created to deliver an elevated standard of property management for the office sector, designed for the modern occupier at flagship assets.
“We deliberately handpick our teams from all walks of life, knowing that their varied experience makes them competent and composed, regardless of the situation they are faced with,” says Monika.
“Our people often start with us in facilities management roles, before getting hooked on a career in real estate.”
Monika, who began her own career in hotel management, is passionate about service delivery – and a champion of the transferrable-skills concept. One of Monika’s team members, Ripley Mercer, began her working life as a hairdresser, before becoming a receptionist at a Welcome-managed property. She then went on to become a Building Manager, before undergoing on-the-job-training that eventually saw her become a Senior Surveyor within the Welcome Offices team.
“Building a rapport with people, multitasking, time-management, and health & safety were all fundamental elements of Ripley’s role as a hairdresser,” explains Monika. “And of course, these are all excellent transferrable skills for property management, and people who’ve had a variety of experiences are always going to be intelligent additions to the team, with new perspectives to offer.”
Opportunities for on-the-job training
Aside from Ripley, there are a number of Welcome team members who have undergone degree programmes, along with Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) training courses, and Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management (IWFM) training while working within their roles. These employees grow with the business and are promoted accordingly, allowing their careers to flourish, and making it more likely for Welcome to retain them.
Paul Howes, Senior Facilities Manager in the Welcome team, who was promoted from Estate Manager at Welcome-managed office campus Republic London, completed a degree in Real Estate Management while working for the firm.
Paul says: “We know that people won’t stay in the same role unless they’ve got plenty of potential for opportunity and growth. We don’t expect people to sit still – we want to give them new areas of responsibility and the ambition to develop new occupier services.
“Of course, we want everyone to develop and succeed, and we are happy to guide them and give them the training opportunities and support to do that.”
A team of individuals
As Monika points out, the Welcome service is delivered by an onsite team of individuals who each have a unique voice and perspective, which proves invaluable to both occupiers and investor clients.
“The supportive and welcoming culture behind the service – and embedded within the team delivering it – is reflected in the service itself.”
Find out more about Welcome Offices here.
A 35-strong group of Partners, Property Managers, and Building Managers from Workman’s Welcome Offices team swapped business attire for wellies last week, when they took part in a charity day of volunteering at Hackney City Farm.
A small charity established in 1984 by enthusiastic members of the local community, Hackney City Farm offers children and grown-ups the opportunity to get up close to a range of farmyard animals. It provides a chance for inner-city dwellers to see, smell and plant vegetables, and to learn new skills in order to live a healthier, happier life with a lower environmental impact.
The charity day experience
The Welcome team was drafted in to help clean out the goats’ stables, moving a lot of muck from one heap to another. Over time, the muck decomposes, with the end product used in the fields and pig pens. The team was also enlisted with weeding crop beds and removing tree stumps, to create more space for animals to graze.
At the end of the day’s hard work, the team was invited to pet and play with the animals, which included the goats, lambs, sheep and pigs who live in this much-loved community resource in the heart of East London.
Farming in the heart of the city
For more than 35 years, Hackney City Farm has been giving the local community the opportunity to experience farming, right in the heart of the city.
As a city farm in London, it is dedicated to helping people learn about food, nature and the environment, providing a centre for environmental improvement, and a hub for projects for the improvement of the community and local environment.
Find out more about volunteering at Hackney City Farm
Find out more about Workman’s Building Community efforts
Last week, our Welcome team organised its own Activity Week, featuring activities and events across a range of Welcome properties to encourage occupiers to be more active, both at work and home.
The timetable of sessions, specifically curated for the Welcome properties and their occupiers, ran at Welcome-managed properties including Aldgate House, Queensbury House, Six Mitre Passage, 10 Fleet Place, 40 Portman Square, 80 Cheapside, 100 New Oxford Street, and 1 Dean Street, where employees were invited to embrace all that a healthy and active lifestyle has to offer.
When it comes to wellbeing, at Workman we believe that healthy habits underpin positivity and productivity in the workplace. As such, we are keen to share ways to help people embrace fit and healthy lifestyles within occupiers across our managed portfolio.
Welcome’s Activity Week gave teams and communities the chance to come together and take part in fun events – all focused on making active choices that deliver a healthy future. The week featured:
🎯🤸♂️💪Exercise workshops from Outrivals Gym, MYPT Studio, Nuffield, Gym Box, Revolution PT Studios, Third Space Personal Trainers and Fitness First,
🤸♂️🧘♀️💪Yoga classes from expert teacher Rossella Forastiero and the Lotus School of Yoga,
⚽🏀⛳Sports including putting golf, football and basketball shoot-outs,
💆♀️💆♂️👩💻Posture health-checks from Optimal Spine, chai massage,
🥝🍉🍒Nutrition pop-ups from Zooki, The Shoegaze Vegan, Mr Tinto and Juice Da Cruz.
🌼🌷🌳Mental health and wellbeing will also be addressed with breathing exercise sessions, and health checks from the Asian Resource Centre.
Want to know more?
Read about our Building Wellbeing services here > https://bit.ly/3leZ0c2
Read about our Building Communityservices here >https://bit.ly/3RL0jNV
When it comes to wellbeing, at Workman we believe that healthy habits underpin positivity and productivity in the workplace. As such, we are keen to share ways to help people embrace fit and healthy lifestyles within occupiers across our managed portfolio.
Next week, our Welcome team will run its own Activity Week, featuring activities and events for various properties – taking place both online and onsite – to offer tips and tools on how to be more active, both at work and at home.
The timetable of sessions, specifically curated for the Welcome properties and their occupiers, will give teams and communities the chance to come together and take part in fun events – all focused on making active choices that deliver a healthy future.
Welcome’s Activity Week will feature:
💥Exercise workshops from Outrivals Gym, MYPT Studio, Nuffield, Gym Box, Revolution PT Studios, Third Space Personal Trainers and Fitness First,
💥Yoga classes from expert teacher Rossella Forastiero and the Lotus School of Yoga,
💥Sports including putting golf, football and basketball shoot-outs,
💥Posture health-checks from Optimal Spine, chai massage,
💥Nutrition pop-ups from Zooki, The Shoegaze Vegan, Mr Tinto and Juice Da Cruz.
💥Mental health and wellbeing will also be addressed with breathing exercise sessions, and health checks from the Asian Resource Centre.
At Workman, we’re doing all we can to help our occupiers and their staff enjoy their workplace in healthy and active ways. Employees at Welcome-managed properties including Aldgate House, Queensbury House, Six Mitre Passage, 10 Fleet Place, 40 Portman Square, 80 Cheapside, 100 New Oxford Street, and 1 Dean Street are invited to attend next week’s events, and embrace all that a healthy and active lifestyle has to offer.
Presenting the programme, Monika Newton, Partner within the Welcome team, said:
“As occupiers and their employees make the office a regular part of their lives once again, we want to demonstrate how important health and wellbeing is and what a difference these activities can make to their enjoyment of their working environment. Our management and site teams have worked hard to create this exciting week, which showcases what’s available throughout the year. We hope all our occupiers take the opportunity to enjoy what’s on offer.”
Follow @welcomeoffices and Welcome – Workman Offices (@welcomeoffices) • Instagram photos and videos throughout the week to see what’s going on.
Want to know more?
Read about our Building Wellbeing services here > https://bit.ly/3leZ0c2
Read about our Building Community services here >https://bit.ly/3RL0jNV
Building Community: the Workman way
At Workman, we are committed to creating an outstanding customer experience for occupiers and our Building Community campaign showcases the benefits that this commitment to the occupier experience can have.
A sense of place and togetherness creates community within buildings. This ethos has informed the development of our occupier engagement initiatives, which aim to bring people together across commercial property.
By raising the standard of occupier engagement, our property management style and creative approach deliver services that make Workman-managed properties much more than simply a desk and a chair.
Today’s commercial property must offer stimulating, social environments that support employees’ and customers’ physical and mental wellbeing in an environmentally responsible way.
Property management strategies should be designed to create communities where buildings add value to their end-users’ experience and environment, persuading them that the workplace is once again a thriving hub.
Our Building Community magazine has been produced to highlight the value of, and our expertise in, creating environments where occupiers want to stay. In it, we consider;
- the role of technology in creating a great occupier experience,
- why regularly seeking occupier feedback is vital, and how best to it with Real Service,
- the role commercial destinations can play in creating positive social impact within their communities,
- some of the most effective ways to build real communities within commercial locations.
Read more about our property management services and how we can build communities here.
In a post-pandemic hybrid-working world, occupiers risk workforces becoming disjointed and isolated, which means building workplace community is even more vital. So how can destination marketing be used to bring people together?
Before the pandemic, destination marketing in the workplace could be aimed at a captive audience – people who were coming to the workplace regardless of the occupier experience. Today, it’s a very different challenge, with fluctuations in the working week and unpredictable numbers of people coming to the workplace on any given day. While there are peaks and troughs – witness the Wednesday uplift and the Friday desert – the regular calendar of events and activities organised by an onsite property team now requires a greater cleverness and creativity than ever before, to appeal to staff that may not have to come to the office.
“We’ve taken a different tack,” says Dina Mistry, Marketing, Communications and Events Manager at Breakspear Park, a Workman-managed business park in Hemel Hempstead set in 16 acres, offering over 300,000 sq. ft of indoor space, with 1,300 employees across multiple international and local companies in a variety of sectors.
“We are no longer planning single-day events because we see a spike for a few hours of uplift in employee engagement, and then the event is over. Our focus is now on growing our community back over a sustained period, with events and activities running over longer phases, and culminating in the download of our new app,” explains Dina.
Pre-pandemic, the site had a very strong following in terms of the base of people that were engaged with its busy #ParkLife enlivenment agenda where the plethora of #ParkLife events have included an Ice Bar, Halloween Pumpkin Picking, and a Silent Cinema, all communicated via subscription to email newsletters and a closed Facebook group. The pumpkin event generated positive regional PR and increased the site’s closed Facebook group sign-up rating.
However, the post-pandemic number of employees engaged via email or the Facebook group have reduced to 60% of the usual figure due to factors such as a turnover of occupier staff, and new companies arriving at the park. The aim of the new app, explains Dina, is to highlight key awareness dates, recycling initiatives, book swaps, and plastic-free ideas, with the key message that “you don’t have to be physically in the office to still feel a part of the Park Life Community at Breakspear Park.”
“The challenge now is to get out there with our #ParkLife campaign and regularly communicate with people so that they can see what we’re doing for them. We’re giving occupiers’ employees things to do that their direct employer cannot offer, including freebies, central places to be engaged onsite, and encouraging their own wellbeing,” Dina says.
One example is a flower wall activation, onsite for four weeks of July, accompanied by a campaign encouraging occupiers’ employees to take a selfie, upload it to Instagram, and tag #BreakspearPark for a chance to win a four-month subscription to Freddie’s Flowers. In addition, a free Green People organic sunscreen is on offer via QR code to those who download the new Breakspear Park App. The event is designed to encourage engagement with other staff members, to make people smile, capture a moment with colleagues, and bring that feeling of togetherness back again post-pandemic.
And during August, the onsite team organised an internationally themed event featuring live music from a Caribbean-style steel band, American Country music, and Indian music, along with outdoor food pop-ups. The event made use of the site’s 16-acre gardens and ran for three days – a Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday staggered over three weeks to enable people who may be away during August to take part.
“Our goal is that people coming to work here feel that they are part of the community, which is #Park Life, so this summer campaign is an opportunity to network and meet people. The #ParkLife agenda means that Breakspear Park is not just a workplace; it’s a place where the community is formed, and everyone plays a part in its success,” Dina says.
While business parks are not often in the most convenient city centre locations, the culture of wellbeing, lifestyle opportunities, leisure provision and collaboration opportunities with other occupiers speaks of an increasing awareness from properties owners as to the kind of strategies their onsite property management teams should be offering. The best onsite property management teams create inclusive, supportive work environments, unifying the commercial goals of the landlord with the realisation of a better work-life balance for individuals through the range of activities on offer for those onsite.
As Andrew Sparrow, Director of Placemaking in Workman’s Activate team explains: “We are aiming to achieve asset management objectives by increasing occupier satisfaction and retention levels. There is a competitive market in terms of where businesses now take space, so occupiers will question the added value of each site, and what they and their employees stand to gain from it in terms of community and wellbeing.”
The #ParkLife concept at Breakspear Park, launched by Dina and the team in 2018, has grown from infancy into a value-adding proposition that helps the site stand out from competitor workspace solutions for its heightened employee benefits and wellbeing solutions.
Entertainment is combined with the realisation of a better work-life balance for individuals through a range of regular activities, such as a health screening programme and fitness studio classes, creating inclusive, supportive working communities, in unison with the commercial goals of the property. For example, the #ParkLife programme has included events around National Relaxation Week, offering up to 800 30-minute massages to employees on-site, as well as a Health Screenings Programme, including free Diabetes Screening, that serves as an effective employee benefit and wellbeing option.
There is also a desire for business parks to reach out to the communities around them; to work with schools, charities, community groups and the local council to generate routes into employment at the site. “It’s about connecting people and building pathways within the community,” says Andrew. “We call it destination marketing, but what we are doing is unifying the goals of the asset with the goals of the occupiers and their employees.”
Read more about our approach to Building Community across our managed portfolio.
Across the Workman-managed portfolio, comprising more than 4,000 properties, our property management teams deliver great occupier experience through strategic engagement programmes and regular communication.
Here we meet some of the experts who lead our work to create a sense of place and community, particularly vital within multi-occupier buildings.
Richard Hart, Head of Property Management, UK and Europe
Having joined the firm through its renowned Graduate Scheme in 2007, Richard became a Partner in 2014. Today he’s responsible for the delivery of the property management service on behalf of both UK and European property funds, private clients, and investors including: LGIM Real Assets, CBRE Investment Management, CapitaLand and Segro. Richard works closely with clients to help maximise asset performance and value through a robust management strategy, with both ESG and customer experience at its core.
In recognising the importance of occupier experience in today’s commercial property spaces, Richard says: “We strive to meet the needs of modern occupiers, by ensuring that all properties in the Workman-managed portfolio offer stimulating, healthy environments that support occupiers’ physical, mental, and social wellbeing in an environmentally responsible way, while creating a sense of place and togetherness within the local community.”
Eleanor Newton, Senior Associate
A highly experienced property manager, Eleanor works closely with several prime office and campus sites within the Workman portfolio, including Westside in Hemel Hempstead and Republic in London. She uses her experience to build partnerships between landlords and occupiers through enhanced property management, focusing on operational excellence, wellbeing, and occupier experience to create environments which support personal and professional demands. Eleanor is also well-versed in the use of smart-tech and occupier-engagement apps to achieve building efficiencies and environmental targets.
Eleanor says: “Occupier engagement holds the key to successful and sustainable property management. Building strong connections with occupiers to drive change in how buildings are occupied is critical in the journey to Net Zero. To manage buildings safely and efficiently, it is more important than ever to understand occupancy patterns. Today, occupiers are looking to their landlords to meet their changing expectations, which landlords and property managers can only be aware of by working closely with them.”
Cassie Iles, Welcome Community Manager
Welcome Community Manager Cassie Iles devises occupier experience and engagement and experience strategies for Workman’s Welcome portfolio. Working within the Welcome team and collaborating closely with all front-of-house personnel, Cassie leads communication and feedback programmes for individual assets and their occupiers, while delivering the highest standards of services, tailored to their needs.
Cassie says: “Our role is all about human connection; understanding exactly what occupiers want. In some buildings, this may be the delivery of a jam-packed programme of lunchtime events or bespoke wellbeing initiatives. In others it may mean collaborating with occupiers to implement social initiatives with the local community; or we may be delivering any combination of these. Our ultimate goal is that occupiers get exactly what they want from their space and service, delivered seamlessly.”
Monika Newton, Partner
Passionate about customer service, Monika began her career in hotel management, a grounding which formed the bedrock of her drive to provide exceptional service for occupiers through Welcome, the Workman Offices service. Specifically designed to enhance the quality of the working environment and experience required by the modern office occupier, the Welcome team provides the highest level of customer service.
Monika says: “There is an interesting dynamic today in the landlord and occupier relationship; and with heightening competition between office landlords, the occupier experience in workspaces often becomes a deciding factor. Exceeding the expectations of occupiers directly contributes to our clients’ investment performance through improved occupier retention. We continually strive to evolve the customer experience, bridging the gap between traditional offices, flexible workspaces, and the home experience. The true point of difference now lies in collaborating with customers to co-create attractive workplace communities, which sit somewhere between a hotel and home.”
Andrew Sparrow, Director of Activate, Workman’s Placemaking team
Having previously managed the master planning and delivery of retail, office and mixed-use schemes across the country, including the Spitalfields Market Estate, Andrew has delivered a plethora of placemaking projects for a wide range of investors, developers, and local authorities. He advises clients on commercially viable solutions for transforming spaces into destinations that deliver dynamic occupier experiences. As Director of Activate, Workman’s Placemaking, Destination Marketing and Customer Experience team, Andrew is a specialist in enlivenment and placemaking strategy.
Andrew says: “Creating quality places where people want to live, work, and play is at the heart of the Activate service. The ongoing satisfaction and enjoyment of people utilising spaces is our top priority, so we are constantly working to generate spaces that promote people’s health, happiness, and wellbeing.”
Read more about our approach to Building Community across our managed portfolio.
Creating meaningful occupier engagement within commercial spaces not only brings people together; it helps position assets as worthwhile places providing added value.
Here are eight of our favourite ways to deliver the feel-good factor.
1. Share in sustainable future
The quest for sustainability unites all who call planet Earth their home, so what better way to bring people together than a week of events focused on making ethical choices? Sustainability Week, specifically curated for the Welcome properties and their occupiers, gave teams the chance to come together and take part in fun events held across the portfolio of Welcome offices. It featured lunch-and-learns on topics such as recycling; hands-on tree-planting sessions, plus talks about gardening with free seed handouts at reception; a sustainably focused market day; and a drive to collect unused books and puzzles to raise funds for local charities. Activities also took place online, offering tips on how to be more eco-friendly, both at work and at home.
2. Invite the family
By inviting occupiers’ employees to include their family and friends, sites such as Skypark create successful well-attended events that bring people together through memorable shared experiences. The Skypark Summer Soirée, an event designed to welcome occupiers back to the office, featured live music, a DJ set, complimentary food and drink, and circus performers on-hand throughout the day to share their skills. For those looking to reconnect with colleagues, there was also the chance to book juggling and hula-hooping team-building workshops.
3. Are you listening?
Proactive occupier engagement and feedback programmes for individual assets and their occupiers will reveal what’s required at each site. In some buildings, this may be the delivery of a social events programme, in others it may mean starting a running club. Only by listening to occupiers can property teams understand and deliver exactly what they want. One way to achieve this is to organise regular in-person feedback sessions, ranging from casual catch-up meetings to more formalised feedback sessions and occupier-needs-analysis surveys run by specialist researchers. Closer communication is also achieved through tech, such as the bespoke app and digital screens throughout campus offices such as Republic, which push out updates on upcoming events, for example.
4. Do it for charity
Across both retail and workspaces, charity events are a popular way to bring people together. At flagship Glasgow shopping centre Silverburn, a Dino Discovery trail featuring four life-sized dinosaurs and related activities held through the summer holidays not only gave families a free reason to visit; the event also raised £1500 for Glasgow Children’s Hospital. Meanwhile, at Birmingham Business Park, occupiers enjoyed games tournaments in advance of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. Devised by the onsite Workman team as part of the ongoing calendar of workplace community building, the event raised funds for the property’s partner charity, British Heart Foundation. For a small donation to the BBP / BHF JustGiving page, employees took on games such as the egg and spoon race, basketball shoot, mini-golf, penalty shootout, table tennis tournaments and duck shoot.
5. Feed the world
What better way to deliver what occupiers want than by tantalising their taste buds? Lunchtime events featuring high-quality food are a sure-fire hit, especially at sites such as Breakspear Park with its 16 acres of outdoor space, ideal for al fresco dining. This summer the Hemel Hempstead business park offered employees from occupiers such as Britvic and Regus the chance to get out of their offices and into the sunshine with Grub + Groove, a programme of internationally themed food and music. As word spread, each week brought new faces, and sales increased progressively with an uplift of 50% in week three.
6. Pedal power
Tapping into fitness is a fun and functional way to bring employees together. Glasgow’s Skypark boasts state-of-the-art cycling facilities comprising 250 bike-parking spaces, e-bike charging points, 236 lockers, showers and changing facilities, a drying room, along with a dedicated cycle-repair space. It was awarded a Cycling Score Platinum rating for a best-in-class cycle-friendly infrastructure, the highest certification awarded by the assessor. The site’s outstanding commitment to cycling is underpinned by monthly “Dr Bike” sessions staffed by mechanics from the local Bike for Good Hub, including information on how employees can change their commute to work. There is also a regular tie up with Sustrans, the charity custodian of the National Cycle Network, which has created 12,763 miles of signed cycle routes throughout the UK.
7. Wellbeing wins
The value of health and wellbeing cannot be overstated – and is also vital for a productive workforce. The Wellbeing Week held across the Welcome portfolio of offices saw occupancy levels spike with an increase of 20%. Events included expert treatments and advice such as health checks and massage, nutritional offers, freebies, pop-ups and workshops, mindfulness activities such as meditation sessions, along with puppy-training classes, art classes and history walks.
8. People like us
The creation and execution of meaningful experiences for occupiers’ employees would not be possible without exceptional onsite teams who go the extra mile for their customers, and sometimes it’s the little things that make all the difference, as Welcome Community Manager Richard Price explains. One such initiative is the “Urban Emergency Kit” designed to help if an employee has an important meeting but ripped their tights on the journey to the office, or perhaps forgotten their phone charger. The initiative is emblematic of the quality of onsite teams who are trained to deliver hotel-quality concierge service levels. In the same vein, building managers and security staff across a range of Workman-managed properties have undergone Mental Health First-Aider training. This has been actively deployed on several occasions to the benefit of occupiers, supporting and reassuring them in cases where they may feel uncomfortable talking to their own colleagues.
Read more about our approach to Building Community across our managed portfolio.
How can property owners understand occupiers’ needs? Gathering tenant feedback is increasingly important in a world where landlords are more influenced by the satisfaction of their occupiers than ever before.
Monika Newton, Partner at Workman, asks Louise Freethy, Director and Chief Operating officer at customer experience consultancy RealService, about the value of asking occupiers what they want, and what this can achieve for investors.
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Monika Newton, Partner, Workman ![]()
Louise Freethy, Director and Chief Operating officer at RealService
Monika: Why is it so important for landlords to get tenant feedback at their properties?
Louise: Successful real estate is not just about bricks and mortar – it is also about providing great service to customers. The future of the property industry lies within positioning landlords as property suppliers and occupiers as valued customers. The goal is for property owners to become like the big consumer brands: businesses with whom you’d positively want to do business. And the motive is not altruistic – it’s to drive the 3 R’s of real estate – revenue, retention and reputation. Customer experience and property performance must go hand in hand.
Monika: How can we be sure that our efforts to improve customer experience positively impacts financial performance for investors?
Louise: Danielle Sanderson, an Associate Professor at University College London, harnessed the RealService data from a 10-year period to investigate whether improving customer experience directly lifts the bottom line. She was testing the philosophy that improving customer experience, improves customer loyalty, thereby increasing retention and revenue, because loyal customers want to stay at these properties and continue to pay rent. Danielle also drew on financial data for specific buildings and businesses. Her findings showed that when customer experience improved by one point on the five-point Likhert Scale (excellent, good, average, poor, really poor), there was a 2% uplift in income, over and above what is spent on customer experience.
Monika: What sort of questions should be included?
Louise: No scheme is the same, and the approach to gathering tenant feedback should be bespoke. Questionnaires, compiled in partnership with a client, can cover issues ranging from the provision of amenities and their quality or cleanliness (lifts, reception areas, gardens, parking) to the quality of relationships with building managers, other staff, or landlords (communication, responsiveness, ease of leasing/maintenance processes, likelihood of lease renewal). While questions around current hot topics can be included, it’s best to work with a core set of future-proofed questions, so results and improvements can be compared year on year, while also including relevant additions like, for example questions around Covid response.
Monika: Is it possible to compare tenant feedback across different properties and landlords?
Louise: The Net Promoter Score (NPS) should always be included in questionnaires. This is the question: “On a scale of 0-10, would you recommend us to a friend or colleague?” and its follow-up: “Why / Why not?” The NPS is commonly used by just about every sector outside the property industry and is widely perceived as the leading benchmark for brand loyalty. As such, it is now being taken up by forward-thinking property companies including GPE, formerly known as Great Portland Estates, and the Crown Estate, both of which now publish their NPS.
It’s especially valuable to find out if current occupiers would recommend a particular property, and to be able to compare scores between schemes. Using the NPS, it’s possible for property owners to benchmark themselves within the property sector, but also outside the industry – to compare with the service delivery levels offered by Amazon or Singapore Airlines, for example. Subconsciously, today’s consumers are more and more likely to compare the service levels received across industries.
Data from certain questions also feeds into the RealService Index, which aggregates all responses from all clients over two years. So clients can see where they stand compared to their property industry peers. Of course, a high level of customer satisfaction – especially if this has been evaluated independently – would also be extremely good news for an investor, and this approach provides the investor / operator with a baseline view of all the core occupier experiences.
Monika: Why is it so important to speak to occupiers rather than sending out email surveys?
Louise: Collecting tenant feedback needs to be done in a systematic way, within a customer experience strategy. After a holiday, our founder Howard Morgan was asked to complete a 40-page internet survey which questioned every element of the trip in minute detail. It landed in his inbox the moment he departed and took the gloss off what had been an amazing experience. Participants should not be asked to work so hard: providing feedback should not be an onerous task. It should be simple and engaging and framed in a way that the participant believes their views are valued.
The feedback process should start with a mixture of email surveys and telephone interviews. For a baseline study, we contact at least 20% of the occupiers by phone. This allows everyone the chance to have their say while incorporating a deep-dive approach via phone calls, scheduled at the convenience of the respondent, and facilitated by an experienced interviewer. The five-point Likhert Scale will provide nuance but it’s important to get qualitative information as well as data. Email or text surveys can provide some detail, but a telephone interview or focus group is the best way of asking “why?” or “how can we improve”. The quality of that feedback sets it apart from email surveys, and it has the added benefit of further building the relationship between the occupier and the landlord by opening the dialogue.
Monika: Who should be questioned within the occupier organisation?
Louise: This varies according to the sector and the goal of the occupier research. For retail clients, we talk to those responsible for renting out the space in shopping centres, but we’re also doing site-level interviews where we talk to store managers around footfall, for example. In an office scenario, we might talk to office managers generally around what’s it like to be in the office, the amenities on offer, and we might talk to employees themselves around what it’s like working in that office, for example is there enough bike storage, and are the showers kept clean? Employees are an important audience at the moment. And for ESG issues, which are increasingly being included in our questionnaires, we might talk to sustainability managers. Or to answer questions on service charge levels, and expectations around the future use of space, we would talk to finance directors.
Monika: How should property owners and management teams act upon the results?
Louise: Firstly, don’t be afraid of challenging answers. There’s no point asking questions which only elicit a positive response. Many property owners do this research annually and of course they like to hear the good stuff, but the great ones act very quickly on any areas that need improving. They are monitoring their NPS, they are very actively involved, and their whole business is customer centric. If the results are negative, there are action plans and training that can be put into place, and then hopefully, when they do another survey in 12 months’ time they see that some or all of those issues have been resolved.
Monika: Do some property owners only survey their occupiers as part of a GRESB box-ticking exercise?
Louise: The ESG benchmarking organisation GRESB requires tenant engagement as part of its scoring system. RealService is a GRESB partner, and we helped them pose the right set of questions on occupier feedback. A cynic might say that some property owners only collect occupier feedback in order to collect GRESB points, but we do our best to persuade them that there’s a very strong financial business performance reason for doing it, rather than just ticking a box.
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