8 ways to build occupier engagement

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.

During the upheaval of the past year, the meaning of going to work changed unrecognisably for many, with days blending into one and little face-to-face interaction. Amidst all the uncertainty, some might believe it’s been impossible to attract new occupiers, but Republic is here to prove them wrong. With more than 95,000 sq. ft of new lettings completing in 2020, along with 20,000 sq. ft of lease renewals, Republic is thought to represent around a third of all take-up in Docklands in 2020.

So, what’s driving the success of this once-forgotten collection of buildings north east of London’s Canary Wharf? Five years ago, the area formerly known as East India Dock was tired and dated, with facilities on offer to the few occupiers described as relatively basic.

Spread over four buildings comprising 650,000 sq. ft of office and retail space, the site underwent major refurbishment, which began in 2015 and reached completion during 2018 for the Import Building and 2019 for the Export Building, transforming these buildings into contemporary properties and bringing property developer Trilogy Real Estate’s vision to life.

The campus is steeped in history: the Import Dock on which it stands was built in 1806 and its listed dock wall still surrounds Republic. Today, more than 200 years after its first iteration, the dock-side campus is a snapshot of ultra-modern life in East London, which has in recent years become renowned as a thriving community of creativity and innovation.

Priced out of gentrified areas such as Shoreditch, fast-moving young innovative firms faced a dearth of high-quality community-led workspace, but the transformation of Republic offered them just that. Only five minutes’ walk from Canary Wharf, but a world away from its slick suits, corporate formalities and high-end retail, the mood at Republic epitomises the East London vibe, where community is everything. It’s a youthful, energetic atmosphere, with a culture of creativity and a real sense of place.

Republic: a culture of creativity

Brought on board by Trilogy Real Estate and fund manager LaSalle Investment Management, Workman’s role from the outset of the refurbishment in 2015 was to manage the property effectively, so that it could remain viable for existing occupiers, while also creating a new experience that makes Republic a destination attractive to new ones. And while digital agencies and tech companies have arrived in force, Republic has also been populated by a range of educational service providers, whose tutors deliver online lessons from campus during lockdowns, while students are able to enjoy hybrid courses with a mixture of online lectures, and meeting their tutors in person when possible.

Build it and they will come

This constant flow of people has buoyed food and beverage uptake, which has remained strong over the course of 2020, with new occupiers such as Sweet Nothing Bakehouse, a whiskey bar and fresh food shop soon to come on board, joining the onsite roastery and restaurants already on offer at the site. What’s more, the population of students coming in and out of Republic offers its office occupiers a fresh crop of employees to choose from, with a careers fair event now high on the agenda.

Indeed, in pre-Covid times, Republic played host to a raft of large-scale live events such as Courier Live, Bisnow and the Technology. Behaviour. Data. conference. These events attracted a wide range of people to the campus, increasing the profile of the site and allowing potential new occupiers the realisation that Republic is less than 20 minutes from the City.

The crowning glory here is that with each occupier integration, relationships are cemented, business links are forged, and real friendships are formed, making it all the more likely that leases will be renewed. Indeed, why move when your business is closely integrated with partners within the same buildings?

Pivot to occupier needs

Much more than a desk and chair, working at Republic is like being part of an inclusive family. Working alongside the Community Team, Workman’s Welcome property management service has introduced amenities to the campus including a barber and a nail technician, along with onsite bike servicing and repair and nutritionist appointments. This is in addition to the two onsite gyms, which offer occupiers discounted membership, and the programme of wellbeing events with activities such as yoga and meditation running throughout the week to assist occupiers, not only with their physical health, but also their mental wellbeing.

Republic: features two onsite gyms

During lockdowns, occupier engagement has cleverly pivoted to meet the needs of those working from home, with online cookery courses, Christmas wreath-making, talks about sleep-quality improvement and looking after mental health during the pandemic. So, even when occupiers aren’t able to meet in person, they can still take advantage of the community services and events on offer. Welcome and the Community Team regularly collects ideas from occupiers about what they want to see provided, so the team can ensure that events and talks are targeted to their needs.

Not just a day at the office

And when we emerge out of lockdowns, Republic is well positioned to welcome occupiers back, with ample outdoor seating and meeting areas, including wi-fi and electric sockets which make the space seamless for outdoor working. With its informal outdoor meeting booths, waterfalls running through the public realm, and deckchairs put out in the summer, Republic offers occupiers the chance to blend their work and leisure time, in the way that so many workers have now become accustomed.

For those who’ve got used to the company of furry friends over lockdowns, there’s a pet policy so that occupiers can bring their dogs into the office. There’s also Little Me Nursery, a visiting physio and coming soon, there will be a car valeting service, so when occupiers do return to the workplace, it won’t simply be to sit in front of a screen, but rather to incorporate all elements of their life into their day at the office – it’s a full-service destination that’s easy, convenient and full of home comforts.

Feel-good factor at work

There’s a feel-good factor at work here too, because Republic has a strong commitment to both sustainability and the wider community. Its solar panels, bat boxes, insect hotels, green roofs, wildflower meadows and herb gardens, all managed by Welcome, feed into a broader ESG agenda, where carbon reduction and the drive to Net Zero is the key goal.

In the wider community, Welcome is continuing to support a local cause, First Love Foundation, as Republic’s 2020 nominated charity. And for City Gateway, an occupier of the Import Building, which helps provide education to young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, Welcome has facilitated several apprenticeship schemes within the Republic campus.

And as if that wasn’t enough to make occupiers feel good about coming to work, there’s also the chance to see ads being filmed, top photographers at work and celebrities making TV shows.

It’s all in a day’s work at Republic.

Trilogy Real Estate’s vision brought to life in film by Cre8te

By Eleanor Newton, Associate, Workman

Want to know more? 

Read about our ESG services

Read about our Building Wellbeing services here > https://bit.ly/3leZ0c2

Read about our Building Biodiversity services here > https://bit.ly/2SY8JrN

Find out about our Net Zero Asset Plans  here: https://bit.ly/2QAin2x

As the drive to achieve greater work-life balance and maximum convenience has gained momentum, workplaces have been required to transform into mixed-use developments, where cafés, convenience stores, gyms and outdoor space are features of the most desirable office buildings.

By developing strategies for renovation and improvement, it’s possible to alter a property’s position and perception within the marketplace. This can range from simple renovations to improve internal air quality, thermal comfort, natural daylighting, amenities and connectivity, through to full refurbishments where the building’s very nature, and culture, is changed.

Clearly, achieving this kind of project requires a comprehensive evaluation of space and upgrade of systems, often within a continuously occupied space. Through collaboration with asset managers, and to meet the ever-evolving needs of today’s occupants, property managers must take a proactive, holistic approach to repositioning assets. In turn, this can enhance value, improve returns and extend the useful life of the asset. 

Vibrancy beyond the warm welcome

Anchorage, a 220,000 sq. ft development, made up of four buildings in Salford Quays, Manchester, has benefited from this kind of approach. Two years ago it was a dated, impersonal site suffering from low occupancy, but following a £2.2m refurbishment and repositioning – achieved in close collaboration with the asset manager Canmoor – the building has gained a vibrancy that reaches beyond the warm welcome at the door. And Anchorage Two – 106,000 sq. ft at the heart of the scheme – is now fully occupied, representing an impressively significant turnaround.

Anchorage: The new atrium includes a café

The complex underwent a significant programme of works, including a reconfigured central atrium that plays host to a café, convenience store and wellness suite. Of course, a place is only as good as its people, so a proactive and engaging front-of-house team was introduced, along with an on-site estate management team responsible for operations, health and safety and supervision of all contractors. Suppliers and service providers were rationalised and streamlined, not only resulting in an overall reduction in service charge, but also enhancing the quality of services on offer for greater appeal.

Estate-wide event strategy

By building a close relationship with the occupiers and collaborating closely with our front-of-house partner, where customer service is instilled throughout the team, Workman was able to tailor events and facilities to appeal specifically to the building occupiers. For example, an estate-wide event strategy for occupiers was introduced, including regular pop-up shops, visiting guest speakers, and sustainability initiatives such as a honey-producing beehive scheme. These have proved the kind of cultural changes that makes a place engaging, friendly, and an attractive environment in which to spend time.

Anchorage: an engaging, friendly and attractive environment

Paying close attention to occupiers’ preferences has been key, along with regular in-person communication by onsite personnel, as well as the property manager. This was supplemented, even pre-Covid, by Anchorage Online, a portal for posting news and events as well as general information about the building. The portal aids efficiency and allows estate managers and front-of-house teams to communicate on another level with occupiers, and has meant that the building and its occupiers have been especially well-placed to cope with challenges presented by the pandemic.

As Anchorage proves, working closely with asset managers and taking a joined-up approach to improving customer relationships and experience can lead to the complete repositioning of an asset. Indeed, there’s definitely a new buzz at Anchorage, and it’s not only coming from the bees.

By Anthony Boothman, Partner, Workman

Want to know more? 

Read about our ESG services

Read about our Building Wellbeing services here > https://bit.ly/3leZ0c2

Read about our Building Biodiversity services here > https://bit.ly/2SY8JrN

Find out about our Net Zero Asset Plans  here: https://bit.ly/2QAin2x

In recent weeks, we’ve seen some inspirational examples across the UK of communities coming together, and the value that being part of a strong community can deliver.

The real estate industry has played its part, collaborating as a community in a way that wasn’t always evident previously, to support a range of stakeholders. From the NHS to struggling occupiers and furloughed staff there are many who have needed some help or support.

In the Welcome portfolio, we see each of our office buildings as a community, whose key stakeholders are the landlords, occupiers, receptionists and security staff, facilities suppliers and (of course) property managers. All with the common goal of creating vibrant, appealing and safe environment for staff to work in.

Creating a lasting connection

We’ve also seen in recent weeks how important the relationships cultivated within these communities are.

With most buildings running a skeleton operation at best, the temptation could be to slash services and costs as far as possible to ease the service charge burden for occupiers facing their own huge commercial challenges.

However, for these communities to return and thrive, the people that make them come alive – the front of house and onsite teams – will be needed more than ever.

From welcoming back staff, creating the environments that we have all missed while working remotely, to implementing any social distancing measures that will still be required, these teams play a vital role.

Welcoming everyone back

Fortunately, the communities within our Welcome portfolio recognise this key point and wholeheartedly embrace the challenge that lies ahead.

Even where it may have been necessary to furlough some onsite staff, with the support of occupiers, clients and our supplier partners we’ve worked hard to ensure that individuals don’t lose out. All those involved have been keen to implement any changes as sensitively as possible, with a shared responsibility for the livelihoods of all members of our community.

Fortunately, our focus now is on facilitating the re-occupation of these buildings with detailed operational and safety plans being developed. We’re confident that the strength of the relationships with all stakeholders and shared vision for the office communities we want to return to, will enable us to do so better than before.

Want to know more? 

Read about our ESG services

Read about our Building Wellbeing services here > https://bit.ly/3leZ0c2

Read about our Building Biodiversity services here > https://bit.ly/2SY8JrN

Find out about our Net Zero Asset Plans  here: https://bit.ly/2QAin2x