By Sandra Jones - Ramidus Consulting
Think City of London and many people think of a monolithic monoculture - all big banks and bonuses.
But this research, commissioned by the City of London and launched at MIPIM, shows that to be inaccurate. Taking Stock is an in-depth study of the City’s built stock and occupiers – it barely left a stone unturned and it highlighted the diversity of the City economy.
Consider this: 48% of the City ‘s office stock is occupied by the financial sector but turn that around and we can say that more than half is not occupied by the financial sector. In fact there are 12 key occupier sectors in the City of which finance is only one. In units under 10,000 sq ft, 70% of the space is occupied by the other 11 sectors.
Or this: there are 3,600 office occupiers over 1,000 sq ft in the City of London, and 85 of them occupy more than 100,000 sq ft. Considering the amount of time, cost and creative energy that is invested to design space for these big users, it is a pretty thin market. On the other hand, there are 1,878 businesses occupying between 1,000 sq ft and 5,000 sq ft within the Corporation boundary and another 2,192 in adjoining boroughs on the City fringe.
In fact, our research showed that, since 1997, buildings have grown bigger but the average size of an occupier has shrunk, which means it is critical that large buildings are designed to allow multiple occupation. Small businesses are a vital part of the City’s ecosystem: they generally serve the needs of large businesses and sometimes they grow into large businesses themselves, a growth which can, in the new economy, be very rapid indeed.
And that leads to the other big theme flagged up by the research - the propensity of the City economy to change and adapt to new circumstances. The rise of the internet entrepreneur and the focus of the tech and creative sectors around Old Street roundabout have put the City in the position of being one of London’s most productive seed-beds for new business formation and rapid business growth. This is just one catalyst for change.
So the big message to take from this research is that the City needs to have an office stock with the scale and range to meet the needs of a highly diverse and changeable occupier base.
We launched the study at MIPIM in a lively session with panel members: Gerald Kaye, Helical Bar; Clive Bush, Exemplar; Matthew Elliott, Deloitte and Mark Swetman, Hines.
On how well the market provides for a diverse range of occupiers, the view of the panel was that the market ‘responds well’ and they were broadly in agreement that the standard institutional or BCO specification is still appropriate for the new economy.
Opinions also converged on the value of good public realm: it matters. But what was understood by public realm varied, from the presence of a coffee shop to pop-up, meanwhile uses and cycling facilities, which is probably a fair reflection of the range of things that fall under this heading. The common factor is that they are places that people share and therefore they enable a more collaborative working culture to evolve.
Campus London, Google’s hub in Bonhill St is a mecca for Tech City types with excellent high-speed wifi. Anyone can register to use the coffee shop and I sometimes work in there between meetings. I was struck by parallels with the London Pavilion at MIPIM. Both are busy, vibrant and buzzing with conversations about funding, design and collaboration. There’s a different dress code and demographic of course but the energy is tangible in both. All this talk of shared spaces and public realm left me wondering if there is a place in the heart of the City where people can exchange ideas, in a learning environment and just be in a different kind of workspace – with excellent high speed wifi.
It seems that when we think City of London in future, small businesses might spring easily to mind - all collaboration and coffee shops.
About Sandra Jones
Sandra Jones is a consultant for Ramidus Consulting and one of the authors of Taking Stock.