10th Asia Office Space Congress – Beijing, China

Beijing Office Market Tightest in Years, say experts at Asia Office Space Congress 2012

27 April 2012, Beijing – Its bad and its not getting better was the message received at the Asia Office Space Congress held in Beijing on 19 April as commercial real estate experts discussed the office space market in Beijing. Coming at just the right time the Congress was a huge success, says organizers, Facility Media, as the first of its kind in Beijing it brought together over 110 key players to discuss the burning issues.

At the panel discussion entitled ‘Experts on the Spot’, panelists from Jones Lang LaSalle, CBRE, Cushman & Wakefield and local firm e-Commercial described of rental increases in Beijing of up to 77 percent, with some buildings now more expensive than in class A buildings in New York’s Manhattan area.

The problem is supply of grade A space. Lack of stock means what is available becomes very expensive.  However some buildings have become more expensive than others – panelist attribute this to property management, which was another key topic for discussion at the one day Congress.

Good property management gives that building a ‘certain something’. Tenants can feel it as soon as they enter that the building does not just look good but they will get great service from the building owners.  Most importantly in a well managed building their staffs are more likely to be safe and healthy, for example through cleaner air due to better air-conditioning maintenance and reduced use of dangerous cleaning chemicals.

However, asked the many corporate occupiers attending the Congress, what will the companies that can’t get into that top tier building do? Other end-user speakers from Cummins, Nokia, Sony and Hewlett Packard discussed the options, which lead to a discussion about alternative workplace strategy. Alternative workplace strategy is a series of techniques that better aligns the workplace with the work employees do. It looks at how staff actually use space finding out, says the speaker from Johnson Controls that on average office workers are at their desks only 40% of the time.

That means 60% of space is wasted. So the company might then lease less space and install fewer desks. Though some people might resist the idea of not having a dedicated desk immediately, if the company handles the change management process well, the staffs soon see that there is much you can learn by moving your seat according to the task.

The design must support the new way of working and Adam Robarts gave an inspirational presentation on how that should be done, not just to support the business but to spur employees into greater productivity and satisfaction.

The Congress started a day earlier with a round table in association with CoreNet Global followed by a tour of the Microsoft Campus where many of the issues discussed at the congress had already been experienced. The Congress then concluded with a lively panel discussion on delivering design projects, which also involved most of the audience. Everyone wanted to share their experiences and  the microphone jumped as participants clamoured to have their say. No one noticed that it was time for the networking cocktail, with is traditionally one of the most popular events at Asia Office Space Congresses in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore and Mumbai. Eventually leaving the conference room the networking then carried on over drinks until late.

In conclusion, while the lack of office space supply will continue to be a problem for a few years, solutions exist and all you need is a venue, such as at the Asia Office Space Congress, to discuss them with other industry insiders. For more information about Asia Office Space Congress 2013 email nb@facilitymedia.com (English) or dyh@facilitymedia.com (Chinese).

The Asia office Space Congress 2012 would not have been possible with out our sponsors: Johnson Controls, BW Ltd, Robarts Interiors and Architecture, Tandus, Cassius and Power Smart.

 

北京楼市最严峻之时——2012亚洲办公空间会议专家言道

「处境不好，也没有变得更好」 ，是上周商业地产专家在北京举行的亚洲办公室空间会议上讨论时传达出信息。本次会议开展的时间恰到好处，从而获得了巨大的成功，会议主办方如是说。主办方Facility Media作为北京第一家此类型的公司，将超过110个行业专家聚集在一起参与了本次讨论。

在名为“专家讨论”的小组讨论中，来自仲量联行, 世邦魏理仕, 高纬环球以及本地公司易城中国的成员指出现在北京的租金已经上涨了77%，一些楼房的房价已经超过了纽约曼哈顿的A级楼房租金。

这个问题原因在于A等级空间的供应。缺少库存意味着能使用的楼盘将变得异常昂贵。针对一些楼房已经变得比其他昂贵的现状，小组成员将其究因于物业管理，这也是本次会议的另一个热点话题。

好的物业管理能给楼房带来有实质的东西。如果这个楼房并不只是外表出众，而且拥有良好的服务，那租户肯定能体验到。最重要的是，在一个拥有优秀管理的楼房中，公司职工更容易感到安全和健康，比如说，更好的空调维修并减少使用有害化学清洁剂能产生更清新的空气。

然而，参加会议的很多公司代表都表示疑问，那些不能跻身顶级建筑行列的公司应该怎么办呢？来自康明斯，诺基亚，索尼和惠普等终端用户的发言人对这问题进行了讨论，并将问题引至可供选择的工作场所策略。

工作场所策略包括能够合理安排工作场所和员工的工作相协调的一系列技术。“它关注于职员如何能够更好地使用办公空间”，强生自控的发言人说：「平均每个办公室工作者花在他们办公桌的时间只有40%」。

这说明60%的办公空间都被浪费了，公司也许会因此租赁更少的空间和安排更少的办公桌。也有人仍坚持观点认为每个人不需要专有的办公桌，如果公司能够很好得把握管理方式的变化，每个职工都可以学习如何根据任务来移动自己的座位。

这样的设计必须与新的工作方式相结合，Adam Robarts在如何实行这一方式方面给我们做了个令人印象深刻的演说。他认为，这种方式不仅仅对公司有利，也能很好得激励员工产生高产值和高满意度。

在会议的前一天是全球地产协会主办的圆桌会议以及微软亚太导览团。微软经历了大部分我们在会议上讨论的问题。会议最终以现场推出设计项目，囊括了大量观众的专家讨论作结束。每个人都希望能够分享他们的经验，令台下的与会者十分踊跃地拿着麦克风发言。会场讨论是如此热烈以致没有人察觉到已经到了交流鸡尾酒会的时间，这是香港、上海、新加坡和孟买的亚洲办公空间会议中最受人关注的一个活动。离开会议场所来到鸡尾酒会现场，所有人觥筹交错浑然不觉时间的流逝。

总的来说，办公空间的供应在近几年里将一直是一个问题，解决方案是存在的，您所需要的只是一个如亚洲办公空间会议这样的场所，来和其他产业内人士进行讨论。想要了解更多亚洲办公空间会议2013年的信息，请发邮件至：nb@facilitymedia.com (英文) or dyh@facilitymedia.com (中文)

2012年度的亚洲办公空间会议的成功举办离不开以下我们的赞助商：强生自控，BW Ltd.，一工建筑设计咨询公司，Tandus, Cassius 和 Power Smart。

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Survey of 2011 Asian Corporate Real Estate and Workplace trends to culminate in Beijing

27 October 2011, Beijing – A regional survey of corporate real estate and workplace trends will culminate in the last in Beijing as participants gather in Beijing for the Asia Office Space Congress 2012 on 19 April. Over the course of 2011 the Asia Office Space congress has taken place in the major Asian business hubs including Singapore, Shanghai,  Mumbai and Hong Kong and now makes its way to the capital of the world’s most populous nation, China, where we see some of the main themes being repeated. Themes common across the region are:

1. Increasing professionalism – gone are the days when suppliers could get away with offering anything other than service of an international level.
2. Increasing costs- even in high vacancy areas rents are high and corporates have to find a way around it.
3. Greater multinational attention paid to Asian real estate – as one of the few growth regions for multinationals more head office attention is being paid to local real estate decision making.
4. Increased response to the demand for transparency – in both transactions, rental contracts and on an ongoing level with service providers and contractors.
5. Acceptance of alternative workplace arrangements – more than ever the impact of technology has made alternative workplace strategies more attractive. We see increased mobile working, free seating arrangements, and a desire to construct a workplace around business vision rather than ensuring employees clock hours at a dedicated desk.

However while some themes remain constant others vary between locations. Beijing, where just a few years ago people were predicting an ongoing glut of office space, is now causing headaches for large companies that are looking to expand – there are no vacancies and companies have to choose between radically thinking their workplace design or moving a long way out of town. Tianjin anyone?

In Hong Kong the office vacancy problem has been put on the government agenda as they rapidly vacate their own CBD leased space to make way for corporate needing to expand.

Mumbai finds itself at the other end of the supply cycle with the tenants market keeping landlords more flexible than in the past.

As an event looking at the full office space cycle from real estate, facilities management and projects the Asia Office Space Congress is an ideal place to get local information in a regional and often global context.

It is the only event of its kind to be consistently supported by IFMA, CoreNet Global and RICS in all locations as well as consistently bringing together the senior players from all the top multinational and local service providers who cumulatively create an enormous pool of research and experience.

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 About Asia Office Space Congress

The congress is part of a series of conferences that run successfully for 6 years in Hong Kong. The Congress has also attracted hundreds of delegates in other Asian capitals such as Singapore, Mumbai and Shanghai, the first Asia Office Space Congress to be held in Beijing will be held on 19 April 2012.

The congress is a one day event that covers the whole life cycle from supply and demand for commercial space, predictions for the next twelve months from the real estate service providers, portfolio management, project management, work place strategy, design and facilities management. The events are described as the ‘best networking’ events of their kind and attended by between 130-180 industry professionals.

About Facility Media

Facility Media is the leading bespoke publication, events and communications organization engaging with the industries of the built environment in Asia. Facility Media is the publisher of RFP Magazine, Asia’s leading publication for the built environment covering the whole life cycle from real estate investment, development, design, construction, project and facilities management. www.facilitymedia.com