A new survey from Cushman & Wakefield and CoreNet Global compares the priorities of corporate CEOs and corporate real estate (CRE) executives and identifies a sharp trend in which corporations are locating facilities and offices away from suburban business parks and to central business districts (CBDs) and creative urban settings.
Out of over 250 survey respondents, representing an array of industries from North America, Europe and Asia, 56% of financial services firms and 46% of technology, media and telecommunications firms reported they were migrating back toward urban settings.
In North America, 40% of the firms surveyed preferred a CBD compared to 24% that preferred a suburban park. These trends were similar across Europe and Asia.
“In addition to these survey findings, we have learned from talking with end-users (occupiers) of corporate real estate that the need for access to talent is driving the return to urban areas/cities,” says Tim Venable, senior vice president of CoreNet Global. “That is where the prized young technology workers prefer to live and work."
“Corporations have to simultaneously address an increasingly complex talent agenda whilst remaining under sustained cost pressure,” says Tamás Polster, co-head of Strategic Consulting, EMEA, Cushman & Wakefield. “The surprisingly high rate of agile workplace adoption is addressing the need of employers to provide more central offices besides a more engaging environment and keeping cost down by better space utilization.”
In the workplace itself, agile or innovative approaches to work are taking over, with 60% of firms in North America, 89% of firms in Europe, and 78% of firms in Asia adapting to new office concepts, including desk-sharing, collaborative and co-working spaces.
