The office is dead, “The office” is not dead

Tushar Agarwal, Co-Founder & CEO of HubbleHQ, the leading online marketplace for finding and renting office space in London joins Bold Founder, Caleb Parker, to talk about the changing demands for the office.

Tushar shares why the traditional office is dead using data to back up his claim, and explains how landlords should respond.

The discussion covers how remote work going mainstream has created a new type of demand for the hotelification of workspace, a potential new model of CRE management services that is similar to corporate travel agents, and why brand has never been more important in commercial real estate.

Connect with Tushar on Twitter: https://twitter.com/iamtoosh 
Connect with Caleb on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Caleb_Parker 

If you have any questions or feedback on this episode, email podcast@workbold.co

Questions in this episode

First off, on your website you talk about Office Search Alchemy - what is that? Tell us about HubbleHQ and some stats on the amount of space, average size and number of enquiries/transactions you facilitate on your platform You harvest a lot of data. Can you share how you use the data and what you learn from it? As Hubble helps companies find office space, how has it been these last few months? What solutions are needed for a productive workforce? A lot of people have talked about the death of the office. But other people in CRE are predicting post pandemic demand to remain the same, but with less density in office footprints. Do you think people will pay for the same amount of space for less people? How would you define the post-covid office? What do you think the future office looks like? Now that remote working is mainstream do you think we'll see a significant demand for daily, or even hourly bookings of work or meeting space? Will CRE agents end up looking like travel management companies? Columbia Property Trust, A Manhattan Landlord just took back control of a 155,000 sqft WeWork space.
Are Landlords going to operate Space-as-a-Service themselves?

Value bombs 

The office as we know it is dead Over the last 2-4 years we’ve seen a shift in the market towards Space-as-a-Service Small businesses and large corporates who used to sign 5 year leases are now looking for managed solutions Average transaction size has gone from 3 people for 3 months to 20-30 people for 1 year  Office search enquiries picked up 75% in May and June New demand is for a hybrid office solution Central HQ’s are still in demand, but with a smaller footprint 70% of people love working from home, but also want an office of some sort 41% of people want a quiet place to do focused work outside of their home The office of the future is solutions based People need choice There’s a difference between the “In-Covid” office and the “Post-Covid” office We’re going to see the unbundling of the office, and the hotelification of workspace When landlords and operators are making expensive decisions on how to design spaces, analysing multiple data points can help identify customer demand Enquiry to transaction data and list price to deal price is important to understand what customers want and are willing to pay If landlords want control of the future they will need to embrace Space-as-a-Service So we’ll see more landlords understand and respond to Space-as-a-Service as something that’s going to become mainstream Flexibility is needed but service is imperative to protect building valuations With Space-as-a-Service, creating a predictable experience that comes with a brand is what keeps paying customers in a building, not long leases. Generic spaces lack brand loyalty, consistency and a network effect. Specific brands add layers of service, attract the right mix of customers, and create new revenue lines. Selecting the right brand solution adds tremendous value by delivering a predictable customer experience, making the building attractive, and increasing asset value. To manage risk, many landlords will outsource hospitality and management to experienced Space-as-a-Service operators

Resources

Hubble's 'Should we ditch the office?' Survey results :

https://hubblehq.com/should-we-ditch-the-office/survey-results

Blog on the consumerization of commercial real estate: https://calebparker.me/featured-posts/workspace-service-needs-global-distribution-system-gds/

 

About Tushar Agarwal

Tushar is Cofounder & CEO of HubbleHQ, the leading online marketplace for finding and renting office space in London for fast growing companies and flexspace operators and landlords.

Tushar studied Economics at LSE (The London School of Economics) and spent 2 years working in investment banking before launching HubbleHQ back in 2014. He was Amazon's Young Entrepreneur of the Year Finalist in 2019.

He has led Hubble’s growth as they have gone on to raise £6.4 million over three rounds, from the likes JLL, Pi Labs run by famous PropTech investor Faisal Butt, Downing Ventures, Starwood Capital and Concrete.

Just to list a few of Hubble’s accolades, they are Deloitte's 26th Fastest Growing Technology Company in the United Kingdom, Property Week's ‘Proptech Innovator of the Year’ 2019, and last year they were voted as one of the ‘Best Places to Work in Property’ for a second year running.

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