Promoted
Ready to go
September 7, 2022
Fitting out an office space takes time and money – lots of it. But a new development, in one of Newcastle’s premier office buildings, aims to take those headaches away in a first for the city, offering a fully-furnished suite a tenant can move straight in to. Here, property agent Michael Downey, director at Parker Knights, tells North East Times Magazine why ‘ready to go’ office spaces are proving increasingly popular.
A lot has changed in the working world in the last two years or so, no more so than the move to flexible working and a rethinking of how – and how much – a business uses its office space.
And with that change in priorities comes the need for a change of approach by landlords looking to attract new tenants.
That change can be seen at Newcastle office building West One, where investor Pioneer Real Estate has created a fully fitted-out office suite, ready for a new occupier to turn up, plug in and start working.
Situated on the fifth floor of the building, on Forth Banks, close to the amenities of the Quayside and within a few minutes’ walk of Central Station, the 2962sq ft office has space for 22 workstations – with room for more – collaborative working spaces, two meeting rooms, a kitchen area, reception, connectivity and secure parking.
The first fully fitted-out office suite offered in Newcastle, the new development follows a trend elsewhere in the country to offer a ‘ready to go’ working environment.
The aim of the furnished suite, says property agent Michael Downey, director of Parker Knights (pictured, right), is to take all the headaches out of leasing an office space.
He says: “There are so many benefits to this for a tenant.
“They can move into the space immediately on signing the lease without even needing to think about the things you need to make an office usable and a desirable place to work.
“It avoids the need for any immediate outlay – we all know costs are spiralling in every area – and it means they can occupy the space without delay.
“A fit-out isn’t a quick job, and it needs time and attention to get it right – with this development, all that hard work has been done for you.
“It’s been put together with a lot of emphasis on what a business needs, and wants, from the first day of setting up in its new office space, with a sharp look and good facilities.”
And the impact on the Newcastle market has been instant.
“It opened up a new level of interest as soon as we started marketing this suite as fully furnished,” says Michael, whose Parker Knights agency is joint agent on the suite with Knight Frank.
He adds: “We’ve had interest from potential tenants who maybe hadn’t considered the building or this type of office space before.
“Ready-to-let office suites are a fairly new concept in the UK – they’ve been around the last couple of years, but the pandemic and its effects accelerated the change, and there has been a shift in requirements.
“For those businesses still working out how many people they are expecting to have in the office on a regular basis, and how much space they need, a fully- fitted suite is an excellent option.
“With flexible terms and lease they can take on without risking any outlay, they can see how it works and go from there.
“This is the first ‘ready to go’ suite in the city, but there are already others in the pipeline – this is the way things are going.
“There has been a lot of talk about a speculative commitment like this from a developer, but this is the first to go ahead and we’re excited to bring it to market.”