Consolidating East London office space for TPXimpact

In this article our co-founder Tomal explains how we used our experience in the East London office space market to find the perfect new environmentally-friendly home for our client TPXimpact.

Setting the scene

With over 500 staff members spread across the UK, TPXimpact faced the same tough questions and decisions that many enterprise businesses are facing when assessing their workplace needs. 

– What location do our staff want to be in?

– How many staff do we need to cater for?

– What is our preferred procurement route: serviced, managed, leased?

– What is our budget?

Having two offices in London already in London Bridge and Spitalfields, their initial focus was to consolidate. They wanted to bring teams together, increase collaboration and create a company HQ that would help to define a stronger business culture in their own space. Easier said than done…

Asking the right questions

First, we asked how many people would be actually coming into the office? 

“Good question, we don’t really know… but we’re guessing around 20 coming in Tuesday-Thursday in Spitalfields and around 30 in London Bridge. We need to be flexible, but we are also growing.

One thing we know for certain, given the nature of our business, the building must have green credentials….”

Budget? 

“Ideally we don’t want to increase our spend, but we need to understand the market.”

What locations are you considering?

“London Bridge, Liverpool Street, Monument, Shoreditch, everywhere in between.”

What is your preference: serviced, managed or leased?

“We are in a serviced space currently, so serviced or managed. Something straightforward with little work is ideal.”

Deciding on a brief

Following our initial fact finding exercise, we were about to work with TPX to set a solid brief:

– 60-90 desks in a self-contained space with breakout areas, a kitchen and collaboration areas. 

– A serviced or managed space, ideally around £55k per month which is in line with what we are paying now

– Located between London Bridge and Shoreditch. As the teams are settled where they are, someone will have to compromise…

– Boasting amazing green credentials

The search begins…

Initially I thought that searching for buildings with ‘green credentials’ made for an easier search. I knew that the shortlist would be relatively small, which meant when it came to viewings, it would be easier to choose. The only problem was and is that whilst many buildings claim to be ‘green,’ when you dig a little deeper, it turns out they are not. 

In any case, we scoured the market for managed and serviced options and came up with our shortlist: a mixture of serviced, pre-fitted managed and unfitted managed space. The Muro in Aldgate, The Hickman in Aldgate East, Goat Yard in London Bridge & X+Y in Spitalfields. 

All options were over budget, but when you look for buildings with outstanding green credentials they are all in new or recently furbished buildings, so they come at a premium.

In any case, our client contact Mike was keen to see the options and get a feel for the spaces. We went to view and we had a very positive tour. Mike asked lots of questions and was very keen to learn and understand as much as possible. It is always a pleasure to work with people that value our expertise and input.

As we moved from building to building and discussed in more detail it became very apparent that TPX actually have the staff and resources to manage an office themselves.

Settling on The Hickman

There was a clear favourite in Aldgate’s The Hickman. A beautifully pre-fitted space with 75 desks, multiple meeting rooms, a board room and ample break space. It boasted excellent green credentials and was just a 2 minute walk from Aldgate East station with an amazing view overlooking the local park.

Great Portland Estates (GPE) were marketing the space on a managed basis for £80k per month. Unfortunately, this figure was £25k above their current monthly spend….

So what to do. Well, we did some digging and after some back and forth with Jake from Compton and GPE, they agreed they could let the space on a conventional leased basis. At £65 psf plus rates and service charge the price would come in at £55k per month, before negotiations. Right on budget!

This revelation was a game changer for Mike and gave him the impetus to present The Hickman as a genuine contender for the entire senior team. Fortunately, they had a meeting coming up for the UK-wide senior team and GPE kindly offered to host it in the space to get a feel for what life could be like. 

The rest is history

Having completed the project with a very happy client, I contemplated, what were the key takeaways?

Flexibility 

By searching the serviced, managed & leased markets, we were able to cross reference and compare different options which gave TPX Impact a holistic view of the market. TPX did not limit themselves to certain procurement routes which meant they had more choice.

Trust 

Mike let us lead the project and trusted us to find the best options. Once he had identified his favourite, he let us lead on negotiations on price and terms. We are industry experts — when clients allow us to take control of the process, we save them time and money, allowing them to get on with their day to day.

Communication 

Whilst we take a detailed brief in our first meeting, it is impossible to understand the nuances of a business that is new to us at first glance. Every time we spoke, I was able to understand more about the business, their budgets and the needs of the staff, which ultimately helped us to find the perfect solution. Mike’s willingness to communicate made for a far easier process.

Relationship

One of our core values at Soul Spaces is to build strong lasting relationships with our clients. When we have clients who are innovative and ambitious, but also want to reciprocate in working with us, then we will go above and beyond to make sure they are happy. That way, we hope to have a client for life.

—

If you’re thinking about consolidating your office space or looking for greater flexibility, get in touch today and we’ll arrange a call to assess the current market with you.