Hong Kong Business Centers Benefits

The ‘elastic building’ can help you s-t-r-e-t-c-h- your budget

By John Spencer, chief Executive of MWB Business Exchange.

Businesses, large and small, looking to maximise opportunities without over-stretching their budgets should seriously consider using an ‘elastic building’ advises .

In the current economic climate businesses are having to stretch their resources to the maximum, but the smart move is for businesses to also stretch their office accommodation to ensure that they are not paying for wasted space, unoccupied desks or expensive office equipment which is under-utilised.

As more and more businesses struggle for market share, key issues such as the implementation of new technology and increasing overall profitability are proving increasingly harder to deal with. Such is the scale of the problem that many organisations now routinely find it impossible to plan more than 12 months ahead and even then need to update their plans every three months. In fact, some businesses find it difficult to make any plans at all so why would any chief executive, finance director or property director really want to be saddled with the liability of office space of a fixed size?

Recent research shows that, for instance, 70% of businesses have at least one empty desk at any one time, which means that a company employing around ten people will have at least one empty desk for the equivalent of a whole year. And with a single desk costing as much as £18,000 per year to fit out and equip, in expensive areas such as Central London, it is easy to see how wasted space can have a direct effect on the bottom line.

We have also found the cost of maintaining unused workstations on a conventional property lease can be quite considerable. Taking into account heating, lighting, maintenance, depreciating equipment and, of course, rent and rates the average cost of running a desk in the UK is £35 per day.

The perfect solution is for businesses to adopt the ‘elastic building’ approach, whereby they relocate to flexible office space, which is configured to meet their minimum space requirements. Most providers of flexible workplaces will give advice on planned hot-desking and accommodation for mobile workers, such as salespeople, which will enable businesses to maximise their utilisation of all occupied space.

Most companies do not continuously use their meeting rooms or board rooms and so big savings on office space can be achieved by dispensing with such rooms and instead using the facilities available in the business centre on a pay-as-you-go basis.

Do you really need a permanent meeting room?

Many large corporations, such as major banks, which undertake student induction programmes or staff training sessions, have found that it is no longer cost-effective to operate their own in-house facilities. In reality these rooms often sit empty more than they are used. Such large facilities incur heavy costs even when sitting empty and it is for this very reason that smart facilities managers are now using outside meeting rooms as and when they need them.

However, the real benefits of the elastic building solution are its ability to stretch rapidly and easily when business peaks create demands for additional workspace. These new workers can be accommodated easily and adjacent to the existing team, negating the needs for the business to relocate to larger premises, or worse divide its new enlarged workforce across more than one location. Once the peak is passed the office space contracts back to a more appropriate size and occupanc