Bargains galore in the market for office furniture / U.S. Office Outlook Worsens As Finance World Balks / Hybrid Work Will Continue To Subvert Office Demand In 2023 / High Tech Office Occupancy Remains Complex / Sustainable Office Furniture: Promoting Circular Design in the Workplace / Remote jobs are in high demand, but positions are drying up

The Working Space
Monday, November 28, 2022

Industry News

After years of uncertainty about the likelihood or speed of the office's return to ubiquity in American life, confidence in the asset class seems to be waning for some, with spooked lenders and a surplus of supply adding to the angst.
 
Amid the turmoil, Ropes & Gray co-Head of Real Estate Jack Creedon suggested in comments to the Financial Times that the U.S. market “could see 20%-30% of the existing office market” wiped out, never to be leased again.

Inscape Files Directors' Circular in Support of Hilco's All-Cash Offer for Inscape and Recommends Shareholders Accept the Offer

Inscape Corporation has filed a directors' circular in connection with the proposed acquisition by HUK 121 Limited, a subsidiary of Hilco Capital Limited.

As announced on October 29, 2022, Inscape has entered into a definitive support agreement pursuant to which Hilco has made a take-over bid to acquire all of the issued and outstanding subordinate voting shares of Inscape for a price of C$0.007 per Share in cash.

"The Hilco Offer immediately crystallizes certain value for Shareholders by providing 100% cash consideration for the Shares. Inscape's Board recommends that Shareholders tender their Shares to Hilco's Offer as soon as possible," said Eric Ehgoetz, Inscape's CEO.

For further details relating to the Offer, refer to Hilco's take-over bid circular in respect of the Offer dated November 17, 2022, which is available on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) under Inscape's issuer profile.

Hybrid work arrangements are expected to exert further downward pressure on office demand as tenants continue the flight to quality assets that began at the onset of the pandemic, according to new research from Newmark.

The firm’s analysts predict that “high-quality assets in dynamic suburban markets may hold an advantage over traditionally stable Downtown assets,” with “relatively high availability, downward pressure on rents and greater demand for a vibrant worker experience” benefiting the upper tier of the office market. Indeed, Class A leasing activity as a percentage of inventory outpaced the national average by 40 basis points in Q3, but Downtown markets continued to flounder, with NCREIF suburban office vacancy clocking in at 11.0% compared with 18.0% for Central Business District (CBD) office and 21.9% for the office market as a whole.

As Big Tech launches aggressive layoff campaigns, the amount of office space available for subleasing is rising to all-time highs. While other sectors sought to downsize their real estate footprint throughout the pandemic, the tech industry had notoriously led leasing activity (as well as outright purchasing properties). Now with a recession on the horizon, large-scale cost-cutting initiatives have been launched by some of the nation’s top digital companies, including Meta (formerly Facebook), Twitter, and Amazon. These initiatives include hiring freezes and layoffs, leaving these companies with too many floors of office space, and they want to offload big chunks of it.
San Francisco's CRE market began to crumble in early 2022, with 18% of office market vacancies increasing during the first three months of the year. Can the market survive as more lease agreements expire or is it headed for full collapse?
High tech has for years been a major source of revenue for the office sector. But changes induced by the pandemic and macroeconomic headwinds are making the real estate practices of the industry far less certain.

Cushman & Wakefield took a look at how high tech and its use of CRE are adjusting. One of the pressures on leasing is the number of people who will need to be placed in offices. Coming out of the initial pandemic responses, tech had taken to working from home, given that much of the activity could be done remotely. Getting back into the office has been slower.

A report from San Francisco Chief Economist Ted Egan estimated that the city could lose close to $200M in property tax revenue by the year 2028 under a worst-case scenario resulting from the city's high office vacancy rates.
 
During a presentation to the city’s Board of Supervisors, Egan estimated that under the worst possible conditions, the city’s office vacancy could rise to 31% by the end of next year, Bloomberg reported.
Funky green chairs. Dark wood for the desks - no white melamine, definitely not. And it has to be wheelchair-friendly. That's what Jane Brearley, chief executive and founder of start-up Intent Health, had in mind when she was setting up her firm's new office in central London.

Features

The rise of hybrid work and flex space has led to many changes in how offices look, feel, and function. Developers and architects have adapted to the new ways of working that many companies have developed, and the office building as we know it will likely never be quite the same as it was pre-pandemic. These changes are putting more importance on how workers navigate buildings and office campuses, a concept known as wayfinding.
 
[For the latest in wayfinding products and solutions visit Takeform.net]
Interior architects and designers have often claimed that a well-designed office space will translate into greater productivity, creativity and worker satisfaction -yet the impact is greater than most tend to imagine. Recent studies suggest that good design positively impacts company culture,...
Until about two years ago, office perks revolved around free food and drinks, ping pong tables, standing desks, and other amenities that encouraged employees to spend more time at the office. But the workplace has changed dramatically since then, a new generation has entered the scene, and the era...
What's ahead for workplace leaders? Density's Nellie Hayat takes a look at how leadership roles are being redefined. The beginning of the pandemic was an uncertain time for everyone and companies felt the need to cut any potential losses quickly.

Workspace News

Lori Black has been firing off dozens of applications with one goal: to land a work-from-home job. But four months in, her search is starting to feel impossible. Positions are in short supply, and rejections have been plentiful.
A new poll of 3,450 people in a dozen countries from Unit4 claims that around two in five organizations have lost employees over the last year because they believed they would enjoy better flexible working options elsewhere.
U.S. office vacancy rose at an increased pace in Q3 2022 and asking rents are mostly holding firm, but generous concessions remain on offer. Meanwhile, sublease space is at record levels, according to Colliers’ Q3 Office Report released this week.

However, “it will likely take another 18 to 24 months for economic and business concerns to play out,” Colliers writes. “Concurrently, occupiers are reviewing their working practices and office space needs.”

The pandemic thrust much of the workforce into remote work - which popularized asynchronous working and communication. As employers bring workers back into the office, does this mean the end of asynchronous working?
Workers are no longer interested in outdated work modalities and etiquette expectations. Instead, employees are looking for positive experiences that make real impacts, and an increasing portion of the workforce is willing to leave their place of work to find those experiences.
The top metric to track is employees' level of engagement with the workplace, JLL data shows. This can entail employees' satisfaction levels of the work environment such as access to green spaces, choice and flexibility of working spaces, and wellness initiatives among others.

Design

Offering exclusive or private offices is important for the stability of the coworking space, and more companies are establishing luxurious spaces to attract higher-end members.
Over the past several years we have found that hybrid work models can offer the best of both worlds—the ability to meet personal demands and also to collaborate side-by-side with colleagues on meaningful work. Today, a large percentage of people are working in a hybrid manner, according to a study by Atlassian. The study found that hybrid work is up from 27% in 2021 to 43% in 2022.
OnOffice: How has WeWork changed the design of its offices to reflect the new ways people are working post-pandemic? Franquibel Lima: The global shift we are experiencing around working trends and habits is having a big impact on the way we are designing office space.

Today’s economy is a bit like the weather. When it’s sunny and business is good, everyone is happy. But when clouds roll in, we turn our eyes to sky and realize that a change is coming. While some people still see blue skies above, other economic “weather reports” are forecasting a potential recession.

So, what might this mean for the contract office market? For many employers, they are preparing for uncertainty and planning for cost reductions, which could include short-term belt-tightening to larger scale, longer-term savings such as real estate optimization.

Trends

With the climate crisis, architects and designers are bound to play a more active role in temperature control. Phase-change materials are a key tool for them: they offer real promise in sustainably regulating interior spaces.

Metaverse

Although video chatting for work meetings using services like Zoom was relatively prevalent before the pandemic, its use spiked considerably in 2020 and has yet to slow down. The rise of possible uses for virtual reality (VR) in work environments has gone up right alongside Zoom fatigue.

Latest Products

Pedrali tapped Jorge Pensi Design Studio to develop a task chair intuitive to a user's hybrid-working needs. The result, Polar, is highly attuned to new office modalities.

Other News

Executive Wood Products makes anti-ballistic furniture for schools, businesses and government offices to defend against active shooters. The finished product looks like it would belong in any office or school setting.

Black Friday's Best Online Deal for 2022 goes to Steelcase! Steelcase was offering its most popular task chairs for 25% off. Over at MillerKnoll the Herman Miller deal was 24% off (20% off + 5% extra off = 24% in total). Knoll is knocking 20% off for every chair except the (new) Newson Task Chair which has no deal at all. Humanscale was firm at 20% off while Haworth was sticking at 15% off, though they did have the Fern chair on sale earlier in the month for 20% off. Teknion has 15% off as well. All the Black Friday sale products come with free shipping.

Vintage Advertising from the Archives

EVER THINK HOW FAR YOU TRAVEL in your office chair... moving back and forth, sideways, in circles? We estimate an annual average of about eight miles. It's easy to see, then, why GF quality and durability are so important. Think, too, of the hundreds of hours a year you spend seated at your desk. Obviously, comfort is vital - and it's provided to an unmatched degree by GF's exclusive Goodform Principle of Adjustable Seating.
The handsome contemporary styling of Goodform 300 Chairs is a bonus. For a free trial in your own office, just call your nearby GF branch or dealer. Or write Dept.NB-12, for a new Goodform 300 Series color brochure.GF The General Fireproofing Company, Youngstown I, Ohio.

Trends in Commercial Projects from Around the Globe

JLL's new Downtown Minneapolis office by NELSON Worldwide features stellar views and hidden brand moments. The office is evolving, and workplace functionality will continue to change to meet employee needs. When JLL was looking for a new, transformational office for its growing team, it enlisted NELSON Worldwide with full architectural design services for its workspace in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The space was designed based on the concept of “Disruptive Innovation” to exhibit a consistent aesthetic with broad yet clearly defined parameters.
Tchoban Voss Architekten adopted a circular design approach for the EDGE Suedkreuz Berlin, Germany's largest hybrid-timber construction, designed with a deconstruction plan to extend the lifecycle of the materials used.

Upcoming Industry Events

NeoCon 2023
June  12-14, 2023 | Chicago, IL
 
NeoCon has served as the world’s leading platform and most important event of the year for the commercial design industry since 1969. A launch pad for innovation—NeoCon offers ideas and introductions that shape the built environment today and into the future.  

National Ergonomics Conference & ErgoExpo 2022
November 8-10, 2022 | Paris Las Vegas Hotel, Las Vegas

National Ergo 2022 returns November 8-10 bringing the Ergonomics community together for the industry's longest running conference and trade show. Learn from the Nation's top Ergonomic and Safety executives with over 40 educational sessions, keynotes and workshops.  

Milan Design Week 2023
April 18-23, 2023 | Milan, Italy

Milan design week is the biggest annual design event in the world and takes place from 17 to 23 April 2023. The week includes the furniture fair Salone del Mobile, which takes place at the Fiera Milano exhibition centre and is the largest event to take place during the week. The selection of fringe events collectively named Fuorisalone also takes place across the city.

hd expo+conference
May 2-4, 2023 | Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas

HD Expo + Conference is the largest hospitality event of its kind in the country, showcasing the latest products, services, and innovative developments from the industry’s leading manufacturers.  

Clerkenwell Design Week 2023
May 23-25, 2023 | London

Clerkenwell is home to more creative businesses and architects per square mile than anywhere else on the planet, making it truly one of the most important design hubs in the world. To celebrate this rich and diverse community, Clerkenwell Design Week has created a showcase of leading UK and international brands and companies presented in a series of showroom events, exhibitions and special installations that take place across the area.

Orgatec 2024
October 22-26, 2024 | Cologne, Germany

Orgatec is the International trade fair for office and property equipment. Held in Cologne, Germany.

Seen on Ebay

Vintage Old Style Tanker Metal Desk by Steelcase

Why buy a new desk when you can pickup an immortal Tanker Desk?

This listing is for:

Vintage Old Style Tanker Metal Desk by Steelcase Office Furniture.

  • Comes w/ Normal Wear and Tear
  • Comes w/ 3 box Drawers on Left Side and box/file Drawers on the Right Side
  • Comes w/ two pull out writing boards
  • Comes w/ Center Drawer
  • 60" L x 36" D x 29" H

Condition: working condition

$485.00

 

Industry Briefing

HON Honored by Configura

The HON Company was honored with a first-place CET award for Innovative Extension by Configura. The CET Awards honor talented professionals who have created outstanding and innovative spaces using CET.

Anna Creek, Senior Design Integration Specialist for HON, led the team in creating this most-requested search feature. She states, “Feedback on the launch of this tool has been overwhelmingly positive. Designers are now able to find a specific model easily and quickly.”

Configura held its annual CET Experience at the DeVos Place convention center in Grand Rapids, MI. 

Ultrafabrics announces partnership with 2022 Sustainable Design Summit

Ultrafabrics announced its platinum sponsorship of the Sustainability Design Summit on 29 November 2022, The Brewery London. The Summit (SDS) brings together brand owners, designers, and trusted suppliers from across cruise, hotel, and aircraft interiors to cross-pollinate ideas alongside leading sustainability experts.

The Sustainability Design Summit is the first event of its kind to unite these three sectors to discuss sustainability as it dominates conversations and market drivers. Through expert-led keynotes, interactive breakout sessions, a gallery of sustainable products, and networking, Sustainable Design Summit provides its audience with the tools to educate, guide, and inspire each industry. Topics include common challenges across sea, air and land-based interiors, circular design, sustainability infrastructure and sustainable decision-making.

Find the best Contract Furniture Industry jobs and hire the best talent.
Serve as main contact to all lab reseller partners for training, education, website development, regional sales visits and sales meetings and support of all client project pursuits.
The Sales Account Manager oversees existing and new customer sales activities assigned by the Director of Sales & Marketing. The ideal candidate will possess an enthusiastic and entrepreneurial spirit for selling. Self-starter with the ability to pioneer, cultivate, and grow sales.
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