New industry body opens door for younger voices to shake ‘pale, male and stale’ image, says Bob Serafini
It’s one thing knowing about your faults, but it’s quite another to do something about them, and that’s why this week’s commercial property prize goes to the British Council for Offices (BCO).
This is the industry standard body for everybody involved in owning, occupying, designing, building or managing the giant office towers which adorn our city centres, buildings like 1 West Regent Street, Glasgow.
Their best practice guides detail the latest specification on everything from climate control to motion sensitive lighting, from plants for your sedum roofs to self-cleaning glass for your floor to ceiling curtain walling. What they are not good at, apparently, is succession planning.
A recent BCO meeting in London described a typical member of the organisation as "pale, male and stale", and Scottish chapter chairman Mike Buchan of JLL, surveying the room at the firm’s recent awards event, acknowledged that there was probably quite a lot of truth in that.
"Collectively, we need to change the perception of the BCO, and promote a new initiative known as next generation," said Buchan, lead director in Glasgow for the property firm. "As the name suggests, this will seek to encourage more younger people to get involved, which is important because they can add a different perspective to the work."
They’ve wasted no time in moving forward on this, with BCO NextGen Scotland already up and running with a seven-strong committee organising a programme of events and visits for this under-35 target group.
Chair Hazel Pearson, a Dundee-trained architect with Michael Laird in Edinburgh, started her career in the immediate aftermath of the banking crash and recent economic recession, so has had a pretty tough landscape in which to start learning about the property world.
She talks with enthusiasm about sharing experience and the chance of mentoring: "It’s really important to offer this platform to younger people in the industry, to give them the opportunity not only to share their views but voice ideas, exchange knowledge, and discuss issues within our sector." The latest event this month involved a tour of digital agency Whitespace’s offices in Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh, which have an extremely creative and innovative internal fit-out.
"We are all about inspiring younger members, sparking ideas and discussing what works and how we can use best practice for our clients’ benefit, so being able to see all the elements that made this space an award winner was useful, a chance for discussion and debate."
Another committee member, Stephen Miles of Scott Brownrigg is conscious that an even younger group – graduates entering the industry today – bring with them a fast paced world of digital technology, social media, game design, lots of innovative thinking, and represent even more of a cultural shift the organisation needs to tap into.
He also points to changing patterns in the workplace, with many small and medium sized businesses operating with little more than a set of business cards and an iPad, and working in flexible IT rich facilities not fixed to any geography. The office of tomorrow may look nothing like what we think of today, but developers will be keen to future-proof their investment or be left with a white elephant.
Buchan perhaps showed his age when calling on the awards audience to see if they had any "whipper snappers" in their operations who would be interested in joining NextGen.
But he did have some good advice for them: "Encourage them to get involved, go to the BCO website, drop me an email or get in touch with chair Hazel Pearson."
Just do not Google "pale, male and stale" or you will definitely be in for a nasty shock.
Lifestyle business
A hotel on Scotland’s whisky trail has been put up for sale as its owners seek to scale up their activities after building up their current venture. The West Loch Hotel in Tarbert, pictured below, on the main A83 Glasgow to Campbeltown road, is the closest accommodation to the Isle of Islay ferry terminal, which takes thousands of whisky lovers to those peaty shores each year.
The eight bedroom property with bar, restaurant and owners’ flat is on offer through Colliers International for £500,000.
Size larger for Ann Summers
Retailer Ann Summers has expanded its presence on Princes Street to cope with a good performance from its lingerie and adult gift range. A new 2,833 sq ft flagship store at number 89 will open later this month after the firm took a 10-year lease at a rental of £257,000 per annum. Cushman
& Wakefield advised the tenant, with CBRE acting for the pension trustees landlord.
Sensing a deal
SST Sensing Ltd has purchased its industrial premises at 5 Hagmill Crescent, Shawhead Industrial Estate, Coatbridge, for £540,000. Ryden sold the 13,824 sq ft warehouse for a private investor in a deal representing a net initial yield of 9.4 per cent.
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