Flexible workspaces: The fast-growing sector transforming the UK commercial property market
As flexible workspace provider Orega celebrates 25 years in business, the company is spotlighting how premium flexible offices have moved from perk to business-critical infrastructure. Against this backdrop of economic success, Orega’s 25 year milestone reflects not only the evolution of the flexible workspace sector nationally, but also the growing importance of premium flexible offices in cities across the UK. Alan Pepper, CEO of Orega, comments: “Reaching our upcoming 25th anniversary is a proud milestone for the business. The flexible workspace sector has evolved dramatically since Orega was founded – we’ve weathered the storm of three economic downturns and a global pandemic – and we’ve come out stronger than ever. “It’s clear that flexibility is no longer a ‘nice to have’, it’s now central to how modern businesses operate.” For growing businesses, the appeal is strategic as much as practical. Flexible workspaces allow firms to scale without long-term real estate commitments, access central locations that help attract talent, and present a professional environment that matches their ambitions. Bristol is perhaps the clearest example of a strong regional economy proving Orega’s point. The West of England is growing at four times the national average, generating over £54bn annually, with the city maintaining the highest rate of net business start-ups outside London. That economic momentum is driving sustained demand for high-quality, flexible office space from professional services, tech and financial firms. But Bristol is part of a broader national picture where hybrid working has matured from a pandemic-era experiment into an established operating model, prompting businesses of all sizes to fundamentally rethink what they need from office space, and why. Alan adds: “In cities like Bristol, we’re seeing sustained demand from established corporations and ambitious growing businesses who want flexibility without compromising on quality or location. The role of the office has changed; it’s about creating environments that foster collaboration, support wellbeing and reflect a company’s brand and ambition.” A proven model for sustainable growth Over the past two and a half years, Orega has opened eight new premium centres and grown its team with key strategic hires including CEO Alan Pepper, COO David Kinnaird, and Commercial Director Sophie Turnbull. Orega is also the pioneer of Management Agreements with Landlords, a unique approach to flexible workspaces that has been central to its success, setting a precedent for sustainable growth in the sector. The company’s momentum shows no signs of slowing down, with ambitious plans to expand to 45 locations over the next five years at an average rate of four new sites per year. The focus will remain on London, the UK’s six big regional cities – including Bristol – and select locations where demand for premium flexible workspaces continues to rise. Alan comments: “Our future growth will be shaped by the same principles that got us to where we are today. We want to keep empowering businesses to unlock their true potential, remaining agile and responsive to the changing market. The flexible workspace industry is maturing and we’re proud to be at the forefront of that evolution.” Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
Vistry to build 214 homes at Garendon Park, Loughborough
Vistry, the UK’s leading provider of mixed‑tenure homes, has exchanged contracts on land to deliver 214 high‑quality family homes at Garendon Park in Loughborough. The 14.2‑acre site will provide a mix of affordable and open‑market homes, with a range of two‑, three‑ and four‑bedroom properties. The wider Garendon Park scheme already benefits from outline planning consent, and Vistry expects to submit a reserved matters application for its parcel in the coming weeks. The development forms part of the major 3,200‑home Sustainable Urban Extension (SUE) to the west of Loughborough. This wider scheme will include 16 hectares of employment land, a mixed‑use community hub, two new primary schools, and extensive public open space including parks, play areas, allotments, access roads and a strategic link road. Andy Reynolds, Managing Director of Vistry Group’s Partnerships division in the South East Midlands, said:“It’s exciting to be building so many family homes on this major new development that aligns perfectly with our commitment to delivering high‑quality, sustainable, and community‑centric places to live. Our homes will be designed to blend seamlessly with their surroundings and will set a new benchmark in modern living, bringing untold benefits to the local community.” Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
Federation of Piling Specialists Launches UK-Wide Digital Map to Support Smarter Design and Potential Pile Reuse
The Federation of Piling Specialists (FPS) is pleased to announce it has launched a new interactive UK-wide digital map of completed piling projects, marking a significant step forward in how geotechnical data is used to inform design and improve sustainability across the construction sector. The FPS Geotechnical Data Map visualises historical piling project data using ArcGIS, allowing users to explore completed works across different locations and ground conditions. By bringing together datasets submitted by FPS members, the platform provides a valuable new resource for clients, consultants and contractors involved in foundation design. The tool has been developed to support design optimisation at an early stage, enabling project teams to identify comparable schemes, better understand ground conditions, and reduce uncertainty. In doing so, it has the potential to improve efficiency, reduce risk and avoid unnecessary overdesign. A key feature of the platform is its ability to highlight opportunities for potential pile and foundation reuse. By making historical data more accessible and visible, the FPS aims to support more sustainable construction practices and contribute to reducing embodied carbon across the built environment. Commenting on the launch, Malcolm O’Sullivan, Chair, Federation of Piling Specialists said: “The FPS Geotechnical Data Map has the potential to change how we think about foundation design. By making historical data more visible and usable, we can begin to identify opportunities for pile and foundation reuse, reduce unnecessary embodied carbon, and support a more sustainable approach to construction. This is a practical step towards a more circular economy in ground engineering.” The launch of the map also reflects a broader shift towards a more connected and data-driven industry. The FPS has positioned the platform as part of an increasingly sophisticated landscape of digital geotechnical information and intends to continue expanding its scope. Future development may include the integration of additional datasets and collaboration with external data providers. The FPS Geotechnical Data Map is now live and available to members through the FPS Website. For more information, please contact the FPS by email at fps@fps.org.uk or visit the FPS website at www.fps.org.uk Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
GBP 50m McLaughlin & Harvey contract awarded for PATRIZIA’s major City redevelopment at 108 Old Broad Street
PATRIZIA, an investment manager in global real assets, has received approval from long-standing partner Far East Organization, Singapore’s largest private property developer, to execute the GBP 50 million main build contract for the redevelopment of 108 Old Broad Street in the City of London. The contract has been awarded to McLaughlin & Harvey, with works commencing in early March 2026 and practical completion targeted for August 2027. The planning consent achieved in November enables PATRIZIA to transform the 1990s building into a modern, highly sustainable and amenity-rich destination in the heart of London’s financial district. The scheme will deliver approximately 120,000 sq ft of high-quality workspace following a 15% uplift in net lettable area. Works include sixth- and seventh-floor extensions, culminating in a new seventh-floor pavilion and large communal landscaped terrace. Ten landscaped terraces will be introduced across the upper floors, alongside a new ground floor café, enhanced reception and high-specification lower ground end-of-journey facilities. A fully electric, smart-enabled services strategy will underpin the redevelopment, targeting EPC A (B minimum), BREEAM Excellent and WiredScore Gold, reinforcing the project’s low-carbon and future-ready credentials. Knight Frank and Cushman & Wakefield have been instructed as joint leasing agents, with marketing now underway to secure occupiers ahead of completion. The scheme has been designed by Stiff + Trevillion, with Quartz acting as project manager, Gardiner & Theobald as quantity surveyor, and Montagu Evans advising on planning. Dan Williams, Head of Investment Management Development at PATRIZIA, commented: “This appointment marks the transition from consent to delivery at 108 Old Broad Street and a key step in executing our repositioning strategy for prime City assets. With the building stripped out and ready to mobilise, we are progressing into construction with a strong team in place to deliver significant upper-floor extensions, best-in-class amenity and an all-electric building strategy. Our focus now is on safe, efficient execution and quality outcomes through to completion.” Chris Collins, Pre-Construction Director at McLaughlin & Harvey, commented: “We are proud to partner with PATRIZIA on a redevelopment that combines significant structural interventions with ambitious sustainability targets. Our focus will be on delivering the extensions and all-electric building strategy to the highest quality standards while maintaining programme certainty in a busy City environment.” The repositioning of 108 Old Broad Street reinforces PATRIZIA’s wider value-add strategy across key European cities, building on a portfolio of landmark brown-to-green transformations within its EUR 2.5bn+ pan-European value-add programme. These projects form a core pillar of the investment manager’s commitment to delivering future-fit offices through design quality, decarbonisation and proactive asset management. Ker Gilchrist, Head of UK Investment Management at PATRIZIA, added: “The redevelopment of 108 Old Broad Street demonstrates how we connect international capital with our own asset solutions to deliver a Grade A, amenity-rich building offering compelling relative value in the City market. As we move into the construction, we remain focussed on disciplined execution to ensure the asset is positioned strongly for occupiers seeking quality and sustainability in a core financial district location.” Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
London’s tall buildings market under pressure as costs jump by up to 40% in five years
New report also discovers that for skyscrapers, shape is as important as height A new report published today by the global professional services company Turner & Townsend provides a unique perspective on the market for tall buildings across six global cities. The Global Tall Buildings report draws on Turner & Townsend’s exclusive data to provide insights into the challenges and opportunities facing developers building skyscrapers in London, New York, Seoul, Tokyo, Mumbai, and Dubai, including costs and the impact of designs and height on viability.1 The report found that the cost of delivering a new office building in London has increased by up to 40% since 2020, one of the largest price increases out of the cities analysed, and it is now more than three times as expensive to build skyscrapers in the city as it is in Seoul, and ten times as it is in Mumbai. This significant cost rise is the result of a range of factors that include price inflation prompted by conflicts and geopolitical events, significant regulatory changes, enhancements to the product, and challenging trading conditions following Brexit. However, more positively, demand for high quality, sustainable space remains strong, and confidence is beginning to return, with some large investors using their ability to take a longer-term view to get their towers into a favourable letting market. As a result, it is still possible to deliver a high quality, financially successful skyscraper in London, but only if project teams work together to address viability issues from the outset. One key finding from the report is that the shape of a skyscraper is as important as the height when it comes to the overall cost. In a city like London, there can be a 25% difference in price between the most ambitious and the most cost-efficient projects, with massing being a key determining factor. With its diverse skyline and broad range of buildings, London stands out globally for having progressed through four distinct but overlapping waves of high-rise construction in just three decades, driven by differing typologies, and developers have learned important lessons along the way. Looking to the future, London is moving through its fifth wave where there is a deep focus on value, and high-quality towers are being realised against a challenging economic backdrop: Turner & Townsend is one of the industry leaders when it comes to providing project management, cost and commercial management and programme advisory services, and has helped deliver over 200 tall buildings across the world, including the likes of 22 Bishopsgate, London; 30 Hudson Yards, New York; The Jewel, Australia; and Piramal Aranya in Mumbai. Steve Watts, Head of Tall Buildings at Turner & Townsend, said: “Demand for tall buildings globally remains incredibly strong, although the latter in London has suffered a difficult period. With elevated construction costs further pressured by continuing inflation, as well as unfriendly financing conditions and softened yields, viability is now the most pressing issue, and doing “more with less” is the order of the day in a lot of markets, particularly London. “Now more than ever, it is important to recognise that shape is as important as height when it comes to delivering a project cost efficiently, and there is an ever-increasing focus on ensuring tall buildings are integrated into the broader cityscape, whether that is by offering public amenities or a greater range of uses on the ground floors. “In this context, to deliver a successful project in London, it is critical for project teams to work together at the outset to address viability issues: to test briefs; apply greater focus at an earlier stage to both design strategies and detailing; to secure the help of key parts of the supply chain sooner; and to set up projects with clarity and alignment. London boasts one of the most compelling and diverse skylines in the world, and with the right processes in place, there is no reason why the city can’t continue to lead the way for many years to come.” Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
Ravenscraig Enterprise Park set to boost industrial growth in North Lanarkshire
A major new industrial development has been launched in North Lanarkshire, with Ravenscraig Enterprise Park officially brought to market by global real estate adviser CBRE on behalf of Fusion Assets Ltd. The first phase of the scheme will deliver 29,400 sq ft of industrial, business and storage space, addressing a long-standing imbalance where demand has continued to outstrip supply across the region. Craig Semple, director at CBRE Scotland, described the launch as a significant milestone for central Scotland. He noted that businesses have faced a persistent shortage of modern, high-quality premises, particularly those seeking well-located space to support growth. He explained that the development will not only help meet this demand, but also reflects growing confidence in the strength of the regional market. With strong infrastructure, excellent motorway connections and the flexibility to support a range of uses, the site is expected to attract interest from both regional and national occupiers. He added that construction is due to begin in March 2026, with the first units ready for occupation in the final quarter of the year. In total, the development will provide 62,400 sq ft across eight units, delivered over two phases, bringing much-needed new stock to the central Scotland industrial market. The project is being led by Fusion Assets Ltd, the property development and regeneration arm of North Lanarkshire Council. It is supported by £4.4 million in public funding from the Glasgow City Region City Deal and the Scottish Government’s Vacant and Derelict Land Fund. A further £6.8 million of City Deal funding has been allocated to support future commercial development at Ravenscraig and other sites across North Lanarkshire. Murray Collins, managing director of Fusion Assets Ltd, said the development builds on significant investment already made across the wider Ravenscraig site. He highlighted the company’s commitment to transforming brownfield land into high-quality commercial space that can support job creation and long-term economic growth. He also pointed to strong demand for modern industrial and commercial premises, underlining the importance of delivering new space quickly, with Ravenscraig playing a central role in those plans. Strategically located with direct access to the M74 and M8 motorways, the site offers excellent connectivity to key markets, labour pools and national transport networks, making it an attractive proposition for a wide range of businesses. CBRE anticipates strong interest from occupiers across both regional and national markets. Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals