Less square footage drives team collaboration

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/19/realestate/commercial/19space.html

As employees become more mobile and less tied to their desks, the average amount of space per employee nationwide, in all industries, has dropped to 250 square feet from 400 square feet in 1985, according to Jones Lang LaSalle, a commercial brokerage and property manager. Within 10 years, that is expected to drop further, to 150 square feet.
“The office status symbol seems not to be as important. People are living for more flexibility in their lives,” said Peter Miscovich, a managing director for corporate solutions at Jones Lang LaSalle.

SEÁN MULRYAN has become the latest of Ireland’s big property developers to reach agreement with the National Asset Management Agency on a business plan for his large portfolio of debt-laden property assets.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2011/0511/1224296698303.html

The National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) is a body created by the Government of Ireland in late 2009. It is in response to the Irish financial crisis and the deflation of the Irish property bubble.  NAMA works out of the Treasury Building in Dublin which features Aspiration - a woman scaling the wall symbolizing the struggle for freedom that took place on the site in 1916.

Gherkin architect declares end of London skyscraper boom

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/apr/20/gherkin-architect-london-skyscraper

Tall buildings cost more to build than low-rise structures with the same amount of space, prompting some developers to go for smaller projects. At the same time, many tenants are reluctant to pay a premium for being in a tower as belt-tightening continues.
Property tycoon Gerald Ronson recently admitted that it will take about 18 months to let all the space in his Heron Tower, with the lower floors going for about £55 a sq ft while the top floors will command more. Rents in the City today are around the same level as in the 1980s.
The towers now under construction in the City were largely conceived before the financial crisis took hold, with developers obtaining planning permission before the credit crunch. The projects were then mothballed due to a lack of finance.

Office by Christian Pottgiesser

http://www.contemporist.com/2011/02/18/pons-huot-office-by-christian-pottgiesser/

The headquarters of two companies in Paris – PONS and HUOT.

The base for the construction was a rotten industrial hall built in the late 19th century with a steel framework typical for the period.

Each individual workplace is incised into the wooden upper surface and covered by a “telephone’-dome in Plexiglas. Neither entrance hall nor reception were implemented, since visitors are guided by a peripheral path-system leading to all pertinent rooms. The individual offices are situated on both galleries.

From the Toronto Board of Trade, Scorecard on Prosperity 2011

Case Study #1
Transportation Infrastructure:
A Business Imperative

What
Addressing congestion through a regionally integrated, efficient and comprehensive transportation system.

Why
For over five years, Toronto Board of Trade members have identified transportation infrastructure issues (specifically relieving congestion and expanding our regional transportation system) as their top concern. The reason is clear: transportation infrastructure is essential to a city's viability as a business centre and is the leading driver of an urban centre's global competitiveness.

Surveys of business leaders also consistently reveal transportation infrastructure as their leading concern - because it impacts how and where they conduct their business, the associated cost of operations and their ability to attract top talent.

A study of 25 global metropolises commissioned by Siemens Canada identified "solving transportation issues" as the number one priority for a global city. Specifically for Canada, over 60 per cent of experts identified transportation infrastructure as the most important factor in attracting investment into Canadian cities, with 90 per centof these experts naming transportation infrastructure as being the most in need of investment over the next five to ten years.

In a global survey of C-level executives commissioned by KPMG, 90 per cent of respondents said that the quality and availability of infrastructure directly affects where they locate and expand their business operations. Two-thirds of executives indicated that existing transportation infrastructure increases their operating costs, with substantial numbers also indicating that transportation issues have hurt their companies' competitiveness, ability to grow and attractiveness to qualified employees.

In a similar study commissioned by Philips, almost two-thirds of respondents identified "improving public transport/roads" as the main priority for the city's political leaders to make the city more competitive for business, double the percentage cited for any other priority (such as improving education, public safety or reducing corruption). Transportation infrastructure was second only to the city's job market and cost of living as the most important factor to make a particular city an attractive place to live and work. These global executives see transportation infrastructure investments as key to an urban centre's economic health and vital to economic growth.

As the "Transportation Lens" shows, the state of Toronto's transportation infrastructure is quickly becoming Toronto's biggest impediment to competing on a global stage. This assessment is confirmed in other studies. A study by PricewaterhouseCoopers ranked Toronto's transportation infrastructure in the bottom half of cities and identified this as Toronto's biggest impediment to global competitiveness. In the aforementioned Siemens study, when the Toronto region was ranked against the world's most competitive regions, Toronto's transportation infrastructure was seen as uncompetitive.

A Colliers International study of Toronto region businesses found that transportation infrastructure and competitive rents are the keys to attracting businesses to the Toronto region. Respondents cited transportation infrastructure - in particular, their proximity and/or access to transportation hubs and other transportation infrastructure - as the second most important factor, behind the cost of office space, for their location decision within the GTA.

LESSONS FOR TORONTO:
For over five years, Toronto Board of Trade members have identified transportation infrastructure issues (specifically relieving congestion and expanding our regional transportation system) as their top concern. The reason is clear: transportation infrastructure is essential to a city's viability as a business centre and is the leading driver of an urban centre's global competitiveness.

Selected Sources:

• PWC. Cities of Opportunity (2010).
• GlobeScan and MRC (commissioned by Siemens). Megacity Report (January 2007).
• GlobeScan (commissioned by Siemens Canada). The Sustainable Cities Challenge in Canada (2010).
• Colliers International. Tenant Sentiment Survey for Toronto (September, 2010).
• KPMG (commissioned by KPMG in cooperation with The Economist Intelligence Unit). The Changing Face of Infrastructure: Public sector Perspectives (November 2009).
• KPMG (commissioned by KPMG in cooperation The Economist Intelligence Unit). Bridging the Global Infrastructure Gap: Views from the Executive Suite (2009).
• The Economist Intelligence Unit (commissioned by Philips). Liveanomics: Urban Liveability and Economic Growth (January 2011).

Telus House hosts multiple rooftop gardens

http://www.thestar.com/business/article/814847--toronto-s-newest-office-tower-a-spaceship

Restored Victorian industrial buildings transformed into pedestrian arts hub

http://www.thedistillerydistrict.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gooderham_and_Worts_Distillery