3. Urbanity rules
Banks will consider moving out of traditional,
financial Central Business Districts (CBDs) and
locating core functions in mixed used, vibrant,
connected urban environments (CUEs).
•
Large floor plates (over 2,700 sq m or 30,000 sq ft) are in
demand for all banks and financial institutions – primarily
for trading functions, but also to increase collaboration and
productivity for other functions. In many financial CBDs the
demand for real estate has increased the viability of tower
buildings providing smaller floor plates however the supply
of larger floor plates is more constrained.
•
We believe banks will consider moving towards the
‘horizontal high-rise’ into mixed use, connected urban
environments (CUEs), that traditionally have not been the
domain of the financial occupier. CUEs bring together
business, academia and culture with retail and residential
in the same community, with great transport and internet
connectivity. This challenges the traditional split between
business in the CBD and retail, culture, residential and
academia elsewhere.
•
In these locations, they can form a symbiosis with the
local community, crucial for attracting the best talent in
the future. Simultaneously, they can continue to occupy
statement buildings, maintaining the ‘building as the
brand’ tradition.
4. New kids on the block
demanding change and
innovation
Talent attraction and retention in a market where
banks are competing with technology and media
firms will require a different approach to work and
the workplace. Banks should adopt more innovative
strategies, and invest significantly in technology.
•
We are seeing globally that young talent wants to work
in vibrant city districts, busy hubs that combine offices,
retail, arts, culture and residential – particularly so both in
Europe and in America.
•
As competition for talent is no longer confined to the
banking and financial services industry, and as banks
start to compete directly with media and technology
companies, we believe banks will struggle to remain
‘employers of choice’ in developed markets. As a result of
this the average age of bank employees is likely to rise.
•
We believe that to meet the challenges of attracting young
talent in this more fluid era, banks should start to invest
significantly in their workplaces and workplace technology,
offering better work environments and more flexibility in
the same way the technology industry has done so in the
past ten years. There needs to be widespread introduction
of agile working environments, and increases in the ability
to work outside of the office for most functions.
15
The future of the financial workplace
|
September 2014
