4.3.1. Verticality
Banks and financial institutions have been occupiers of tall
buildings and many CBD towers have tenants from this
sector. But in conversations with heads of real estate, there
was a reluctance to use this kind of stock in the future.
Smaller floor plates with poor sightlines, often constrained
by central cores, and circulation inefficiencies compounded
by the bottlenecks with lifts (elevators) and lack of vertical
circulation have made this topology challenging and
limiting as the businesses move from departmentally based
sedentary work to agile teams and mobility.
The traditional way of thinking essentially treats office blocks
as two-dimensional puzzles, layering flat workplaces on top
of each other with no real connection. Blocking and stacking
fixed teams is made far more difficult by the fact that for
teams that need to be near each other, they have to be on
the same floor.
However, demand for vertical interconnections between
teams but also facilities such as coffee shops, meeting spaces,
video conference areas and other specialist space necessitate
movement between floors – often a challenge where the
only access is either the lift bank or a ‘means of escape’ stair.
Long wait times to move between floors are inefficient and
create significant dead time. Planning flexibility is limited and
adjacencies hard to achieve.
By creating vertical movement and communication,
organisations can use their buildings much more effectively.
Staircases which are both central and open (and not within
the core) encourage movement, which can be increased
by creating hubs of activity around the staircases through
good coffee, collaboration zones and open design.
Macquarie Bank, Challenger, NAB and Westpac have all
adopted the vertical communities in their new offices, in
some cases by punching through the slab to create new
staircases between floors.
Vertical communities and streets are a response to the
constraints of a high-rise building along with winter gardens
and atria, but it seems likely that larger floor plates with
better vertical provision will be a demand in future buildings
for the industry.
4.3.2. Open to all?
A trend we are seeing in the banks we interviewed is a
desire for their space to be more open – both in design,
and to different people. The security barrier through which
only employees can pass is being pushed further back in
the office, allowing clients, customers and in some cases
members of the public to enter and use some facilities
in banks’ buildings. This is a paradigm shift from the past
‘fortress’ approach, and a sign of banks not only wanting
to be more open and transparent, but to make a visible
statement of the fact through their real estate.
There has been a recent move to make room for clients to
work in an organisation’s space where they can ‘plug and
play’. Like club class lounges at airports – Virgin Money has
done this at their new HQ, and National Australia Bank has a
similar concept.
Prediction
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.
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The future of the financial workplace
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September 2014
