Colliers launches Office 360°, a unique full-service solution to create the offices of tomorrow

2020 is the year that fundamentally changed the role of the office. The workplace will never be the same again, which means now is the time to transform it and make it better than ever. Colliers innovates and responds to current challenges and future needs in the office market with Office 360°, a complete approach of the office with all its touchpoints, carried out in a unique and highly complex process that is tailored to the very last detail to fit the companies’ needs and strategic plans. This service starts by creating a workplace vision together with senior management to define the impact of Covid-19 and the strategic organizational goals.

As part of Office 360°, any business manager can make the first steps in shaping their future workplace strategy using Workplace Expert, an innovative online tool developed by Colliers to help businesses determine the optimal work environment for their organisation and people. Since offices will increasingly become social meeting places to collaborate, connect and interact with teams, companies will have to re-think and re-plan the Workplace Strategy. The Workplace Expert tool recommends different office environments and configurations based on responses to questions about a business’ goals, working patterns and drivers behind their brand and operating culture. Workplace Expert is fueled by extensive benchmarking data, insights from Colliers’ global surveys during the Covid-19 pandemic and emerging market trends.

“Now, more than ever, the office is being acknowledged not just as a pure cost asset, but as a space with a vital role in connecting and empowering organization’s people to operate at their best in the next evolution of workplace experiences. This is why creating the right core work environment that is responsive to current challenges and future needs will be crucial for attracting and retaining talent, as well as enabling employees to perform and collaborate”, says Sebastian Dragomir, Partner and Head of Office 360° at Colliers.

Office 360° takes the Workplace Expert’s office transformation ideas a step further. With the in-depth expertise and multidisciplinary approach of Colliers’s Office 360° team, businesses can define the optimal environment for the health and productivity of employees, and rebalance the office mix, whether through a reconfiguration or relocation. A “one-stop-shop” solution for more efficiency, the innovative Office 360° service is based on four pillars, touching all the essential aspects of the market: Workplace Advisory & Change Management, Tenant Representation, Design & Build and Project Management & Move Management.

“Office 360° stands at the very core of Colliers’ expertise in the office market and is the most relevant reflection of years of expertise, an in-depth know-how resulting from countless successful projects and a deep understanding of the office landscape. We will provide solutions tailored to your project’s size and requirements, saving time and money in the process. Our approach to cost control at each stage of the office transformation delivers additional savings often in excess of 10-15%, when compared to the values obtained usually from contractors, in negotiations during the tender stage”, explains Sebastian Dragomir.

By combining the market awareness with technical and financial expertise, Colliers’ Office 360° team will create a workplace vision and define the impact of present and future challenges, will identify opportunities to generate a work environment that suits the new business as usual and will give everyone a meaning so the new way of working is easily embraced and integrated into future workflows. In other words, the aim is to make people want to be in the office and find new ways to connect and interact with colleagues.

The team will also find solutions and define the most efficient strategy in terms of location, cost scenario and lease agreement flexibility, bringing experience in project and cost management, change management, logistics, building technology and interior architecture, ensuring that time and quality requirements are met. The team works to reduce operational costs but also to improve a building’s reputation and sustainability through property management services and LEED, BREEAM and WELL certifications.

Colliers’ Property Management Department has a multidisciplinary approach to each project, covering through its services a wide array of activities, from caring for technically and operationally managed buildings (Operational Management of the Building) or caring for the tenants’ needs and requests (Tenant Management) to financial services (billing, payments, income and costs, reconciliations) or reporting to the landlord, ensuring that all tenants comply with the contractual obligations they have assumed.

The monitoring, analysis and control of service charges are also an important part of the professional management of the properties offered by Colliers.

In the next two stages, Colliers’ team will redesign the workplace with professional Design Services, in an unique approach and a 360° view for any office fit out project, including the preparation of documentation for all authorities, the submission and obtaining of planning certificates and all necessary prior approvals. Colliers’ team will also deal with the measurement of leasable areas according to BOMA (Building Owners and Managers Association) or IPMS (International Property Measurement Standard) standards. The main benefit of these consultancy services is that developers and owners of Office Buildings can establish each project’s efficiency and profitability from the perspective of the Gross Leasable Areas of the building as a whole, as well as for each floor. In most cases, these measurements increase the commercial value of the projects.

Through Office 360°, Colliers’ strategy is to act as a common point of contact for all parties involved in the client’s relocation process, to ensure timely communication between client’s representatives, the landlord’s project managers, site managers, as well as the architecture & MEP design consultants, general contractor’s staff, and the property management team.

All this is ensured by Colliers’ Office 360° team consisting of 14 specialists, coordinated by Sebastian Dragomir, Partner and Head of Office 360°, George Didoiu, Director Tenant Services, Lucian Opriș, Associate Director Tenant Services, Daniela Popescu, Associate Director Tenant Services & Workplace Advisory, Dominique Bogdănaș, Associate Workplace Advisory and Roxana Achim, Lead Architect & Senior Project Manager. In the following weeks, each of them will share their views on the offices of tomorrow in a podcast with Răzvan Exarhu, available on office360bycolliers.ro and on YouTube, starting with the first episode featuring Laurențiu Lazăr, Colliers Romania’s Managing Partner, here.