Download our 2011 Annual Report
expand all | collapse all

  •  

     

  • Our strategy is actively managed by our Executive Committee and senior management.

    1. Harry Platt
    Chief Executive

    2. Graham Clemett
    Group Finance Director
    Click here for a detailed review of operations in 2011.

    3. Angus Boag
    Development Director
    Click here to find out how we have maximised alternative use in our portfolio during 2011.

    4. Chris Pieroni
    Operations Director
    Click here to find out how we have applied our strategy to The Leathermarket.

     

 

It has been a year of significant progress on a number of fronts. We are now well positioned to take the Group forward to its next stage of growth.

Results

Workspace delivered a strong performance in 2010/11. We achieved good growth through the year, with a continuing high level of enquiries, a resilient customer base of new and growing businesses and positive momentum in both occupancy and rental income. This, together with progress on our regeneration schemes, supported the growth in the valuation of our properties during the year, without the benefit of any significant shift in yield. We also have a strengthened balance sheet following the refinancing of our debt facilities.

    In last year’s report, we set out four priorities. These were to:
  • increase occupancy and rental income
  • continue to drive value from our existing property portfolio
  • continue to work and churn the asset base to realise its full potential, and
  • utilise and exploit our brand more fully.

We have made good progress against each of these priorities in the last year. Details of our performance are set out in the business review.

People and culture

Workspace employs enthusiastic, committed and well-trained people, whose diversity reflects that of London itself. Our management team, and our people as a group, have real strength and depth.

Our culture is centred on customer service and entrepreneurialism. Everyone who works for us is rewarded partly on trading performance and partly on the service quality we deliver. The majority of our people participate in the Save as You Earn Share Scheme. These factors align them to the needs of both customers and shareholders.

Vision

Our vision is to be the leading provider of flexible space and services that enable growing businesses to succeed.

    Becoming the leading provider is not about the absolute size of our business. It is based on:
  • the quality of our customer service
  • the value and recognition of our brand
  • the ability to create communities, both within a property and across our brand, and
  • having the scale to offer flexibility to our customers and to be efficient.

Our aim is to create value by increasing earnings, dividends and asset values. With 4,000 customers, over 100 estates on 150 acres of freehold land in London and a clear brand and management strength, we have a solid platform for doing so.

The Government recognises the value of SMEs and sees them as vital to creating employment and driving further economic recovery. We also expect more business creation, for example as people leave the public sector.

Other trends are also beneficial. Planning policies towards brownfield sites in London support intensification and change of use. Our properties contribute to work-led regeneration, which fits the Government’s localism agenda. And our sites are often in areas of change, which will benefit from investment in London’s infrastructure such as the East London line, Crossrail and the Olympics.

In addition, the UK economy is seeing structural changes as digital and creative businesses increase in importance. Our properties are highly attractive to these sectors and they are well-represented among our customers.

Workspace is therefore strongly positioned in the right part of the market – growing businesses in London. We will continue to enhance our performance by driving underlying occupancy to reach our 90% target and promoting the regeneration of our properties.

Strategy

We have a four-part strategy for achieving our vision. This strategy has evolved but its fundamental focus remains the same as in previous years – to be an entrepreneurial, customer-centred property-based business.

    Our strategy is to deliver superior returns to all our stakeholders by:
  1. Owning properties that are attractive to our customers and intensively managing these properties to drive occupancy and rents.
  2. Maximising the value of our London based property portfolio and its wider opportunities for regeneration.
  3. Understanding our customers and enhancing our brand by responding to customers’ evolving needs, including by partnering with other organisations.
  4. Working sustainably as part of everyday business for us, our customers and our partners.
expand all | collapse all

  • 1. Owning properties that are attractive to our customers and intensively managing these properties to drive occupancy and rents

    Background
      Workspace owns properties ranging from business centres to light industrial estates in areas of London that appeal to our customers. A full list of our properties is included in our 2011 Property Portfolio. We actively manage our properties to increase occupancy and rents, for example by:
    • providing flexible lease structures to meet customers’ needs
    • reviewing rents across the portfolio on a weekly basis, to ensure they reflect the latest market conditions and occupancy levels, and
    • investing in our properties, so we can attract higher-value customers and grow our rental income.

    Building customer communities is also important to us. We do this within properties and between properties, to help our customers trade with each other and to grow their businesses. Our customers value these communities, which increase the attractiveness of our properties to them.

    How we measure our performance
      We measure our performance against a number of metrics, in particular:
    • the number of enquiries and lettings per month
    • the level of rents and occupancy
    • growth in trading profit, and
    • the increase in capital values resulting from our activities.

    Our performance in 2010/11 is set out in the business review under “Priority 1: to increase occupancy and rental income” and “Financial performance” .

    Priorities and Targets for 2011/12
      Our priorities for the next financial year are to:
    • continue to attract new enquiries and lettings
    • increase like-for-like occupancy towards our target of 90%, which is our most effective occupancy level to drive value
    • grow rents through higher occupancy and investing in our estates and brand
    • further increase our trading profit and capital values
    • launch further local community websites at our business centres, to keep customers informed and help them collaborate.

  • 2. Maximising the value of our London based property portfolio and its wider opportunities for regeneration

    Background

    We own almost 150 acres of freehold land in London. Our properties are often in areas of regeneration, which supports change in use or intensification and gives us the opportunity to add value.

      We look to maximise the value of our portfolio by:
    • selling sites with planning consent for alternative use and recycling the cash into our business
    • partnering with developers to create mixed-use sites, with the developer building new, higher-specification and often larger commercial space for us, without any cash investment on our part
    • redeveloping sites to increase their size, for example by adding floors or extensions, and
    • repositioning sites, by upgrading and redesigning them to attract higher-value customers, allowing us to grow our rental income.
    How we measure our performance

    We measure our performance by reviewing the progress of planning and development initiatives across the portfolio.

    Our progress in 2010/11 is explained in the business review, under “Priority 3: to continue to work and churn the asset base to realise its full potential”.

    Priorities and Targets for 2011/12

    Our priorities for the next financial year are to progress our existing initiatives and to continue to review our portfolio and drive up its value through innovative approaches to alternative use, redevelopment and repositioning. In particular, during the year we target significant progress in regeneration initiatives at Highbury Grove, Highway Business Park, Bow Enterprise Park, Poplar Business Park and Tower Bridge Business Complex.

  • 3. Understanding our customers and enhancing our brand by responding to customers’ evolving needs, including by partnering with other organisations

    Background

    Workspace is a customer-focused business, employing people who are committed to high-quality service. This, along with our marketing efforts, has given us a strong brand, which we can leverage through offering new services which help our existing customers and attract new ones.

      We conduct quarterly exit surveys with our customers, which allow us to:
    • gauge customer satisfaction and identify issues we need to address
    • understand what new services our customers want, and
    • develop thought leadership on the needs of growing businesses.
    How we measure our performance

    We measure our performance using the customer satisfaction surveys discussed above, and by monitoring the take up by our customers of our new initiatives and products.

    Our performance in 2010/11 is set out in the business review under “Priority 4: to utilise and exploit our brand more fully”.

    Priorities and Targets for 2011/12
      Our priorities for the next financial year are to:
    • continue to deliver high-quality customer service,
    • monitor the take up of Club Workspace at Clerkenwell and The Leathermarket, and decide on the pace of its roll out to other centres
    • improve our range of IT services and increase our revenues from them.

  • 4. Working sustainably as part of everyday business for us, our customers and our partners

    Background

    Sustainability is part of our everyday business. We develop properties which support work-led regeneration by allowing businesses to flourish, create employment and boost their local areas. Many of our properties are historic manufacturing buildings, with more people working in them now than ever in the past.

    In addition, we carefully manage our environmental footprint and work with our customers and partners to reduce their environmental impact. We also place the safety and security of our customers at the heart of our service.

    How we measure our performance

    We measure our performance using a number of metrics, such as our carbon dioxide emissions and the proportion of waste diverted from landfill. Our performance in 2010/11 is set out in the sustainability section.

    Priorities for 2011/12

    Our priorities for the next financial year are to continue to increase the profile of our sustainability agenda, to further reduce our environmental impact and to maintain the safety and security of our customers.

    Harry Platt
    Chief Executive