There is a boundary that owners have historically been reluctant to cross: the one that separates the common areas from the private areas.
When a tenant fits out their spaces, the owner most often keeps their distance.
They will validate the work file, but any position of supporting tenants in fitting out their spaces (and, a fortiori, in their management) seemed, in principle, excluded.
For private areas, the owner is simply a provider of m². This has long been the rule.
However, the owner has every interest in ensuring that the tenant experience is successful, and it seems difficult to imagine that the private areas do not have a role to play in this…
I. Tenants often helpless to design their private spaces in their physical, service and digital dimensions
In the best-case scenario, the tenant will know how to surround themselves with the right partners. But in mid-sized companies and a fortiori in SMEs, the resources of the real estate and work environment functions are often limited. Market knowledge to identify the right partners or the service offering adapted to the context may also be insufficient. The General Management or HR department of the tenant are then often called upon when it is not the purchasing department that must embody the skills required for the duration of the project in relation to the providers of development, maintenance, etc.
Too often, this can result in spaces and services that are expensive but not always adapted to the specific challenges of the company.
However, some very concrete difficulties resulting from tenant work are well known to owners. We will cite in particular the poor management of the impact of the work on HVAC installations: failure to update the zoning of the BMS or design choices that will weigh on the comfort of employees throughout the lease.
II. Tenant support initiatives that are changing the game
Is the paradigm that we have just described changing? Several indications show this.
We can first cite the development of the operated office. Inspired by coworking, it is aimed at companies that wish to keep their private spaces while benefiting from an integrated service offer.
La Française REM's Wellcome program is also part of this tenant support approach. By referencing partners in the manner of a purchasing center, La Française wishes to support its tenants' customer journey for all services that revolve around workspaces.
Each tenant can rely on a panel of referenced partners who have proven themselves and who have designed, at the request of La Française, "packaged" offers to meet their challenges throughout their journey (digital, moving, development, catering, etc.).
III. The new horizon of the tenant experience
It is difficult to imagine that the support provided to tenants by owners will not develop even more in the future as it meets a strong need. Between the "all-inclusive" model of the operated office and the non-intrusive approach of the purchasing center, an intermediate approach can also be imagined. This is a "consulting" approach in which the owner would offer expertise to help the tenant design their spaces in their physical dimension (space layout), service (cleaning, connected fridge, reception, etc.), and digital (reservation solution, visitor management, hybrid work organization, building application, etc.).
Understanding needs, informing the tenant about service offers, supporting their choices, and allowing them to navigate the ecosystem of service providers that gravitate around workspaces are many issues for which an owner could bring value.
The world of real estate is changing. Hybrid work and flexibility are two structuring and well-identified dimensions of this change. It seems to us, however, that a third dimension is still poorly discerned, although its impact could also be strong on the transformation of the sector: the need for owners (or their partners) to integrate "private" services into their offer in a more holistic approach to maximize the use value of the rented spaces.
WRITTEN BY
After over 15 years of experience working with some of the biggest players in the real estate market, I have come to understand one thing about my clients.
More than anything, they need someone who will listen to their needs and help them make the right decisions.
