We’re proud to work with some visionary businesses who are raising the bar when it comes to modern offices. Our services extend beyond just letting properties, and we also partner with landlords and developers as they seek out new commercial opportunities.
One such client is Bridge Properties, who are investing in great aesthetics, strategic locations and state of the art facilities that nurture real communities. Among their new buildings is Element in Birchwood – a property Canning O’Neill helped them acquire, presenting the opportunity and seeing the deal through.
Here, Bridge Properties Paul McCann tells us more about Element, Eden Point, and his company’s unique commercial offering.
There’s been a culture shift in the past three years; while working from home and hybrid arrangements still have a place in modern workplace culture, we’re seeing a renewed appetite to spend more time in the office.
Our philosophy is to create well-thought out, well-designed workspaces in which communities can thrive. This proposition has become far more important post-pandemic as occupiers face new challenges – with workspaces today competing with the alternative prospect of the comfort of home.
We’re predominately focused on delivering that offering to businesses looking for out of town locations in South Manchester or Cheshire. There’s plenty of traditional stock here, with workspaces that are perhaps more corporate, but we made it our mission to establish buildings that are more appealing – but equally that don’t cost too much to rent.
It’s an approach that’s undoubtedly worked. We completed our work at Eden Point in Cheadle last year, with the building now fully let to 19 successful businesses including Skechers, Capelli Sports, Jonnie Johnson Housing Association, Lowry Capital, NFON, JTRS, AMG Financial, White Rose Sports Management, Entertainment Today and Be Clear Orthodontics.
We have also just completed our new building at Element in Birchwood just outside of Warrington, creating something completely unique and unlike any other offering in the area
Here’s our formula for creating workspaces that work…
Amazing aesthetics
Many office workers have a choice to work from the comfort of their own home, so you have to compete by offering them something appealing.
Design and quality are both extremely important in achieving this, and we invest in these elements to ensure that occupiers and their colleagues are wowed as soon as they walk through the door. That means working with great design partners – people like Simon Millington and Izzy Eling of We are Incognito – who help bring our vision to life.
Each building has its own unique design and layout, with great thought put into textures, materials and lighting that set the right tone for the ambitious environments we want to nurture.
Approachability
We’re not your normal landlord.
We’re very hands on and you’ll often find us working out of Element or Eden Point each day. We spend time getting to know the people working in our buildings, hearing their feedback, arranging events and promotional days; it’s an imperative part of our desire to establish real, interactive commercial communities, in which people can network and benefit from their relationships.
Location, location, location
We noticed a gap in the South Manchester and Cheshire markets to create spaces for people who want to be closer to home or who want to be close to out of town amenities.
That’s not to say we’d shy away from town or city centre opportunities; we have a track record in more dense urban environments so would equally relish the chance to apply our offering at any new interesting sites there too! We just want to get our hands on buildings with potential.
A conscience
An existing building is always going to be more sustainable than starting anew, and that’s why we are committed to restoring and repurposing old stock to bring it up to speed. That commitment in itself is good for the environment, but we also take it a step further.
We also invest in high spec materials and systems to ensure that our buildings have really good EPC ratings – not only keeping service charges down but also helping our occupiers meet their own sustainability goals.
Element in particular has a very high rating thanks to new M&E throughout, as well as bird boxes, wildflower meadows, beehives, great initiatives that protect the nature outside.
Amenities
Out of town offices of the past have often been designed without the needs and wellbeing of end users in mind. We want to completely transform this, creating spaces for people to just hang out and be away from their desks – cafes and gyms for example along with informal working areas within the buildings communal spaces.
Such spaces also help bring the community together, creating an environment that crucially gets people back into the office.
If you want to see how we’ve done it, I’d love the opportunity to show you around.
