These are just some of the highlights from our year…
As reported by React News, we were appointed to support Orchard Street Investment Management LLP on its Social and Environmental Impact Partnership. We’ll be providing Property Management and ESG services to help meet the Fund’s ambitious decarbonisation, wellbeing, and community investment targets.
In today’s market, installing smart tech to optimise buildings is a must-have for clients and occupiers. Across the 5m sq. ft of property where IBOS has now been installed, average reductions in energy consumption of 20-40% have been recorded within the first 12 months.
The back-to-the-frame retrofit transformation of 10 Brindleyplace – Birmingham’s largest office refurbishment scheme – was successfully delivered by our Venture team. With a strong emphasis on sustainable design and occupier wellness, the building meets Net Zero targets in operation with EPC A rating and has achieved a BREEAM rating of Excellent.
Our industry-leading entry-level training programmes remain the lifeblood of the future success of the firm. This year, we welcomed 46 new Graduates and Apprentices into our Property Management and Building Consultancy teams across our 12 offices.
Co-authored by our Vicky Cotton, ESG Director, The Better Buildings Partnership’s Managing Agents Partnership launched a transformative framework, Managing for Performance, to drive optimal in-use energy performance of commercial buildings.
Footfall increases and a series of new lettings boosted confidence at various schemes, including London’s Royal Exchange, Birmingham Business Park and Breakpsear Park, where our property management teams worked hard to support our clients’ leasing activity.
Sir David Attenborough visited the Natural History Museum to unveil his powerful quote, which will feature in the Museum’s new gardens. The transformed gardens will be a hub for urban biodiversity research and form part of the Urban Nature Project, of which Workman is a proud partner.
What role should whole-life carbon assessments play in assessing project feasibility? Danielle Dinneen, our in-house whole-life carbon-modelling expert, outlined the advantages.
Our Retail & Leisure team celebrated success in this year’s Sceptre Awards, which recognise best practice and the best teams in the retail industry. Our teams from Touchwood, Solihull and Crystal Peaks, Sheffield were winners across three categories this year.
As Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) extended our appointment as property manager for its UK Property Fund and LPI Income Property Funds for a further three years, our teams jointly toured some of the assets under management, including the BBC studios in Cardiff.
Our Venture team is delivering development monitoring services across a growing range of projects across the Living sector including; built-to-rent, later living, and PBSA. For Hestia, the residential operating platform of Federated Hermes, the team is monitoring seven projects with construction costs ranging from £20m to £70m, including this 100% affordable housing scheme at Axion House, Lewisham, which will create 141 homes.
Our Fire Advisory team supported a number of landlords and operators who must meet fresh obligations under the Building Safety Act 2022, which sets out a new regulatory regime for high-risk residential buildings.
There was a significant transformation at Central Retail Park, Falkirk, where our Building Consultancy teams worked with their Property Management colleagues to deliver an overhaul of the scheme’s exterior, while retailers remained open for trade.
Across our retail portfolio, our teams strive to deliver positive social value for their local communities. Our brilliant onsite teams create close links with neighbourhood councils, schools, and social enterprises, helping their schemes meet the needs of local people and contribute to vibrant communities.
Our Activate Placemaking team delivered a series of popular and lively events across a number of commercial workplaces including Moretown, London and Smithson Plaza, which hosted a Wimbledon pop-up, complete with viewing zone and themed cocktails.
After an extensive retrofit, Marks & Spencer moved into its new home at Birmingham’s iconic Bullring. Project managed by our Venture team, the 207,000 sq. ft space was formerly home to Debenhams.
Throughout 2023, we welcomed a series of new hires to our ESG team. This reflects a continued growth in demand for our ESG services, and for dedicated resource to support our clients in reaching their objectives across the full spectrum of E, S and G.
Our James Hallworth, Partner and Head of Building Technology, recently described how AI should be harnessed as a co-pilot to the human interface required to optimise buildings’ operations, in this article with Build In Digital.
We were again named the UK’s 2nd Top Shopping Centre Managing Agent, as revealed by the Trevor Wood Associates Going Shopping 2024 report.
Frederic Patot’s newly created role of Responsible du Development, developing the firm’s client services and operations, reflects the continued growth of Workman Turnbull, now made up of 80 staff across 6 offices in France.
Our people are central to our success as a firm, and we celebrate our talent with regular news of achievements and promotions – including to Partner level. Read our stories of personal and professional growth in the Life At Workman series.
A 35-strong group of Partners, Property Managers, and Building Managers from our Welcome Offices team swapped business attire for wellies to take part in a charity day of volunteering at Hackney City Farm.
Our Building Consultancy teams negotiated over £21m of dilapidations claims with an average settlement of £185,000 during 2023. Chris Wilkins, Partner and Head of Dilapidations reflected on how rising construction costs, ESG requirements, and more demanding safety legislation proved a challenging mix in assessing and settling dilapidations claims in this article for BE News.
The team at St Christopher’s Place, London, supported by our Activate destination marketing team, made the most of this seasonal campaign to promote the retail destination in the heart of the West End, including being interviewed on BBC Radio London’s Breakfast show.