Ryder Architecture’s Ross Kerr in Property Week

Great to see Ryder Architecture Director, Ross Kerr, featured in this week’s issue of Property Week discussing the need for workspaces to be redesigned as cultural hubs.

In this Professional Comment piece, Ross argues that product is now paramount for workplace schemes and they must deliver purpose and meaning for the community where they’re located.

To attract and retain tenants in the current market, modern office buildings need to offer more than just a place to work. They need to provide an environment that’s engaging and interactive, with a host of inclusive amenities so that tenants can compete in an intensifying war for talent. Offices not only need to be fit-for-purpose from an operational and environmental perspective, a cultural perspective, too. He considers how workspace developers, owners and operators can improve their product, make their building stand out and give their tenants commercial advantage.

The article considers examples such as Sterling Property’s 103 Colmore Row in Birmingham where cultural and civic-minded-design has delivered an iconic building in the city, with public art, restaurant and club space. Completing mid-2022, the scheme is now fully let, with businesses choosing 103 Colmore Row not only to improve their profile, but to be part of the story of the building.

Looking further ahead, Ross also considers schemes such as New City Place in central Milton Keynes. Here, the proposals developed so far are illustrative of the cultural potential for city centre business districts and their ability to attract tenants. Critically, the landmark buildings at New City Place are not the centre of attention here; it is the ambition to maximise the public floor plane that will invigorate this piece of the city to create a special and enduring place.

You can read a digital version of this article in Property Week HERE