Office/2011 search for a suitable office

This page is a report into potential locations for the Wikimedia UK office. It was originally created by Jon Davies, the WMUK CEO.

Introduction

The organisation needs a base in London.

It must:

• Accommodate safely our staff.
• Be a secure tenancy/license.
• Be close to public transport and preferably national rail and routes to the airports.
• Be economical
• Allow flexibility of space for expansion, contraction and moving on.

It should:

• Have 24/7 access
• Allow easy access and welcome to visitors
• Offer space for training, board meetings etc
• Offer supporting facilities – phone, internet, photocopy etc
• Make our lives as easy as possible

My assumptions

Looking at the 2012 Activity Plan it identifies a minimum of five members of staff. We will have to discuss roles, salaries and exact job descriptions but this seems like a very sensible starting point.

I would identify three as being essentially London based:

• Myself
• The office manager
• The Communications manager

I would suggest that the Events Manager would benefit from being part of the team in London but this role and the Developer could be based elsewhere.

Therefore I am looking for a minimum of four desk spaces but would like five ideally as I assume a desk for visitors, trustees, volunteers and interns. Six might be even better as I am hoping for an office that becomes inhabited by WIkipedians but we need to do the sums. There is a provisional £20K in the budget to cover rent and equipment. I think this will need to be a bit more, especially initially as we acquire office equipment.

The options

There are two options in terms of accommodation, our own premises or being part of a shared facility:

	Own premises	Facilitated premises
Security	More secure – door locked behind us	Need to lock drawers etc and ensure equipment nailed down.
	Can have long lease but ties us down to that space	Arrangements more restricted but flexible
Size	Will be stuck with what we can afford. Will not be very big.	More flexible – can expand and contract depending on what is available in building.
Timescale	Need to allow time for Lawyers, leases etc	Much quicker.
Shared facilities	Unless we have large premises will be limited	Come with meeting rooms etc.
Maintenance	Completely our responsibility	Mostly done by landlord though at a cost.
Access	24/7 Less likely to be compliant with the Disability Discrimination Act. (DDA)	Not all offer this. Will be DDA compliant

My proposal is that we need somewhere to get started and see how we develop over the next twelve months. We can then look at acquiring something more permanent at a measured pace and knowing more about our likely income.

My approach

There are several ‘charity zones’ in London. The most popular are around Old Street and Southwark.

The old street area is home to Shelter, NSPCC, and hundreds of others. It is also increasingly an area favoured by the IT world. Google are opening a start-up building some time in the future and there are at least 25 other IT companies (according to The Independent on October 1st) in the area.

Having spoken to trustees I have looked around Old Street (two stops on the tube to King’s Cross, three to Euston and close to three other lines, overground to Stansted and lots of buses (not to mention hire Bikes).

I approached local commercial landlords and shared facilities to measure the market.

There were no individual buildings of the small size we are looking for that I could find. I am anticipating 250 square feet (Estate Agents have not really metricated yet) and most rented premises start at around 450. This could well be our next option though.

The serviced premises offer more flexibility but with a premium as they provide central service, utilities and flexibility.

Typically they are old warehouses or corporate offices that are divided into open plan spaces with partitions in-between. The collections Trust occupied one such space until recently.

There are high-end commercial property management firms, Regus for example, but I think this would be excessive. I have considered the three such properties in the area that cater for small organisations and charities:

	Can Mezzanine 0207 250 8000 Gary	Ethical Property 0207 065 0767 Lesley	Workhere 0870 116 1100 Abigail
Location	300 metres north of Old Street	200 metres east of Old street	300 metres east of Old Street
Premises type	Old woollen mill – converted	Sixties office block - refurbished	Old municipal building – refurbished
Costs	399.60 per desk per month per year plus £105 per desk annual comms fee. Gas, electric Rates and phone line £40 per desk per month. i.e close to £500 p.a.	338.85 per desk per month per year	On 12 month contract £1600 a month for the space i.e. £23040 inc VAT
Costs for four desks as comparitor inc 4 phones and IT	£24,000	£16248	£23040
What is included	Management charges Suite of board rooms and smaller rooms	Furniture, management charges, cleaning etc. rates, phone lines and broadband for each desk PAT testing Meeting rooms	Desks Business rates Service Charge Building Insurance Kitchen and break-our area on each floor Roof garden
What is not included	Phone call costs Rates Insurances IT support	Phone call costs Insurances IT support	Meeting room hire – quite expensive IT support for internet service £100 per month intenet £25 per month per phone plus cost of calls e.g. room for 12 £12 per hour.
Access	Reception 7-9 M-F 9-5 Sat. £200 to open on Sunday	Reception 8.45-5.30 M-F. Key access at all other times	Reception 9-5 M-F Key access 24/7
Other facilities	Wireless throughout Free coffee and tea	Three meeting rooms and coffee lounge in basement with wireless Meeting room on each floor	Meeting rooms, roof garden, photocopier, post sorting. Access to meeting rooms in their other buildings – Marylebone etc.
Neighbours	Mix of charities and associations – no real theme.	Smaller charities with large number of international development orgs.	Small PR and IT companies
Things I liked	Some high profile clients, IFL etc Very clean toilets Free tea and coffee I knew some of the tenants Nice Victorian architecture Cycle parking	Bright open space Major networking and monthly sessions where they tenants present on each other’s work. Very friendly place – managers obviously well liked and respected The companies ethos. Boris Bike rack outside	Own office Art Deco building Friendly atmosphere Lift Security of own space
Things I didn’t like	Very crammed in and quite dark in places – especially lower floors. Sunday access expensive	Sixties building a bit grim on outside.	Costs of extras make it add up No space flexibility if/when we expand
Availability	Mid November	Mid November but long waiting list need answer.	Early November
Terms	License is for 12 months, with a break clause of 3 months.	5 year protected lease with 6 months notice or 3 year license with one month notice per desk	3 months notice
Deposit	25% of annual rent - refundable	One month’s deposit	One month’s deposit

My recommendation

I would recommend trying to find space in the Ethical Property. It is cheaper, easier to access, much brighter and more friendly. Second choice Workhere. Limited flexibility but decent office.