I Hate Marmite But I Love Suspended Ceilings

Love them or hate them

Or if I worked in media, it may well be the other way around. Institutions and developers tend to build or refurbish offices to a given “institutional” standard. This is largely dictated by the specification an office building should have if it is to perform well in the investment market.

The trouble is that whilst this is pretty much a blanket rule which dictates the style and nature of the product, it’s simply not what everybody wants!

If the occupier is in banking or one of the professions, they generally want suspended acoustic tiled ceilings with LG7 compliant lighting, full access raised floors with carpets on top; so far so good as far the institutional standards are concerned.

The complications start to arise when the occupier is in one of the wide range of activities classed as “media”. Many of these companies feel more passionately against the thought of a suspended ceiling than the prospect of twiglet consumption to a marmite despiser! Plain ceilings with lighting fixed to it or hanging from it are much preferred as they create more character, and are notably removed from that professional image.

Bare or painted brick walls as well, together with perhaps bare floor boards can get media occupiers quite excited, and understandably so.  The scope for these developments is quite limited as the investment value is always going to be damaged or questioned, and that doesn’t make sense for the developer concerned.  One of the reasons areas such as Clerkenwell have become very popular with the media industry is that there are still plenty of buildings that have not been “sanitised” to institutional standards and have hence let quite readily to that sector of commerce.

I recall a case some years ago when a media type occupier identified just the right building in just the right location which was currently under construction.  When they checked it out, they found that it was going to be equipped with all the modern features and suspended ceilings.

They said “we don’t want suspended ceilings”.
The owner said “we are putting them in”.
They said “we don’t like them”.
The owner said “you are going to have them”.
The would be tenant said “why?”
The answer was “because on rent review we want to be able to charge you a rent based on a full specification, and that necessarily includes suspended ceilings!”

A compromise was reached in that the owner never installed suspended ceilings, however the lease was based on the premise that the owner had installed them. The rent at rent review would be based on the fallacy that were installed.  An interesting compromise that ended in that company paying for something they didn’t want.

This just goes to show that when looking at a building, there are many aspects that you either love or you hate. We are used to the many vagaries of the commercial property market and whether you want suspended ceilings or marmite coloured carpets, we can find your ideal building. Your office style is quite a personal thing, it has to reflect your company values so if you would like us to help you find exactly what you want, do register for us to give you a call.