British Council for Offices March 2019 THE FUTURE OF BUSINESS PARKS ABOUT THE BCO The BCO is the UK’s leading forum for the discussion and debate of issues affecting the office sector. Established in 1990, its membership base comprises organisations involved in creating, acquiring or occupying office space, including architects, lawyers, surveyors, financial institutions and public agencies. The BCO recognises that offices don’t just house companies, they hold people and so what goes on inside them is paramount to workplace wellbeing. ABOUT THE AUTHORS Perkins+Will are architects, interior designers, urban designers, landscape architects, and branded environment experts who approach design from all scales and perspectives. Edinburgh. CAMimage | Alamy Stock Photo Edinburgh Business Park, Peter Baird leads Perkins+Will’s London Urban Design practice with a focus on development supporting the knowledge economy and applied research in the planning and design process. David Green is the Global Practice Leader IMAGE COVER for Urban Design at Perkins+Will, and leads Perkins+Will’s dedicated research arm AREA Research. Isobel Vernon-Avery is a researcher within the intersection of socio-economics, sustainability and planning. 3PM are project, programme and portfolio managers. They manage the life cycle of projects of varied complexities, across all stages and throughout many sectors. Exigere are cost consultants operating across all property sectors. They work openly and honestly with all their clients, delivering accurate, calm and assured cost management. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The BCO and the authors would like to thank Parabola for sponsoring this report and all those who contributed by taking part in interviews. CITATION British Council for Offices (2019).The Future of Business Parks. http://www.bco.org.uk/Research/Publications/The_Future_of_Business_ Parks.aspx COPYRIGHT © BRITISH COUNCIL FOR OFFICES, 2019 All rights reserved by British Council for Offices. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission from the British Council for Offices. The BCO warrants that reasonable skill and care has been used in preparing this report. Notwithstanding this warranty the BCO shall not be under liability for any loss of profit, business, revenues or any special indirect or consequential damage of any nature whatsoever or loss of anticipated saving or for any increased costs sustained by the client or his or her servants or agents arising in any way whether directly or indirectly as a result of reliance on this publication or of any error or defect in this publication. The BCO makes no warranty, either express or implied, as to the accuracy of any data used by the BCO in preparing this report nor as to any projections contained in this report which are necessarily of any subjective nature and subject to uncertainty and which constitute only the BCO’s opinion as to likely future trends or events based on information known to the BCO at the date of this publication. The BCO shall not in any circumstances be under any liability whatsoever to any other person for any loss or damage arising in any way as a result of reliance on this publication. CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 4 INTRODUCTION 5 WHAT IS A BUSINESS PARK? 7 BUSINESS PARK TYPOLOGIES 9 HOW WE GOT WHERE WE ARE 12 DISTRIBUTION OF BUSINESS PARKS 14 FUTURE BUSINESS PARKS 21 Case studies: The Domain, Austin, Texas, USA 22 Cummings Research Park, Huntsville, Alabama, USA 23 Edinburgh Park, Edinburgh, UK 24 Milton Park, Milton, Oxfordshire, UK 25 APPLYING DRIVERS TO POTENTIAL SCENARIOS 33 FUNDING MODELS AND OPTIONS 35 CONCLUSIONS 35 REFERENCES 36 APPENDIX: COST MODELS 37 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 43 THE FUTURE OF BUSINESS PARKS 3 © BCO 2019 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY In cities throughout history, buildings with similar and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and start-up uses have tended to be clustered together. This organisations. Increasingly, business parks have an active is true for places of commerce, particularly those role in the development of start-ups, providing specialist support in the form of seminars and workshops, among that are not directly tied to a neighbourhood or other bespoke, targeted events. district, and this clustering led to the creation of • Business parks are moving away from siloed buildings and the central business district, which is still seen companies towards more entrepreneurial networks, where in most cities. However, in the early 1950s these businesses located on the site interact, support and trade clusters, for a number of reasons, started to become with each other. relocated to areas outside the centre of the city, to • Business parks are tending towards denser development more suburban locations. The business park is the with more mixed use, resulting in a possible future result of this shift in development. These parks are town-centre type development, especially if residential relatively remote sites where businesses cluster, use is also included. leveraging factors such as ample available space, • Branding is a key focus in the successful parks. In particular, lower rents compared to the city, and the ostensible there is a focus on nature and wellbeing, which are emerging benefits of a network to connect to other business. as fundamental factors in the identity of many business parks. This is a key opportunity for business parks to Business parks in the UK have several key characteristics: differentiate themselves from urban centres. • they are single-use compounds that are generally In order to position themselves for this transformation, the disconnected from the surrounding land uses analysis done in this study suggests that business parks will • because the locations are remote, they are heavily reliant on need to: roads, highway infrastructure and single-occupancy vehicle • be more cognisant of global competition and business commuting patterns, but provide relatively easy driving and strategies aligned to national and local economic strategies parking access for greater collaboration, including engagement with local • buildings within the parks are set at significant distances economic partnerships from each other, which introduces landscaped areas but also • be networked locations that have a focus on supporting reduces the interaction between buildings the regional market – a memorandum of understandings • they are organised around service and access roads that or partnership agreement may emerge between separate supply loading and parking areas, which surround individual locations and ownerships buildings, further separating individual buildings in the park • include a mixture of uses to create a more diverse • the landscape is generally one of picturesque isolation, not development, this being facilitated by a continuing vibrant urban activity. relaxation in planning policy, at least in the near term As the trend for companies to relocate to more vibrant urban • use an understanding of consumer preference gained from centres continues, many business parks are falling out of favour engagement to provide greater choice of amenities on with employers and employees. This report examines the latent site and a wider range of accessibility modes, to meet the risk of historic business park operations and perceptions, and pressure on congested locations through active mobility and provides an understanding of future trends as park operators public transport solutions struggle to remain competitive. • increase the diversity in their portfolio provision to include Based on interviews with business park estate managers a wider range of flexible building types that can support and others involved in the business park sector, and a increased laboratory and high-technology uses comprehensive literature review, this report outlines four • integrate technology for electric vehicles, autonomous emerging park typologies that are the result of the changing vehicles, energy efficiency, onsite energy generation and trends in parks. These trends support the proposition that pervasive Wi-Fi, all of which will become standard business parks are undergoing a transformation, with many emerging as repositioned environments that are thriving and • become more hands on with management, encouraging creating successful innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystems. businesses to form part of a community within the park and to take part in networking and events both within the park The trends in successful transformation include: and beyond • Parks are extending their ecosystems and connections, • adapt branding to reflect all of the above, and put more including through the support of a local development plan effort into direct competition with existing urban centres, or a wider set of economic development policies. This trend including a public relations and marketing strategy for the is supported by local authorities, which often have a role in park and the great work of the companies located there. ■ the development of the parks. • Business parks are seeking to actively support the development of companies, including through flexible lease rates and other programmes to support small THE FUTURE OF BUSINESS PARKS 4 © BCO 2019 INTRODUCTION Business parks have been a key component of the economic and spatial landscape of developed countries since the mid-twentieth century. They were born out of the promises of efficiency of segregated land use, healthy bucolic settings, ease of commute from nearby residential suburbs