As the commercial property market in South Africa matures and is pulled in line with global best practice so too does the need for practical real estate solutions to optimise not only your spend but also efficiencies within the space that you operate your business.
At Knight Frank South Africa, our Occupier Services (OS) team works with global businesses to understand their portfolios, looking for efficiencies where possible in order to reduce the property overhead to support profit objectives.
Knight Frank South Africa is the leading independent, global real estate consultancy providing an integrated prime commercial and residential offering, operating in key hubs across the globe. Headquartered in London with 417 offices in 58 countries, employing more than 13,000 professionals and spanning five continents.
One of our strengths has been our focus on technology to help us in understanding the greater market. Our team of researchers and commercial agents populates our systems with key benchmarks that allow us to analyse the market quickly. For example, some of the metrics that you should consider when evaluating an existing office or alternatively a new one include the following;
1.   Space efficiency – How many employees per square meter?
2.   Utility Charges – Older buildings could lead to higher pro rata utility charges.
3.   Parking ratios – New buildings on Public Transport routes are able to reduce the number of bays required.
4.   Heat loading and aircon configuration – Design is important to reduce the load placed on the cooling systems.
5.   Market rental and tenant incentives – Rentals often escalate above market allowing you to recover to market at the point of renewal.
6.   Proximity to services – Allowing the employee to spend less time away from the office where mixed use developments are able to provide a live-work-play solution.
Security in these buildings is also an important consideration where the entire environment surrounding the property needs to be considered when taking into account employees satisfaction.
At Knight Frank South Africa, we build long-term relationships, which allow us to provide personalised, clear and considered advice on all areas of property in all key markets.
We believe personal interaction is a crucial part of ensuring every client is matched to the property that suits their needs best – be it commercial and industrial.
