MANILA, Philippines – The new generation of Metro Manila office buildings are now equipped with showers and locker rooms, for millennial-generation employees with active lifestyles. They run, bike and engage in fitness programs before or after work, or during breaks.
A decade ago, shower facilities for employees were considered a luxury, according to Henry Torremonia, JLL head of property management. With BPOs predicted to generate an additional 200,000 full-time employees in 2016, requiring at least an additional 500,000sqm. of office space each year, property developers have had to address the needs of prospective BPO occupiers. It is an employee retention tool, through a whole new range of perks like showers and bicycle parking slots. “That’s how competitive the BPO labor market, and consequently the office building market, has become,” observes Torremonia.
As professional property and asset managers to property investors and owners, JLL advises developers and landlords, along with their architects and interior designers, as plans are drawn for an office building. “We advise landlords and developers to optimize the building’s design, considering the operational needs of its prospective tenants, and taking operating costs and lifecycle maintenance into consideration, even before breaking ground. A property owner, for instance, may desire a building lobby with a soaring atrium. When we point out that high ceilings will require more air-conditioning, higher equipment and maintenance costs, and lost revenue from potential gross leasable space, the majority choose to modify their plans,” Torremonia says.
Drawing from best practices locally and from markets served by JLL worldwide, JLL Philippines’ property and asset managers also advise new building owners on environmental trends in light of climate change. Typhoons have registered higher wind velocity and the city’s drainage systems are challenged by unprecedented urban development. JLL advises developers, for example, to utilize curtain walls that can withstand winds of up to 300 kph, as against the 200 kph benchmark of a decade ago. And, in areas prone to storm surges and flooding, they recommend installing flood barriers or metal fences of up to six feet high to manage the risk of flood damage.
The advice offered by JLL is drawn from close to 20 years of managing real estate in the country and over 50 years in Asia Pacific, with the objective of looking at the client’s building as a true investment, an asset that will appreciate over the long term. For example, the pricing of property or maintenance dues, and rental income projections, must take into consideration not only day-to-day operating costs, but also the lifecycle maintenance of capital equipment such as elevators. With BPOs taking up the bulk of new offices being built, as they operate around the clock, JLL consultants advise clients to provide for the replacement of capital equipment at an earlier time in its typical lifecycle. Air-conditioning manufacturers new to the concept of 24/7 BPO operations, for instance, may claim that their equipment has a lifecycle of eight to 10 years. That number is now down to around five years.
Dizon says businesses with multiple sites, such as retail shops with a dozen or more branches, are likely to depend on their store managers to manage sales and attend to customers, on top of ensuring that the air-conditioning, lighting, signage and all other equipment are running efficiently and according to the brand and store’s standards.
More established businesses like a well-known national food chain has removed these technical and administrative functions from the store manager who had to manage multiple vendors that did not view the premises as a whole, and outsourced them to JLL engineers who plot maintenance programs for critical equipment like fryers and walk-in chillers. They schedule when these will need to be replaced.
“We don’t wait for critical equipment to break down and disrupt operations, negatively impacting the bottom line. On top of that, the store manager is able to focus on customer service, generating business and achieving sales targets,” he says.