Property management has gone from being a little bit of an afterthought for some office landlords to a major consideration as they’ve embraced a mentality that views space as a service. This is in order to keep up with a new generation of occupiers demanding far more from their offices than just four walls and a roof, and who want the buildings they call home to actively make their lives easier and more efficient.

There are many ways that the property management industry is embracing best practice, new technologies, innovative projects, award schemes and opportunities to deliver the high quality of service and customer experience now required. Here’s our pick of just three innovative and interesting initiatives we’ve implemented on projects to improve the property management:

Cycling

With more people commuting to work by bike than ever before, occupiers want to ensure these employees are catered for within the office. Cycle storage, shower facilities and lockers are now fairly widespread, but there’s the potential to take this further and install cycle repair stations to allow employees to fix punctures and other bike issues. We also engage with companies like NipNip to arrange on-site bike repairs and safety checks. It’s also possible to benchmark cycling performance, get some recommendations to implement the best practices and promote them with the Cycling Score certification process.

Parcel delivery and collection

The management of occupiers’ parcel delivery and collection has become more important as online shopping has gone stratospheric. Services such as Bringme, which can provide a wall of Bringme boxes within a building, enable staff deliveries to not only be dropped off but also collected for return or exchange quickly and securely and efficiently, all controlled via an app.This means that staff don’t have to leave the building to queue at the Post Office to send or return parcels and also eases the pressure on over-burdened post rooms.

Security

It's a top issue, but keeping track of the movement of both people and equipment in and around buildings can be complex. Again, advances in technology come to the rescue: MyTAG is a cloud-based system that uses trusted near-field communication (NFC) tags to allow companies to record and track keys and other assets and to verify the completion of security patrols and compliance checks throughout buildings. If items aren’t returned, or a check isn’t completed, users and managers will be alerted and a central database automatically updated.

Further information

Read more: An office needs to be a service not a space