JLL Perspectives

Investors in build-to-rent residential are looking to take advantage of a subdued apartment market and slower commercial development to secure high density development sites large development sites, driving momentum into a sector that has until now has struggled to gain traction. The post-COVID opportunity in Australia is comparable to the UK after the Global Financial Crisis put the reins on private apartment development and saw build-to-rent grow into an institutional asset class. Managers say build-to-rent apartments will transform the renting experience.Leigh Warner, JLL’s head of residential research, and James Greener, a fund manager in build-to-rent at Investa, explore the sector, and the opportunities further with Perspectives podcast host Rebecca Kent.

The youngest cohort of workers in the corporate sector is helping businesses drive better social outcomes, especially within Australian Indigenous communities. Corporate spending with Indigenous suppliers is over $900 million compared to $6.3 million 11 years ago. While the catalyst for this growth has been government-imposed spending targets, businesses say they are increasingly finding young ‘champions’ among their workforce eager to find ways to create social impact.“We are absolutely seeing that the new generation of workers want to work on purpose-driven initiatives,” says Stephanie Roache, sustainability manager at Australia post. “I’ve heard many people from our procurement team say that on the weekend they don’t necessarily want to talk to their friends about the big telco contract they secured at work. They’d rather talk about how they worked with one of their big fleet suppliers to carve out a small contract to give to an Indigenous fleet company, giving them an opportunity to get into the supply chain and grow. That’s giving people a go and makes them feel really good about what they’re doing.”Businesses aspiring to improve their Indigenous engagement are gradually shifting strategies from spending targets to employment targets. They are also finding ways to support greater Indigenous representation in technical roles, rather than low-skilled roles such as cleaning.Roache features in this episode of JLL’s Perspectives podcast with Troy Rugless, co-founder of Indigenous-owned PSG Holdings and director of Evolve FM, and Henri Fadli, head of supply chain and procurement, JLL.Host: Rebecca Kent

Commercial buildings that help reduce carbon emissions or promote healthy employees have increasingly earned certifications for their contributions in recent years. Now a new certification is aiming to benchmark another indicator of building quality: its smartness. U.S.-based WiredScore recently launched SmartScore, which aims to bring consensus around the term “smart” in smart buildings, a phrase that has typically denoted sensors and Internet of Things (IoT) used to optimise building systems.JLL’s Perspectives podcast host Rebecca Kent is joined by Eden Dwek, WiredScore’s director of Expansion, and James Giannikos, an engineer at Australian superannuation fund manager ISPT.They discuss what makes a smart building, how to prepare a building for future technology, why landlords and tenants need to be prepared for 5G, how untidy building risers can negatively affect the tenant experience and why edge computing is making a comeback.

While a slow return to the office is underway, collaborating virtually remains the norm, with teams often still split between home and the workplace.It’s highlighted a surprising issue: When it comes to collaborating over software, offices can be seen lagging behind.Hear more from John Corbett, workplace and real estate strategist at Cisco Systems Inc., and Sonya Alexander, workplace strategist at JLL.

A year ago, warehouses were being snapped up by businesses racing to keep up withthe massive surge in online retail triggered by COVID lockdowns. Theexpectation was that as the pandemic eased, so would the demand for industrial realestate. But that never happened.JLL's Matt Lee, head of industrial occupier services in Australia, and Allan Frydman, head of supply chain in Australia and New Zealand talk to Perspectives podcast host Rebecca Kent about how businesses are navigating the shortage of warehouses while trying to keep up with consistently high levels of ecommerce and persistent supply chain challenges.

Several factors are spurring businesses into taking action on their office space and existing leases, with the aim of getting the best out of their employees while also trimming unnecessary costs.Increased flexible working, the pressure to rein in costs, and elevated office vacancies, all converging amid the unpredictability of the global economy and future of work, are leading to a wave of renegotiated office contracts in which tenants overwhelmingly have the upper hand.Landlords are offering fit-outs, reduced make-good obligations, rent-free periods, and the use of flexible or ‘third’ space – in many cases for the entire duration of a lease – as just some incentives to retain their tenants.Meanwhile, some occupiers are becoming landlords themselves by subleasing their excess office space.In this episode, JLL tenant representatives Jessica van Raay and Dirk van Velden discuss with Rebecca Kent the pros and cons of every option.

Large organisations are increasingly working with Indigenous suppliers in Australia to woo customers making decisions on social values rather than just the bottom line. Governments and major companies including ANZ Bank, Medibank and Australia Post are among groups using their buying power to deliver social change. This is a stark shift from a decade ago, when many firms would have dismissed Indigenous businesses as contenders for facilities management and other building services contracts. The number of Indigenous-owned businesses is growing as a result. Registrations of businesses at least 50-percent owned by Indigenous people grew 180 percent between 2017 and 2020.  One high-profile benefactor is Mick O’Loughlin, a former footballer for the Sydney Swans, in Australia’s Aussie Rules AFL league. He’s also the founder and managing director of commercial cleaning business ARA Indigenous Services. “Growing up we were always waiting for funding to come from somewhere to play sport with other communities, but as a business owner now I can just say ‘we’re sponsoring this and everyone gets a jersey, everyone gets a netball uniform’. We work extremely hard, but nothing makes me more proud to be able to do that,” he says.Hear from O’Loughlin, Laura Berry, the chief executive of non-profit Supply Nation, and Robin Burton, senior supply chain diversity and sustainability specialist at JLL, as they chat to Perspectives podcast host Rebecca Kent about why working with Indigenous businesses is climbing to the top of the corporate agenda.

The clouds of economic uncertainty brought on by COVID-19 are shifting to reveal better prospects for office leasing in Australia as business confidence improves and appetite for offices rebuilds.Though the overall net take-up of office space remained negative at 116,000 square metres in the three months to December 2020, it had contracted less than the previous three quarters of the year - a sign that business sentiment is improving, particularly with the vaccine due in March.Listen to Andrew Ballantyne, JLL's head of research – Australia, and Tim O’Connor, head of leasing, as they share their insights on office leasing, including sublease space, changing office footprints, and the future of city centres in this episode of the Perspectives podcast, hosted by Rebecca Kent.

Office owners are leaning on flexible space to get home workers back into their city buildings, but on this side of the COVID-19 pandemic, flexible space looks different. Having reflected on the role of the office as flexible working arrangements advance, landlords are taking a more open-minded approach to what will attract tenants and importantly, what will keep them there. Tim O’Connor, Simon Trude and Tashi Dorjee discuss how landlords are starting to own the conversation around flexible space, and how to deliver it in their buildings in a commercially viable way. 

Membership models could be the next evolution of office leasing, in a break from traditional contracts, providing cost-savings and cash-flow benefits to tenants and landlords.In this bonus episode Gavin Morgan, JLL’s chief operating officer for Greater China and managing director for Hong Kong tells CNBC’s Christine Tan more about this evolution of office space. After you've listened to the podcast, check out the JLL report Tenancy Reimagined.Host: Rebecca Kent, content manager, JLL.