Podcast
#WORKBOLD podcast ep9: Chris Richmond, PwC head of real estate
Chris Richmond, senior head of real estate at PwC, joins Bold founder, Caleb Parker, for a deep dive into what drives his real estate decisions.
Richmond is responsible for ensuring 24,500 team members have a happy and productive office environment across the corporation’s portfolio. Richmond, who is also on the occupier’s group board at the British Council for Offices, shares how flexible working and the war for talent require buildings to level up their service game.
Questions answered in this episode:
- How does PwC ensure people have what they need from the office to be productive?
- Do you use data to optimise your offices?
- Is flexible working part of your strategy?
- How often are you actually in the office?
- How do you balance flexible working and office working occupancy to determine the ROI of a space?
- What is your decision-making process when acquiring new space or renewing leases?
Value bombs
- PwC UK recruits 1,500 graduates each year
- The office stands for places where people come together to collaborate and share ideas
- We want to create an atmosphere where people are happy
- A happy workforce feeds productivity
- 17,000 sensors help measure data to determine what’s working in the office.
- Data is a symptom of what’s not working, and enables further feedback checks.
Resources
Excerpt from the BCO report referenced in this episode: “The demand for excellent customer experience in the workplace is here to stay. Efficiency, flexibility, adaptability, sustainability and wellbeing continue to be of top concern to occupiers. Office building owners and managers are increasingly being asked, and now expected, to offer a service that supports these business objectives. If the office industry cannot deliver the service customers want, they will either self-deliver or take their business elsewhere. The increase in the percentage of space being taken by corporates from companies like WeWork, IWG and The Office Group, rather than traditional landlords, is testimony to this.”
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