Reflex acquires new property

Commercial property magnets Reflex Solutions have bought a new building located in Bloomsbury Square, London.

Reflex, who were incorporated in the summer of 1999 and who provide managed office space in London were ecstatic about their acquisition. Situated in Eastcastle Street, the company provides office space with a personal decour. Many of their buildings are situated in tasteful, contemporary buildings which appeal greatly to clientele wishing to get away from the more generic serviced office buildings.

The recent acquisition of a new building is testimonial to their success in the managed office space industry, especially in the light of reports throughout the months of May and June that office space leasing had doubled. Figures released in May in the new Central London Monthly Overview report from CB Richard Ellis, showed that the leasing of office space across the month of May rose to 777, equivalent to 900 square feet, a statistic that is 24 per cent higher than at the same period in the previous year. British Land also confirmed this through new figures which showed that the rental price for office space in offices located in Central London had increased continuously over the course of three consecutive financial quarters.

This had led to businesses in search of office space being told to consider searching outside of London as rents spiraled thanks to a combination of growing demand and a shortage of commercial property. Searching out a building with an adequate amount of office space outside of London may now be far more cost effective for the great majority of businesses, at least according to the British Council for Offices (BCO) Urban Group.

According to Lambert Smith Hampton, research conducted suggests that not since 2004 has investment in the West been at such a low, falling to just £228,000,000 as detailed in the UK Investment Transactions (UKIT) report for the first quarter of 2011. “Despite there being some cash rich investors in the market, the lack of available prime assets caused subdued activity,” says the chief executive officer and head of Capital Markets at Lambert Smith Hampton, Eric Nahome. “Many banks and UK institutions have already sold prime assets in Central London and those that do still own such assets do not feel any pressure to sell them because when such assets do come on the market they are achieving strong sale prices.”

Activity in the market had dropped to such low levels that that yields for offices in Central London have now witnessed an increase of 30 basis points. In Central London, yields averaged around five and a half per cent in the year’s first quarter.
A big part of Reflex’s success (http://www.reflexsolutions.co.uk/) was their ability to conclude that demand for serviced space may be simplified to cater to a more cost conscious market, seeking managed rather than serviced space. (http://www.reflexsolutions.co.uk/about_us/)

Reflex’s service offering (http://www.reflexsolutions.co.uk/our_services/) differs from many others featuring in the industry. Unlike many serviced office providers, Reflex found that many SME and start-up clients did not utilise the additional services available at Serviced Office Centres, such as extensive conference facilities, secretarial support, translators, photocopiers and faxes. Reflex recognised the gap in the Serviced Office Market and provide high quality accommodation only, keeping their service offer simple.

Reflex was incorporated in the summer of 1999 and following a detailed assessment of the Serviced Office market, Reflex concluded that demand for the type of product currently available may be simplified to cater to a more cost conscious market, seeking Managed rather than Serviced space.

Reflex determined that many of the SME and start-up clients did not utilise the additional services available at Serviced Office centres, such as extensive conference facilities, secretarial support, translators, photocopiers and faxes.

Serviced Offices charge for these services on an "as and when" used basis, however, the associated costs have to be recouped from the client within the licence fee, irrespective of whether the client has had use of the facilities. The operator has to cover lost revenue due to wasted space i.e. areas for which they pay rent and rates for but are unable to generate an income from such as corridors and staff/administration areas.

The highest overhead for Serviced Offices save for rent, is the staff cost.

Reflex recognised the gap in the Serviced Office market -- to provide high quality accommodation only, to keep the offer simple and only manage the office space.

Maintenance of the buildings is carried out in house.
There are no Reflex personnel on site and the IT and Telecoms infrastructure, with ongoing network support, is the area of focus for Reflex.

Head office address:
2nd floor
34/35 Eastcastle Street
London
W1W 8DW

This release was published on openPR.