Our occupiers

We value the relationships that we have built with our diverse set of occupiers, continually striving to better understand and meet their needs.

Working together

88%

of our occupiers rated their level of satisfaction good or excellent

2017 Customer Satisfaction Survey

We look after around 350 occupiers in 47 buildings. Our occupiers are hugely diverse, from Fortune Global 500 companies to sole traders, working across a variety of sectors.

Good communication is critical to our close working relationships. That’s why we ensure each of our portfolio managers formally meets every occupier twice yearly and a member of our Executive Committee meets with our top 20 occupiers annually.

The valuable insight we gain into our occupiers’ businesses and sectors enables us to ensure they are satisfied with their existing space and that they remain with us after their original leases expire. That’s one major reason why our retention rate is so high.

Close occupier relationships are an important part of our strategy. By knowing what our occupiers are thinking, we can work with them to provide solutions to their changing requirements.

Steven Mew Portfolio Director

Steven Mew, Portfolio Director

Meeting our occupiers’ needs

When our occupiers need us, we make sure we are there for them. That’s why we run a dedicated helpdesk and hold regular occupier meetings to hear feedback and solve any issues.

We have a dedicated GPE Building Manager allocated to each occupier, ensuring a human face is available at all times.

In addition, we produce occupier guides, bespoke to each building, which provide information on such issues as:

Landlord services
Access and security
Fire, Emergency and Health & Safety procedures
Occupiers’ responsibilities
Insurance
Guidance, policies and procedures regarding building works
Environmental management

We also offer a dedicated web portal to help occupiers with the day-to-day running of their premises. The portal enables us to communicate effectively with our occupiers about the building’s services, the regular occupier meetings, service charges, any planned maintenance work and GPE contacts for the building.

It's a credit to the Building Manager and on site security team that I'm rating them a '5 out of 5'. They were very available for us and have been very helpful with the small details that make a difference.

Jake Fraser IT and Operations Director, Four Communications Group plc

We worked with GPE successfully in taking expansion space at Wells & More, so it was only natural that we went back to them to meet our growing business’s needs. 160 Great Portland Street will be our global headquarters and a bespoke building that suits us for many years to come.

Alex Hope Managing Director, Double Negative

We’re delighted with our new workspace on the fifth floor, which has allowed us to relocate one of our major businesses - 5 News - from a satellite office back to 200 Gray’s Inn Road, and for our rapidly expanding production division to continue its growth into fantastic new offices. We’re very much looking forward to the new café and reception area, which will be an exciting, high quality space for both staff and guests.

Bryan Martin Chief Financial Officer, ITN

Focus on…

Our 2017 Occupier Survey

Engaging with our occupiers and understanding their needs has always been our key to our being able to meet our occupier needs.

In 2017, we conducted an independent ‘voice of our customer’ feedback programme of our office occupiers. The purpose of the study, which involved 15 face-to-face interviews, 85 telephone interviews and a web survey was to both gain an insight into our occupiers’ satisfaction and to obtain feedback from new occupiers about their ‘moving in’ experience. The satisfaction of our occupiers was then measured against an industry benchmark. We were pleased that 88% of our occupiers rated their overall satisfaction as good or excellent in comparison to the index at 76%.

With action plans in place at both a portfolio and individual property level to address areas we could improve on, as part of our commitment to continuous improvement, we will be undertaking a follow up survey in 2019.

Double Negative

We pride ourselves on helping to solve our occupiers’ business challenges. Double Negative, Europe’s largest provider of visual effects for the film industry, had one such challenge to solve; they needed more space for their rapidly expanding business.

Double Negative previously let space in our Wells & More buildings. We were able to offer the company a move to much larger premises, thanks to deep knowledge of our portfolio.

Working collaboratively, we configured 160 Great Portland Street to meet Double Negative’s specific operational needs. The company let all 86,400 sq ft of the office space on a 20-year lease. Solving this challenge enabled Double Negative to grow to meet increasing demand.

ITN

ITN, a producer and provider of news content, has its headquarters at 200 Gray’s Inn Road, broadcasting from the building on a daily basis. Professional, proactive management of the building on a 24/7 basis has fostered a positive relationship, so when we sought to remodel the building’s reception area, collaboration with ITN made it possible.

In return for newly refurbished offices elsewhere in the building, ITN agreed to surrender their office space on the ground and first floor, to allow us to create a new reception and in-house café for the benefit of its staff and other occupiers of the building.