Navigating your next office project

How to decide whether staying in your office or moving into a new one is the best option for your organisation

Pros	Cons
Retrofitting allows you to retain your current location, maintaining proximity to clients, customers, and key resources. Refurbishing your office also allows the opportunity to make modifications without significant capital investments.	Retrofitting can be less disruptive to business operations compared to a complete relocation as employees can remain in the same location during the renovation process. However, If the work cannot be phased to mitigate disruption, you may need to temporarily have teams work remotely or potentially relocate temporarily which can add to your project costs.
You could potentially use tenant improvement dollars from the landlord to offset the costs.	Escalation of costs for labour, materials and soft costs like professional services fees have continued to rise as high as 30% in the Asia Pacific region*.

Pros

Cons

Retrofitting allows you to retain your current location, maintaining proximity to clients, customers, and key resources. Refurbishing your office also allows the opportunity to make modifications without significant capital investments.

Retrofitting can be less disruptive to business operations compared to a complete relocation as employees can remain in the same location during the renovation process. However, If the work cannot be phased to mitigate disruption, you may need to temporarily have teams work remotely or potentially relocate temporarily which can add to your project costs.

You could potentially use tenant improvement dollars from the landlord to offset the costs.

Escalation of costs for labour, materials and soft costs like professional services fees have continued to rise as high as 30% in the Asia Pacific region*.

Pros	Cons
Relocating offers more flexibility in terms of choosing a location that aligns better with the company's needs, growth plans, and brand.	It requires careful planning to ensure you have enough time to locate your new space, negotiate a new lease, return your existing space to a landlord-approved condition, designing and building out the space and then relocating.
Relocating can allow for consolidating multiple locations into a single space or expanding operations to accommodate future growth.	You could have several end-of-lease obligations within the current lease, including make-good costs.
You can select your new space based on your organisation’s top priorities (e.g., flex space, wellness, neighbourhood amenities, technology, and corporate sustainability requirements. This helps reenergise employees, enhance productivity, and can align with your environmental goals.	You might need a longer lease term to justify the capital expenditure.
By letting multiple landlords compete, you could increase the number of incentives you’re offered to move.	If the fit-out takes longer than expected, managing multiple negotiations simultaneously can lead to decision fatigue and a potentially expensive temporary relocation if your former lease expires.

Pros

Cons

Relocating offers more flexibility in terms of choosing a location that aligns better with the company's needs, growth plans, and brand.

It requires careful planning to ensure you have enough time to locate your new space, negotiate a new lease, return your existing space to a landlord-approved condition, designing and building out the space and then relocating.

Relocating can allow for consolidating multiple locations into a single space or expanding operations to accommodate future growth.

You could have several end-of-lease obligations within the current lease, including make-good costs.

You can select your new space based on your organisation’s top priorities (e.g., flex space, wellness, neighbourhood amenities, technology, and corporate sustainability requirements. This helps reenergise employees, enhance productivity, and can align with your environmental goals.

You might need a longer lease term to justify the capital expenditure.

By letting multiple landlords compete, you could increase the number of incentives you’re offered to move.

If the fit-out takes longer than expected, managing multiple negotiations simultaneously can lead to decision fatigue and a potentially expensive temporary relocation if your former lease expires.

Navigating your next office project

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