The Office Group

Last updated
The Office Group
IndustryShared Office Spaces and Business Support Services
Founded2004
Headquarters London, United Kingdom
Number of locations
72
Area served
UK, Germany
Key people
Products Serviced offices, Coworking, Meeting Rooms, Event Space, Virtual Addresses
BrandsFora
Website https://www.theofficegroup.com/

The Office Group(TOG) is a shared office space operator, with over 70 locations totalling 3.1 million sq ft across London, Cambridge, Oxford, Reading, Bristol, Leeds, Berlin, Frankfurt, and Hamburg. The buildings are operated through the Fora brand, which offers a mix of private offices that house from one person up to 2,000 with coworking memberships, relaxed lounge spaces, meeting rooms and event space hire.

Contents

Workspace locations

The Office Group currently has 62 buildings located in London, Bristol and Leeds, including iconic addresses at One Canada Square, The Shard and the Gridiron Building in Kings Cross, with several buildings in the development, including Chancery House [1] and five in Germany – TOG’s first expansion outside of the UK. Sustainable design is a core principle of TOG developments, with buildings integrating high level energy efficiency programmes, renewable energy, rainwater harvesting, and a focus on natural light and green spaces.

TOG workspaces and services

TOG offers a variety of workspaces: including private offices, closed door coworking areas, lounge space and meeting rooms.

Management and ownership

TOG was founded in 2004 by co-CEOs Olly Olsen and Charlie Green, launching with a building on City Road. In September 2010, when TOG had seven buildings in its portfolio, Travelex founder Lloyd Dorfman funded the management buyout of the previous private equity shareholders to become the majority shareholder and Chairman of TOG. [2] In June 2017, investment firm Blackstone acquired a majority stake in TOG. [3]

In September 2022, TOG and Fora announced the completion of a £1.5 billion merger, creating a company with 3.1 million square feet of space across the UK and Germany. [4]

Network Rail

In 2014, Network Rail and TOG announced they would open three drop-in workspaces in London King’s Cross railway station, Liverpool Street station and Leeds railway station as part of a joint venture called The Station Office Network, an initiative to provide mobile offices in railway stations throughout the UK’s major cities. [5] TOG now has locations in six mainline railway stations; Marylebone, Paddington, Liverpool Street, Victoria, Waterloo and Leeds.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sheffield station</span> Combined railway station and tram stop in Sheffield, England

Sheffield station is a combined railway station and tram stop in Sheffield, England; it is the busiest station in South Yorkshire, and the third busiest in Yorkshire & the Humber. Adjacent is Sheffield station/Sheffield Hallam University Sheffield Supertram stop.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Office</span> Room where administrative work is performed

An office is a space where the employees of an organization perform administrative work in order to support and realize the various goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific duties attached to it ; the latter is an earlier usage, office as place originally referring to the location of one's duty. In the adjective form, the term "office" may refer to business-related tasks. In law, a company or organization has offices in any place where it has an official presence, even if that presence consists of a storage silo, for example, instead of a more traditional establishment with a desk and chair. An office is also an architectural and design phenomenon, including small offices, such as a bench in the corner of a small business or a room in someone's home, entire floors of buildings, and massive buildings dedicated entirely to one company. In modern terms, an office is usually the location where white-collar workers carry out their functions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leeds railway station</span> Mainline railway station in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England

Leeds railway station is the mainline railway station serving the city centre of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England. It is located on New Station Street to the south of City Square, at the foot of Park Row, behind the landmark Queens Hotel. It is one of 20 stations managed by Network Rail. As of December 2023, it was the busiest station in West Yorkshire, as well as in Yorkshire & the Humber, and the entirety of Northern England. It is the second busiest station in the UK outside of London, after Birmingham New Street.

A virtual office is part of the flexible workspace industry that provides businesses with any combination of services, space and/or technology, without those businesses bearing the capital expenses of owning or leasing a traditional office.

Hot desking is a work office organization system where each space is available for any worker, rather than reserved for a specific worker, so different workers may use the same spot along the day or week. The "desk" in the name refers to a table or other work space being shared by multiple workers on different shifts as opposed to every staff member having their own personal desk. A primary motivation for hot-desking is cost reduction through space savings—up to 30% in some cases. Hot desking is especially valuable in cities where real estate prices are high.

A serviced office is an office or office building that is fully equipped and managed by a facility management company, also known as an office provider, which then rents individual offices or floors to other companies. Serviced offices, also referred to as managed offices, flexible offices, business centers, executive suites or executive centers, are often found in the business districts of large cities around the world. A serviced office broker will commonly help business center owners and facility management companies to rent serviced office space. Companies offering serviced offices are generally able to offer more flexible rental terms, as opposed to a conventional leased office which may require furnishing, equipment, and more restrictive leases. Space is normally flexible, allowing for additional space to be allocated at short notice, should the size of an individual business change. Serviced office providers often allow tenants to share reception services, business machines and other resources, providing reduced costs and access to equipment which may otherwise be unaffordable. By providing businesses with access to a workplace, technology and people central to its operations, the serviced office can be considered a type of virtual office. Serviced offices are a central component to the flexible workspace industry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Economy of Leeds</span>

The economy of Leeds is the most diverse economy of all the UK's main employment centres and has seen the fastest rate of private-sector jobs growth of any UK city and has the highest ratio of public to private sector jobs of all the UK's Core Cities. Leeds has the third-largest jobs total by local authority area with 480,000 in employment and self-employment at the beginning of 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manchester Liverpool Road railway station</span> Former railway station in Manchester, England

Liverpool Road is a former railway station on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway in Manchester, England; it opened on 15 September 1830. The station was the Manchester terminus of the world's first inter-city passenger railway in which all services were hauled by timetabled steam locomotives. It is the world's oldest surviving terminal railway station. With tracks running at a first floor level behind the building, it could also be considered one of the world's first elevated railway stations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Octagon Centre</span> Multi-purpose venue at the University of Sheffield, England

The Octagon Centre, built in 1983, is a multi-purpose conference centre and music venue at the University of Sheffield, England. Situated in the Western Bank campus, it is joined by a skyway to University House and comprises an eight-sided auditorium with a capacity of 1,500, offices, meeting rooms, and a lounge with bar and patio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Malmaison (hotel chain)</span>

Malmaison operates sixteen hotels in the United Kingdom. The company was established in 1994, and is now owned by Frasers Property.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coworking</span> Practice of independent contractors or scientists sharing office space without supervision

Coworking is an arrangement in which workers for different companies share an office space. It allows cost savings and convenience through the use of common infrastructures, such as equipment, utilities and receptionist and custodial services, and in some cases refreshments and parcel acceptance services. It is attractive to independent contractors, independent scientists, remote workers, digital nomads, and people who travel frequently. Additionally, coworking helps workers avoid the feeling of social isolation they may experience while remote working or traveling and eliminate distractions in home office. Most coworking spaces charge membership dues. Major companies that provide coworking space and serviced offices include WeWork, IWG plc, Industrious, and Impact Hub.

Sir Lloyd Marshall Dorfman is a British entrepreneur and philanthropist. He founded Travelex, the world's largest retailer of foreign exchange.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Station building</span> Main building of a passenger railway station

A station building, also known as a head house, is the main building of a passenger railway station. It is typically used principally to provide services to passengers. A station building is a component of a station, which can include tracks, platforms, an overpass or underpass, and a train shed.

Bruntwood is a family-owned property company offering office space, serviced offices, retail space and virtual offices in the north of England and Birmingham in the United Kingdom. They own several high-profile buildings in the Manchester area, as well as in Liverpool, Leeds and Birmingham.

The Network Hub is a coworking space launched in the summer of 2006 in East Vancouver, British Columbia, and is considered the longest running coworking space in Vancouver.

Landmark is a serviced office provider based in London. As of April 2021, it operates 40 serviced offices in nine different cities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Odeon Cinema, Manchester</span> Cinema in Manchester, England

The Odeon Cinema, Manchester was a former Odeon Cinema located on Oxford Street, Manchester, England. It was close to St. Peter's Square, within the Civic Quarter of Manchester city centre. It was demolished in April 2017, and replaced by Landmark, a 14-storey office building, as part of a major transformation of the area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Katy Building</span> Commercial offices in Commerce Street Dallas, Texas

The Katy Building is an eight-floor historic building located in downtown Dallas' West End Historic District at 701 Commerce St. The Katy Building was constructed from 1912–1914 for Dallas businessman Col. John M. Simpson. For over 50 years, the 57,500-square-foot building served as the headquarters for the Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad (MKT), which gave the building its name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">JustCo</span>

JustCo is a Singaporean company that provides coworking workspaces for individuals and companies. Headquartered in Singapore, JustCo was founded in 2011 by Kong Wan Sing, its current CEO, alongside co-founders Liu Lu and Kong Wan Long, as a response to increasing demand for flexible workspaces. Initially focused on Singapore, the company expanded to provide office space in cities across eight countries in the Asia-Pacific region: Singapore, Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, Australia, China, South Korea and Taiwan.

Spring Place is a members only club with locations in New York and Beverly Hills. Membership is selective and aimed at those interested in networking with fellow members in adjacent industries. It was founded by Francesco Costa, Alessandro Cajrati Crivelli and Imad Izemrane in 2016.

References

  1. Clark, Jessica (2019-10-14). "The Office Group buys Chancery House for 100m". City AM. ISSN   0956-1382 . Retrieved 2020-01-08.
  2. Goodman, Matthew (2010-09-05). "Office swoop by Travelex founder". The Sunday Times. ISSN   0956-1382 . Retrieved 2019-04-29.
  3. Nimmo, Jamie (19 June 2017). "The Office Group sale". The Evening Standard. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
  4. Hawkins, Emily (2022-03-14). "The Office Group and Fora to merge in deal that would see 3.1m sq ft of office space". CityAM. Retrieved 2024-04-23.
  5. Dunsby, Megan (7 April 2014). "Network Rail launches flexible workspace offering The Station Office Network". Startups.co.uk. Retrieved 10 July 2015.