Office Employment

Office Employment

An office (urban object) is a location which accommodates employment facilitating the provision of services.

Description

Office based employment enterprises can occur in a wide variety of urban contexts, ranging from city centre locations (often in the upper floor of retail or services buildings in a High Street or city centre context) to large business parks in peripheral locations and which feature a range of differing employment activities. Locational factors will influence the range of transport modes available and utilised for access to offices.

Modern urban areas have a wide variety of office locations available, dependent on the requirements of the individual tenants. Tenant requirements themselves will vary substantially, of as a result of the type of business or the economic sector within which it operates. Large offices with significant workforces will often require extensive floor spaces; the type of office space required to accommodate this type of operation is therefore more suited to more peripheral locations. In comparison, small offices, with less substantial space requirements, can easily be accommodated anywhere within an urban area, from city centre to peripheral locations.

Functions

Social

One of the key social functions of office employment is in the provision of employment for citizens.

Economic

The primary economic function of office employment is in the provision of services which create economic activity, employment and generate revenue. Together with residential, retail and industrial areas, office space is one of the most valuable urban spatial structures for the local economy.

Office development creates direct construction activity (primary economic impact, including planning professionals, commercial real estate agents, attorneys, designers, marketing, landscaping, etc). The secondary impact of construction generates business for a variety of business types such as insurance companies, cleaning services, security companies, etc. On the long term, office space creates local jobs, income and taxes generated by the consumption and other spending of office users (e.g. for lunch, office products, office maintenance, etc).

The most common types of office employment security threats (in terms of human intent) are crime related (e.g., burglary, fraud, white collar crime). Crime generates costs in anticipation of crime (e.g. locks, surveillance, etc.), as a consequence of crime (loss of property) and in response to crime (police investigation, legal system, etc.). As a secondary impact, crime has (amongst others) an impact on the local real estate value.

Apart from the more traditional security measures such as policing, alarm systems, surveillance and regulatory bodies, the ‘designing out’ approach in the earliest stages in the planning process can be an effective measure to prevent security threats and reduce the economical damage.

Mobility

The mobility requirements of offices will depend on the type of service provided and the number of people employed. Offices in central locations will be able to take advantage of public transportation modes, whereas offices in more peripheral locations will be more dependent on private car use.

Safety

The safety functions of retail or services activity areas are a bi-product of the need to protect the people who use them as well as the varied commercial enterprises, private and public properties which are present within them.

Security Issues

Burglary, fraud, white collar crime...

Measures

Policing, alarm systems, regulatory bodies...

MAP

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