Can we attract the millennials?
Last week, Thames Valley Property hosted its ninth annual forum with the controversial theme: ‘Making the Thames Valley cool and funky’. But whatever the view on the region’s coolness status, it soon became clear that its key challenge is to close the skills gap by becoming more attractive to upcoming generations, writes Carry de la Harpe
Opening the discussions at Green Park in Reading, Matthew Battle, event host and managing director of UK Property Forums, asked the 200-plus delegates how we can encourage more Londoners to head west, and Heathrow arrivals to turn left.
The key issue
“The issue comes down to one word – ‘skills’,” said Andrew Ward, director of corporate relations at Brunel University. “The problem with a shortage of skilled staff is that we enter a talent war; in which we are poaching and losing personnel.”
To address this skills issue, he highlighted the importance of attracting young people to the region, and he wasn’t alone in this as one speaker after another re-iterated the point. It’s not just that young people in general bring a fresh and different approach to the workplace, but more importantly this upcoming generation in particular has a skillset, mind-set and expectations vastly different from the one before.
Millennials are permanently online. Tech savvy, they are more informed and socially engaged than any generation before them, and they’re highly collaborative. They need constant stimulation and high-speed connectivity. They value experience over possession; they value sustainability and the environment; and health and wellbeing. They have ingrained work-life fluidity; and a highly international, multi-cultural perspective.
According to Kate Dean, project director at Basingstoke & Deane BC, “Generation Y wants to live and work in London”, and she calls this a failure of ‘place-making’ on the part of the Thames Valley.
What needs to be done?
“How do you persuade graduates that the Thames Valley is a good place to work? she asked. “Something needs to be done. Reading railway station is great, but where do you go from there? Let’s get tall residential blocks in the Thames Valley that are cool and funky.”
Ward had said there is a lot to be said for London's new 'twodios’ – shared studios in an environment that offers communal-style living for cash-strapped millennials. He emphasised the need for individuals to be part of a community, saying: “Dysfunctional loneliness is the UK’s biggest social problem”.
Eddie Curzon, CBI’s Thames Valley regional director, said a key advantage over London is that “here people can get on the property ladder sooner”. He said: “People moving this way tend to be keen on sports, so our HR team works at selling the Thames Valley as an overall package, rather than just the company.”
Tim Smith MBE, chief executive of Thames Valley Berkshire LEP, added: “This is a role for the LEPs – to take this message to the local planning authorities.”
What is being done?
Stuart McLarty, director of dn-a, gave examples of what’s being done to address these needs. Camden, Hoxton, Notting Hill and Shoreditch had already been cited as cool and funky places, and Shoreditch was mentioned again in the company’s renovation of One Valpy in Reading. “Our aim here was to bring Shoreditch to Reading and the Thames Valley,” he said. “Its hipster-lifestyle look fetched it a record rent in the area.”
The company is also in the process of recycling and re-imaging Thames Tower, opposite Reading Station. The new office building includes bike racks; shower and changing facilities; an open mezzanine level to the plaza; and, going up still, coffee shops and restaurants; workspace and meeting spaces; and a sky garden with table tennis. “It offers a lifestyle workspace not often seen outside the M25,” said McLarty.
Chris Hiatt, director of Landid, cited The Porter Building in Slough as an example of a better-lifestyle workplace. “It has wellbeing at its core – this building is all about the physical and mental health of its employees.”
How far have we come?
Fiona Brownfoot, director at Hicks Baker and chair of the panel discussion, gave some examples. She said: “Reading is the centre of the Thames Valley, and Reading Station is going to be on the tube map. Retail is the front face – it’s what everyone can see – and we have eight new restaurants coming here in the next year, along with new bars and retail outlets.
“We’re making it more attractive, more Shoreditchy. We are getting the tall storey blocks and accommodation our new Gen Y want to live in. Reading is making some massive changes. We just need to do more of the same to keep it going.”
Companies choosing the Thames Valley
Two companies represented at the Forum and undergoing a change of office in the Thames Valley are Bayer plc and BDO LLP.
Bayer
In January 2017, Bayer is relocating with 600 staff from its current premises in Newbury to Reading’s Green Park, and CFO Ute Bockstegers talked delegates through the considerable decision-making process leading to the move.
Geographically Bayer decided on Reading because access to both Oxford and Cambridge are crucial to the business, as is proximity to Heathrow. “Reading is also closer to London, and a big problem for us is retaining medics – who prefer to live in London and closer to the big pharma companies,” said Bockstegers. “While the skills problem is not specific to the Thames Valley, we have found that people are more willing to reverse commute from London to the west than they are to the north.”
Bayer’s new offices will be just 40% desk space, with the rest for collaborative use.
BDO
BDO has 250 people in the centre of Reading and needs a solution in next 12 months that better meets the needs of its staff – whose average age is the early 20s. These are school leavers and graduates, said Simon Brooker, lead partner of the firm’s Reading office. They want a vibrant city centre and don’t want to drive to work.
“I think Reading Station’s a triumph!” he exclaimed. “We will stay in the middle of Reading, with everyone together, in funky new offices.”
