Colliers’ relocation decision is not motivated by lack of space alone. CEO Peter Winther explains,

“We seek a brand-new office set-up to exploit the advantages of having such a strong concentration of highly specialised employees in a single location. Our current set-up includes far too many small cell offices, not an ideal setting for collaboration and knowledge-sharing”.

In Denmark, Colliers employs about 150 professionals working from five offices; 65 of them work at the Copenhagen office, now looking forward to moving into newly refurbished premises in a beautiful old Copenhagen building, still in an attractive central location. However, also customers’ needs have helped to determine the choice of new head office.

“Our customers prefer a city-centre location; they have been happy to visit us at Palægade, so our Corporate Solutions team was instructed to find premises nearby, where Colliers may benefit from activity-based workspaces in an attractive environment with room for creative thinking. For instance, the new premises will be laid out with an inviting lounge area where customers and staff may conduct formal or informal meetings. We also want to make it possible for customers to stay in the office and do some work, before or after meetings. We expect that this will be very much appreciated especially by our many international customers”, says Peter Winther.

“This has been one of our hardest assignments”, claims Lau Melchiorsen, Director of Corporate Solutions. “Good-quality office space in central Copenhagen is a very scarce commodity. Despite an office vacancy rate of 6.6%, indicating that it should be possible to find office space, the situation is different in reality. Many of the current office vacancies represent inflexible and small-sized leases that fail to meet the requirements and demands of modern businesses. We are proud to have found this lease opportunity, with our team also in charge of layout and project management, inspired by the best-practice standards of Colliers international offices around the world”, concludes Lau Melchiorsen.

Colliers is in the process of finalising its annual property market report. Among other things, the report shows that office properties were the winners of 2019. Office properties were highly coveted, so much so that supply could not keep up, neither in the letting market nor in the investment market.

The lease premises at Toldbodgade 33 will now undergo comprehensive refurbishment so that Colliers may take over contemporary head-office space in June.