Nick Scott is extremely proud of his firm’s new work environment.
And rightly so. The managing partner of Brodies, Scotland’s biggest law firm, invited Insider on a personal tour of its offices, complete with its roof terrace, offering vistas across the capital.
The firm’s 400 Edinburgh colleagues have flitted from their warren of draughty Georgian townhouses in Atholl Crescent into a Grade A, tech enabled, environmentally-sound space that is revolutionising the way lawyers and business services colleagues undertake their work.
With the legal profession still embracing home working, via the ubiquitous Zoom or Microsoft Teams video calls, Brodies set about trying to understand how hybrid working can successfully be dovetailed with productive time spent in the office.
Scott, who has been managing partner since 2018, is an expert in commercial property, so his experience on major projects and deals was brought to bear on Brodies’ own plans.
“The pandemic has given us a unique insight into the way we all work. In designing this bespoke place for Brodies, we examined all of the many different tasks we undertake as a law firm, from interacting with clients or customers, working in teams and collaborating across legal disciplines, ensuring the wellbeing, training and mentoring of our colleagues,” he says.
Working with their architects, Scott and his colleagues set about creating the most effective and productive environment to deliver for their clients, and breaking down a few old taboos.
“In the past, for lawyers and business services professionals, their desk or individual office was wrapped up with their role and, sometimes, their status.
“In this modern space, there is a booking system for desks with no hierarchy of importance about who sits where – it is about finding the right place to work for the type of work being carried out.”
The Capital Square office, set back and approached from Morrison Street, has more than 30 meeting spaces, some as private as a comfy sitting room cocoon at home, with others set out as a virtual courtroom, where real legal work can be transacted via big screens and discrete microphone positioning to pick up every nuance.
There are study booths, a library lined with legal tomes and carpeted zones resembling a modern five-star hotel. Of course, there is also a sound-proofed studio for podcasting. “Our new office is designed not to segregate teams or to reinforce hierarchies, but to recognise that talent and ambition comes from all parts of our firm,” Scott says.
Brodies are not alone in helping redefine how we all work in Scotland.
Corporate law firms are stepping away from dusty chambers in old stone buildings and setting the pace. In the same Capital Square building, developed by BAM Properties in partnership with Hermes Investment Management, Pinsent Masons has also taken two floors of new space.
With approximately 550 lawyers and support colleagues based in Scotland - 17% of Pinsent Masons’ 3,300 global payroll - the firm’s offices in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen play a central role in supporting large international corporates engaged in merger and acquisitions, litigation and advisory services.
That commitment to Scotland was underlined with the opening in February of its new space.
A pioneer of hybrid or agile working, the legal firm’s design team were able to take into account the changing attitudes and work practices as the corporate world emerged from the coronavirus pandemic.
As a result, the number of physical work stations at the new office was reduced by 20%, in favour of creating more space for collaboration zones and meeting places, with more emphasis placed on video call technology.
Katharine Hardie, Pinsent Masons' chair of Scotland, said: “Scotland is a hugely important part of our business and that is reflected in the ongoing investment we are making in our facilities, with Edinburgh the latest location to benefit.
“As an international firm with 26 offices, the work we are involved in is diverse, interesting and challenging and there are virtually no geographical boundaries or limits relating to the instructions we are engaged on,” she says.
“To fulfil clients’ expectations, we have to invest in people by attracting and retaining the best legal talent, while also maintaining our physical presence in all the major international business hubs and the opening of the new Edinburgh premises is part of that strategy.”
Figures from property advisor CBRE for the first quarter of 2022 show that legal firms are at the forefront of the office demand in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen.
Andy Cunningham, head of CBRE’s Scottish advisory and transactions business, says: “We’ve witnessed an encouraging start to the year in all three cities with the same recurring themes that were prevalent in 2021 – a flight to quality space and strong environmental credentials.”
Office take-up in Edinburgh totalled 118,926 sq ft in the first quarter of 2022, up 33% from the first quarter of 2021 and only marginally below the pre-pandemic levels of the first quarter in 2020. Grade A take-up is 56% of this total.
Major deals included another two lettings at The Haymarket development, where law firms Shoosmiths and Dentons have taken space totalling 31,345 sq ft. The development is now fully pre-let, emphasising the appetite for prime new Grade A space.
Coupled with this is a high level of lease extensions across Edinburgh totalling 77,727 sq ft over 12 transactions. The most notable being at Princes Exchange, where Turcan Connell agreed a five-year lease extension, in which CBRE acted on behalf of the landlord, Lloyds Banking Group.
Beverley Mortimer, associate director at CBRE Edinburgh, said: “As hybrid working becomes synonymous with daily life, the heightened level of transactions is expected to continue throughout the year.
“We are currently working with a number of occupiers to re-evaluate their space plans, better understand their requirements, and assist them in finding suitable space that suits their new needs and ways of working.”
In Glasgow, it is again law firms who are setting the pace.
Take-up for the Glasgow office market totalled 95,496 sq ft in the first quarter of the year, which is up 28% from the first quarter of 2021.
The largest of the deals was Burness Paull’s 14,814 sq ft letting at the recently completed 2 Atlantic Square, while accountant BDO took up a floor of 8,078 sq ft.
So while hybrid working looks set to stay across the professions, lawyers are setting the pace in proving that smart offices remain supreme.
Don't miss the latest headlines with our twice-daily newsletter - sign up here for free.
