When the survey, which canvassed 1,000 London office workers, was broken down to focus on the future leaders (employees aged between 18 and 35 earning upwards of £35,000 per annum), almost two thirds of them (65%) listed food and drink options as a priority, ranking it nearly as essential as commuting time (72%). The proximity to services such as dry-cleaners, hairdressers and gyms was ranked as the third most important factor by the future leaders, who placed more importance on this than traditional shopping options.

A conclusion from Strutt & Parker’s analysis of London office workers was that occupiers seeking to win the ‘war for talent’ would be well-placed to prioritise good eating and drinking options, particularly the market-like street food environments that are located in the most dynamic and diverse parts of the capital.

Whilst Office Futures: Workshift focussed on London employees and the factors most essential in determining an office location’s attractiveness, Strutt & Parker believes that employees in office markets outside of London, particularly commercial hubs in the wider south east, place similar levels of importance on food and drink options and amenities. Occupiers are now beginning to respond to this in order to win the ‘war for talent’.

Rhodri Shaw, partner in national markets office agency at Strutt & Parker, said: “Landlords across the south east are increasingly incorporating more amenities into their buildings to appeal to occupiers, with a number of offices now offering concierge style services to meet this demand. Similarly both the quality and quantity of food and drink options has increased with a number of towns in the south east offering street food environments or pop up offerings in addition to more traditional eateries. Diversity and variety are vital.”

Landlords are becoming increasingly attuned to the need to provide a more professional front of house and broader on-site amenity offering.

Stephen Ellis, asset manager at Hermes Investment Management, the £28.6 billion manager focused on delivering superior, sustainable, risk adjusted returns to its clients – responsibly, added: “Whilst Abbey Gardens South is located in Reading town centre, only a short walk from the station and high street, we recognise that occupiers want more services from the front of house staff. To meet this demand we have now employed the services of Touchstone, which offers the entire corporate customer and visitor experience. Gone are the days when it was acceptable to be greeted by a security guard sitting behind a reception desk. Now we have a hotel concierge who speaks five languages and can provide a wide range of services from hosting in-house events to collecting your dry-cleaning.”

This is a sentiment echoed by Rupert Batho of Patrizia UK, who added: “Core drivers behind successful business parks are accessibility and the quality of the amenity offer. When Patrizia UK acquired Winnersh Triangle in 2013, we knew that its transport connections were hard to beat - the park has its own dedicated rail station with a direct service to central London and Reading. Winnersh Triangle now has two hotels on site as well as a WH Smiths, ATM facilities, a nursery and in November, Gather & Gather opened a completely refurbished café. Practical services such as hairdressing, shoe repairs and dry cleaning are also available.

“While the quality of business accommodation and accessibility are core considerations for every occupier, we are seeing more weight in the decision-making process being given to the amenity provision. Staff retention is increasingly important to businesses and a good amenity offer can make all the difference to their people. It is factor that distinguishes parks such as Winnersh Triangle from the rest.”

Chris Taylor, executive director at APAM, commented: “On the acquisition of Arlington Business Park we identified providing new amenities to the park as the most important element to successfully implementing our business plan. Given the typical “out of town” nature of business parks, amenities are increasingly important to occupiers looking to attract and retain the best talent, and it’s no different for landlords attracting new tenants and retaining existing ones.

“Shortly following our acquisition of Theale, we completed a survey of all employees on the park which confirmed our beliefs on what tenants wanted to see brought to the existing business environment. We are therefore now on site providing a new 6,500 sq ft café, gym and meeting room facility which alongside our tenant engagement and onsite events programmes will reposition the park and move it on a par with the current most successful UK business parks. We are already seeing the rewards of this strategy having secured over 25,000 sq ft of new lettings to the park in the past 12 months”

James Silver, development director at Landid, added: “Our recent focus has been on developing office space close to major transport nodes, in urban locations. With buildings in Reading, Uxbridge, Putney, Slough and Hammersmith the local amenity is plentiful. Even with all the amenities those centres have to offer we have incorporated spaces for restaurants and cafes into our new designs. Our ambition is to attract exciting new offerings that have been part of the central London food revolution. The amenity offer doesn’t stop at food and drink. We are focussed on providing co working space, communal space for events and a concierge team centred on assisting our tenants’ businesses and supporting interactions between them all. Communal spaces allow us to run events themed around: health and fitness, cerebral presentations and networking, and more relaxed nights such as roof top cinema and music nights.”