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8 Bishopsgate a 50-storey tower in the heart of the City of London offers a generous range of amenities, all of which can be navigated by occupants via a user-friendly digital app. Sara Bean visited to see what’s on offer
The commercial property sector has become more challenging and competitive in recent years. Tenants are all too aware that the talent pool is swayed by the office experience and demand premium workspaces that offer all the benefits of sustainable design and first-class amenities as well as the latest digital technologies that enhance the occupant experience.
Research published by The Workforce Institute at UKG revealed that as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, 87 per cent of UK workers have been propelled into new ways of working by the influx of digital technology. Deloitte’s 2023 Global Human Capital Trends survey reports that more than 90 per cent of surveyed business leaders believe that using such technology to improve work outcomes and team performance is very important or important to their organisation’s success.
One of the latest additions to the London skyline is 8 Bishopsgate, a 50-storey tower in the heart of the City of London. The building offers 560,000 sq ft of prime office space, but with 75,000 sq ft (10 per cent of the building) dedicated to amenities, including a café, events and viewing spaces – occupants are also being provided with a connected digital platform that offers smooth communication between them and the building in which they work.
CUREOSCITY APPROACH
The app is provided by Cureoscity, a leading occupier experience and property management platform, which in partnership with SwiftConnect, a provider of connected access enablement give tenants the means to access spaces and tap into other building resources through a single tenant experience app, using an NFC-enabled iPhone, Android or Apple Watch.
Digital wallets that allow you to store funds, make transactions, and track payment histories on devices like phones and tablets are growing in popularity, which is why explains Martin Peterlechner, Chief Commercial Officer, Cureoscity: “The relationship between Cureoscity and SwiftConnect is almost the secret sauce. Whereas occupiers might in the past have had a different access control system to the employee app, this could sometimes create a problem, with one system used to enter the building and different systems within the occupier demise.
“Because SwiftConnect has a middle layer that has pre-existing integrations with multiple different access control systems it integrates with Cureoscity’s digital platform and the access to an employee badge in Apple Wallet, resulting in a seamless, friction-free journey from street to seat.”
“This has been achieved from the ground up at 8 Bishopsgate, but going forward the SwiftConnect journey is going to be useful for slightly older buildings where there are multiple different systems put in place. That is an absolutely key enabler to make the journey through the building a reliable and simple process.”
Once inside the building, the app aims to streamline the occupier journey and improve staff engagement, as Aimee Rootes, Cureoscity Chief Operating Officer explains:
“Cureoscity was founded in 2018 to look at the engagement aspect and how we could address connectivity, not just the door access piece but connecting the occupiers within the building. It’s about that experience in the building and how the user and customer feel about it. That was coming into play in 2018 and went into hyperdrive with COVID and needing to push people back into buildings.
“We started out with an app focus – being able to populate and push content around offers both in the building and surrounding areas, using the door access as an activity piece. As you have to go into your app twice a day to move in and out of the building, this helps users engage with the content.
“We’ve now added elements like polls and closed questions to get immediate feedback from the wider occupier base. This is because the main point of contact for a building manager is going to be your occupier FMs who want to keep service charges down and make sure the amenities are as high quality as possible.
“The app is also designed to get people involved with building community experiences enabling the FM to have a wider reach in terms of the contacts they’re able to hear and engage with.”
