The Executive Centre opens two locations SingLand Tower and IOI Central Boulevard, expands at OFC
Chelsea Perino, managing director of global marketing and communications at TEC (left), and Yvonne Lim, managing director for Southeast Asia at TEC. (Picture: Samuel Isaac Chua/The Edge Singapore)
The Executive Centre (TEC) has added its eighth co-working location in Singapore at the newly refurbished Singapore Land Tower in Raffles Place. In all, the flexible workspace provider manages five floors spanning 49,354 sq ft in the 47-storey office building.
The Grade-A office development is owned by Singapore Land, a subsidiary of mainboard listed UOL Group. A $160 million makeover of the 45-year-old building began in 2021.
This is the first time that TEC has entered a management contract with a landlord in Singapore to oversee non-TEC branded spaces. At Singapore Land Tower, TEC operates the event and function areas on the fourth floor, as well as office spaces on the fifth floor.
The fourth floor features a new 250-person function room, an outdoor al fresco space, as well as a 20-person boardroom. Renovation works are ongoing, and these spaces are set to open in August.
The fifth floor features about 100 co-working seats and several private office suites. This floor opened in October 2023 and has been used to accommodate tenants of Singapore Land Tower whose spaces have been disrupted by the three-year long refurbishment.
“Most of the refurbishments to Singapore Land Tower have been completed, but the office space on the fifth floor continues to see strong occupancy,” says Yvonne Lim, managing director for Southeast Asia, at TEC.
She adds that about 70% of the co-working portion is occupied and about 65% of the private offices is leased. Ongoing fabrication works on the fourth floor means that some noise disruption makes its way to the fifth floor, which is why occupancy rates there are slightly lower than expected, says Lim.
This is the first time in Singapore that TEC is managing spaces on behalf of the landlord. It will continue to operate the office floor as a swing space, while facilitating events on the fourth floor. Typically, TEC has adopted a more traditional direct leasing business model in Singapore.
Within Southeast Asia, TEC has two other management agreements which are both in Jakarta, Indonesia. One is a 20,468 sq ft office space at Jakarta Mori Tower, and the other is a 17,298 sq ft office space at Pacific Century Place.
“As a group, we are keen to pursue these types of management contracts and form partnerships with landlords. When there is a more holistic involvement between the landlord and us, it opens up many more opportunities for both parties in terms of event collaboration and market positioning,” says Chelsea Perino, managing director of global marketing and communications, at TEC.
‘An ideal partnership’
The mainstay of TEC at Singapore Land Tower are its premium workspaces on the 45th to 47th floors, which have enjoyed 90% occupancy since they opened in January last year.
According to Lim, the company had shortlisted Singapore Land Tower as an option for its expansion strategy in Singapore due to the building’s premium Grade-A location.
The new co-working location at SingLand Tower is about 90% occupied. (Picture: Samuel Isaac Chua/The Edge Singapore)
“Unfortunately, back then the building looked a little aged, but when the landlord unveiled that it would be undertaking an extensive refurbishment, we reached out to them, stating our interest in being a tenant and space provider for this development,” says Lim.
This was an ideal partnership as Singapore Land was looking for a workspace operator who could introduce premium flexible workspaces, as well as a partner to manage the planned meeting and event space on the fourth floor, she adds.
So far, the new location has attracted a mixed demographic of mostly technology companies, financial institutions, and professional services, says Lim, attributing this to its prime location in Raffles Place.
She adds that different submarkets within the CBD tend to attract different client profiles and demographics. “For example, a good proportion of our clientele at our location in Ocean Financial Centre are in the legal profession,” she shares.
TEC manages four office floors, spanning 85,527 sq ft, at Ocean Financial Centre on the fourth, 22nd, 37th, and 40th floors. The co-working space on the 22nd floor is a new addition, and tenants started moving in on March 3.
The view of Marina Bay Sands and Marina South from TEC’s lounge on the 45th floor of Singapore Land Tower. (Picture: Samuel Isaac Chua/The Edge Singapore)
The operator’s other locations in Singapore include a 28,600 sq ft space at Capital Square; a 20,472 sq ft space at Frasers Tower; an 11,504 sq ft space at Gateway West; a 21,527 sq ft space in Marina Bay Financial Centre Tower 1; two floors spanning 75,519 sq ft at One Raffles Quay; and a 12,852 sq ft space in Six Battery Road.
Despite ongoing economic headwinds, the Grade-A office leasing market in Singapore is steady, says Lim, adding that TEC’s average occupancy is about 95% across its eight properties in Singapore, excluding the recently opened 22nd floor at Ocean Financial Centre.
IOI Central Boulevard Towers
In November, TEC will open its ninth location in Singapore at IOI Central Boulevard Towers. The 1.26 million sq ft commercial development, consisting of two Grade-A office towers and a seven-storey retail podium, is developed by Bursa Malaysia-listed IOI Properties Group.
The flexible workspace market in Singapore will continue to see most tenants gravitate towards premium options, says Lim, adding that tenants looking for this type of space today prioritise the location and the quality of the working facilities. The newest TEC space at IOI Central Boulevard Towers will include more than 300 workstations.
The company is taking a different approach in terms of the design and layout of the flexible workspace at IOI Central Boulevard, with a greater design focus on social collision spaces like lounges as well as more event spaces.
TEC recently unveiled its new space on the 22nd floor of Ocean Financial Centre. (Picture: Samuel Isaac Chua/The Edge Singapore)
“Managing events for our tenants and clients has contributed substantially to the group’s business recently, and we hope to leverage this further,”says Lim. She adds that the group has secured a liquor licence for the new space at IOI Central Boulevard Towers and plans to operate an evening bar there.
Globally, there is an evolution in terms of what most major corporations are looking for in terms of premium office space, and the movement of these trends seems to be relatively universal, says Perino.
“Multinational corporations want to be in locations that have very clear and positive sustainability metrics, and many of the new office developments completed in recent years are ESG-aligned, she says, adding that most tenants are also willing to shell out premium rents to secure spaces in these new builds.
Recent return-to-office mandates have also turned the focus back on the role of the office and how it contributes to overall employee retention and attraction strategies, says Perino. “Future-ready workplaces need a variety of working environments from quiet areas for focused work to collaborative spaces like lounges, and widespread use of virtual meetings has also boosted the demand for booths and small meeting rooms,” she says.
TEC manages four office floors spanning 85,527 sq ft at Ocean Financial Centre. (Picture: Samuel Isaac Chua/The Edge Singapore)
High office capex costs means that many corporates are turning to fully fitted enterprise solutions offered by operators, or leveraging the scale and expertise of these operators, for spaces within their co-working portfolio or the clients owned real estate assets. This has been a growing business contributor for TEC in recent years, says Perino.
Some corporate real estate managers are taking a new perspective on flexible workspaces, from viewing them as short-term solutions to a more integrated component of their real estate portfolio. Perino says: “In general, we observe that most MNCs are looking to reduce their owned and long-term leased assets by 15% to 20% in the coming years, and they are integrating a flexible workspace partner into their real estate strategy.”
In Singapore, Lim says that TEC’s broad expansion strategy remains focused on vertical expansion opportunities within locations that are performing exceptionally well. “Looking ahead, the limited supply of new Grade-A office developments entering the market in the coming years will also limit our expansion choices.”
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