People renewal

People Activation’s office at The Hive in Manchester’s Northern Quarter still feels fresh and contemporary even though it was fitted out over 5 years ago.

People Activation Limited help multi-nationals like Fujitsu and Bayer to “activate” their people. Pre-Covid, they did this by staging live televised events around the globe. That all changed in March 2020.

These talented creatives faced a monumental challenge in early 2020. The travel bans resulting from COVID 19 effectively wiped out 90% of their business overnight. They were forced to let staff go almost immediately and with an average lead-in for most projects running into years rather than months, the future looked bleak indeed. 

Having acquired their offices in Manchester’s Northern Quarter in 2015, we were asked to find replacement premises for a core team of around a dozen staff. Thankfully, this decision coincided with the expiry of the company’s lease in June 2020. Their space requirement was now 50% of what it had been in 2015. That’s quite a drop by anyone’s standards.

On the plus side, the imminent lease expiry meant that their lease liabilities were now relatively limited. 

Remarkably, after several months of viewings and various lease negotiations, the business managed to recover and even prosper in the “new normal”. This has eventually led us to agreeing lease renewal terms with their existing landlord. This outcome allows People Activation to focus on its amazing turnaround and who knows in the near future, the business may need a lot more space rather than less.

If you would like advice on whether to renew your office lease, re-gear it or relocate to a new building, please call Martyn Markland on 0161 457 1422 or email him at mm@tenantag.co.uk.