OBI – A History of Innovation

At OBI we have a unique philosophy which places the client at the heart of every innovation we make, complemented by a hunger to remain at the forefront of the real estate industry, adopting the latest technologies and embracing other opportunities that present themselves. We are constantly collating data, analysing the market and making sure that we move with it.

The last 12 months has seen a significant amount of change. To start with, a rebrand for the business as we dropped the ‘Property’ suffix to become just ‘OBI’ to reflect our becoming more than just a property consultancy business.

We want you to keep informed as to what we are up to and how our recent changes may benefit you. So here’s an update on what’s happening;

Studio OBI

Studio OBI is our newly launched creative agency that delivers branding, video, web design, web development and more. Studio OBI allows us to become fully integrated with our landlord clients as we can now blend property intelligence with creative solutions to market our clients’ assets. Despite the property sector contributing to our client base, we are not exclusive in this sector as we have already worked with clients on in technology, leisure and legal. Our first major client win was also with global recruitment firm Morson Group.

Calico

Calico is an exclusive business network powered by OBI. We will open up our contact base as we intend to connect like-minded executives, directors and influencers from across the business world. Calico is a collaborative platform sharing the latest intelligence and business insights, designed to promote, protect and connect its members.

We are seeking to bring the brightest minds together within the business community and seek to make the right connections, to introduce the right opportunities and provide online networking to help your business, without the ‘white noise’ or direct sales that comes with the territory of larger platforms.

Flexible workspace desk

There has been a huge rise in the level of managed workspace/co-working operators entering in to Manchester city centre; WeWork, All Work & Social, Huckletree, Headspace and many more. OBI launched our flexible workspace desk in early 2019 to create strong relationships with all the key operators to understand their unique offerings and level of availability.

This enables us to provide businesses looking for flexible workspace with impartial advice and a representative view of every option across Manchester. This saves businesses time and trouble, provides them with the relevant due diligence to ensure they select the best solution for them.

OBI Swish

Another 2019 innovation sees the launch of OBI Swish which has first been trialled with our client Booking.com on their latest workspace – a 220,000 sq ft new building workspace called Manchester Goods Yard in the largest commercial property deal Manchester has seen for the past 16 years. OBI Swish uses technology to democratise workplace design, ripping up the old traditional approach and allowing people within the firm to swipe for their favourite designs and features – the most popular will be implemented in to the design of the workspace.

 

The Difference

The Difference is a concept coffee bar which morphs into a restaurant/bar – it will be a multifunctional business space that transforms throughout the day and can be used for events, meetings, presentations and private dining. More details coming soon!