Rockwell Land sets benchmark for suitable workspaces

THE ROCKWELL Business Center brought a new level of luxury to office space.

Ideally, workspaces should be built with the comfort of users in mind.

After all, this is where any typical office worker spends at least a third of his day, and could thus greatly influence morale, productivity and any work related decisions.

With the limited spaces in the metro however, a number of companies are forced to make settle for a four-walled hole that resembles concrete jails big enough to house only a desk, a chair and a computer for each employee.

Upscale property developer Rockwell Land Corp., however, has changed the way office buildings in the Philippines should be built. While known for its high-end residential and commercial developments at the Rockwell Center in Makati, the company again went beyond the norm when it developed the 1.3-hectare site within the compound of Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) to build the Rockwell Business Center.

In an exclusive interview with Inquirer Property, Rockwell Land officials said the company started the construction of the center in 2007 and company tenants started moving in in August 2009.

Seeing how vital a workplace is for a business to succeed and the crucial role it plays in the welfare of the employees, the company ensured that the Rockwell Business Center would bring a new level of luxury to office space during that time. With its “well-appointed environment” that integrates work with leisure and dining, Rockwell Land has given its tenants business class service and amenities.

“It was preleased and we had a lot of deals going. But some had to back out because the United States was hit with recession and there was slump in the BPO (business process outsourcing) market,” said Camie J. Mirasol, assistant manager for retail leasing at Rockwell Land.

However, with a strong brand and a solid reputation, Rockwell Business Center was able to bounce back.

Upward trend

“We continued and we were able to recover and just late last year we reached 100 percent occupancy,” Mirasol claimed, noting further that  the upward trend in the BPO market had helped boost the company.

“There’s really an upward trend in the BPO market and offices that around late 2010 office market started to take off. This was the time when rents started recovering because there was more demand and not enough supply,” Mirasol added.

But what really sets Rockwell Business Center apart from other office space in the country and a top-of-the-mind choice among investors, according to Mirasol, is its strong affiliation with the Rockwell brand.

“It’s the brand association. When tenants are choosing between two developers with almost the same price they end up choosing Rockwell Business Center because of the brand and because of its association with high-end developments. For them it’s a guarantee that we can deliver in terms of service and in terms of the quality of the building,” Mirasol claimed.

“In fact when we asked tenants why they choose us they say it’s because they want the Rockwell address. They want the prestige that comes with it. The brand perception was very strong for us and that worked in our favor,” she added.

The Rockwell Business Center has two towers with 12 floors on one tower and 14 floors on the other, as well as six elevators for each tower.

Utilities

“We didn’t scrimp on the utilities. We have 150-percent backup power. The promises that we have for our residences are similar to what we give here like the facilities, and it is also flood-free,” Mirasol brags.

And as with other Rockwell Land projects, Rockwell Business Center boasts 75:25 percent open space-building ratio.

“Landscape is very generous with 75 percent devoted to open space and 25 percent concrete and that’s because we didn’t really want it to be crowded,” she noted.

Mirasol further said they consider the business center as a complete replica of the Rockwell developments within Makati.

“It’s like baby Rockwell, you know when you walk around that it is not just a building. We really took care of the area around it, we made sure there’s a place to stroll, to hang out. We even have a Koi pond, the peg was campus style,” Mirasol shared.

Mirasol however admitted that they, too, had to face a few challenges.

Main challenges

“We have diverse tenants and that’s one of the main challenges. We have ask our tenants to project and help us maintain a certain image to keep up with the Rockwell brand. We have set house rules and explain to them that they can’t just do anything that they want because we have to keep the image,” Mirasol explained.

To date, the Rockwell Business Center has become a benchmark for office space, with its grade A quality office towers designed for the modern knowledge-based business, latest IT infrastructure and redundant back-up systems.

Al fresco cafés and restaurants are located at the ground floor of each tower while banks, convenience store and other services are also available for the convenience of the tenants.

“Our biggest edge is the parking. We have underground parking like the one that we have in Makati. Guests and tenants can cross underground to get to the next tower or building. We have a total of 1,000 parking slots for the two towers,” Mirasol concluded.