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Mayor of London Boris Johnson has backed plans to develop a major Canary Wharf office project, despite a refusal of planning consent by the Tower Hamlets committee. It is the first time that Johnson has used his powers to overthrow a planning decision, since the authority was granted in April 2008.

The council rejected the plans in June, which would see a new development incorporating office space in Canary Wharf, a 192-room hotel, serviced apartments, leisure space and a winter garden.

Birmingham is fighting off competition from the likes of rival UK cities Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool in a bid to attract thousands of civil service jobs from London.

As the government plans to move administrators from offices in London in both a bid to cut costs, and to rejuvenate regional cities, Birmingham is putting forward its case as the ideal candidate.

Ormskirk, a Grade II listed train station in Lancashire, has undergone an £1.8m refurbishment that not only keeps the building's original architectural features, but also adds a number of eco-friendly credentials.

The station uses a system that harvests rainwater, saves energy with LED lighting, and utilises under floor heating. In addition, where possible the station has been refurbished using existing materials.

An investigation by officebroker.com into enquiry levels for the first 7 months of 2009 show that enquiries for single desks are up 42%, compared with the same period in 2008.

This is further evidence in the suggestion that as workers face redundancy as a result of the recession, more are taking the opportunity to become entrepreneurs...

As businesses become more and more aware of greener practices and eco-friendly work ethics, the use of recycling, car sharing schemes and energy-saving initiatives are on the up.

But many organisations are also demanding increased efficiency from their buildings too - and that's where BREEAM comes in.

Enterprising Warwickshire, a support package for start-ups and entrepreneurs that is funded by Warwickshire County Council, is a new initiative set to provide in-depth assistance to fledgling firms in the retail, tourism, construction, manufacturing and automotive industries.

Created as a direct result of the economic downturn, the service provides business coaches who are on hand for both existing small firms, as well as potential start-ups.

Carillion, a contractor and support services firm, have obtained three property projects worth a total of £121m - two of which have been designed to BREEAM 'Excellent' ratings.

Plans outlined by Network Rail for a new high-speed line from London to Scotland have been welcomed by businesses all over the UK.

If the plans are brought to fruition, the £34 billion high-speed transport network would connect several major UK cities, including Central London, Birmingham, Manchester, Warrington, Liverpool, Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Ten Alps, a North-West media company which was founded by Bob Geldof, has recently expanded its operations by launching an office in Singapore. The firm currently has UK offices in Manchester and Macclesfield.

The latest research by Cushman & Wakefield shows that take-up of prime office space in Edinburgh has almost doubled in the second quarter of 2009 compared with the first.

A report by the Business Scotsman states that the volume of new office space leased in Edinburgh increased, along with the transaction size of new lettings.

The development of a revamped Birmingham New Street station is still on course, despite part of the original plan for the construction of two towers being held back.

The pair of 30-storey towers formed part of the £600m redevelopment scheme, but the recession has caused revised plans to be submitted to ensure that the station work can go ahead as priority. A decision is said to be made later this week on the application.

A commercial property consultant is set to investigate the financial and environmental benefits of green roof space in Greater Manchester. The Commission for the New Economy and Manchester City Council have tasked Drivers Jonas with the research, alongside AECOM.

The 'Green Roof Guidance' investigation will look into the possibilities of introducing green roof space in the region, and will then road-test the scheme on 5 properties in the City of Manchester.

A report by Property Week, with research by law firm Eversheds, shows that two-thirds of FTSE 500-listed businesses have reported employee absenteeism as a result of swine flu, since the pandemic first hit.

The survey states that 72% of businesses have had staff off work, 38% expect to lose revenue, and 21% believe they may have to close or part close their premises.

Energy Park, a 134-acre site in Fife, is a key project as part of Scotland's drive to become the world-leader in the renewable energy sector. The Scottish Enterprise board has recently approved over £13 million funding for the next phase of the scheme.

Creative Credits, a £600,000 pilot scheme to help SMEs boost business, has been launched in Manchester today.

The initiative is run by the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA), and the aim is to give local SMEs £4,000 to spend on creative ideas and developments, which companies will also have to match by putting in at least £1,000 of their own cash.

Here at officebroker.com we thought you'd like to know how one of our office providers makes the most of their office space, by moving one of their meeting rooms to a slightly unusual location...

An office in Camden, based in Primrose Hill in north London, has its own vintage Rolls-Royce which has been converted into a meeting room. This creative thinking frees up more space inside the property for serviced offices - as well as adding a unique selling point for businesses seeking office space!

Manchester - otherwise known as the Warehouse City - is a thriving hub for business and a regular target for firms seeking office space.

But what makes Manchester such a successful city? Find out more by reading our office space and business report on Manchester:

Property Week have revealed that a property firm based in Liverpool is set to sell an office in Leeds - Broadcasting Place - to an Israeli investor for the reported sum of £35m.

Igal Ahouvi is in talks to purchase the Leeds property, that comes with 130,000 sq ft of teaching space which is currently fully let to Leeds Metropolitan University.

An office furniture company based in Bury has been bought out of administration, saving 27 jobs.

Sella Office Seating, which specialises in office desks, chairs and storage, has been bought by Lichfield based The Business Fort. The office furniture firm's sister company, based in Dundee, has also been saved.

Offices in Leeds and Sheffield are set to benefit from public sector occupiers.

The Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission has reportedly taken 60,000 sq ft of office space at a recently refurbished property in Leeds City Office Park, while the Department for Children, Schools and Families has agreed to take offices at St Paul's Place in Sheffield.

CLS Holdings have recently sold an empty office in Mayfair at a reported figure of £2.23m - a 17.4% increase on its December 2008 valuation. The value increase offers yet more positive news for the commercial property market.

According to Property Week, the Mayfair property was sold to Knightsbridge residential developer, Malcolm Paul Atkins.

A £1.35bn regeneration plan for Lancashire has been given the green light. The plan will now be taken on by Wyre Council and produced by Lambert Smith Hampton.

The scheme will develop up to 1,300 homes and over 1.6m sq ft of industrial and office space in Lancashire.

A Grade II listed property, containing 68,000 sq ft of office space in the City of London, has recently received work by lighting contractors Whitegoods to illuminate key interior areas.

Offices on the 4th, 5th and 6th floor of the property on Cornhill, in Central London, now benefit from diffused lighting, which is part of an overall refurbishment totalling £60 million.

A 17-year-old from York who reportedly conned companies all over the UK also attempted to rent office space through officebroker.com.

According to The Times, Adam Barraclough travelled all over the country, telling companies that he owned a variety of businesses as part of an elaborate scam. He used fake names and websites in order to promote a genuine front.

A report by officebroker.com, published today, shows that enquiries for serviced office space in Birmingham are performing well, despite the continued effects of the recession.

To find out more and to view graphs of enquiry levels and workstation costs, take a look at our report:

Birmingham office space enquiries show resilience against recession

Broadgate, one of the biggest commercial spaces in London, was first created over 20 years ago by a joint venture between British Land and Rosehaugh Stanhope Developments. Now, British Land is reportedly looking to sell 50% of its ownership of the City of London property.

American private equity group Blackstone are said to be interested in buying the 50% stake, with a figure of £150m being named. The buyer will part-own half of the 16 office properties in the City, which are located close to Liverpool Street Station.

Phase 3 of a £30m office development in Liverpool, which will bring 109,000 sq ft of Grade A office space to St Paul's, has been given the go-ahead with the promise of almost £9m of public funds.

The support is to come from the Northwest Development Agency (NWDA) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), who are reported to be investing £4.2m and £4.6m respectively.

Signs of better return from commercial property, increased investment interest and a slow-down in losses at real estate developers British Land have sparked further hopes of recovery.

British Land claim that total losses now stand at £275m in the second quarter of 2009, which compared with last year's Q1 figure of £572m is a significant reduction.

A North-West start-up and enterprise support scheme, run by Knowledge Transfer International, is due to be fronted by Olympic high jumper Steve Smith.

A short-list has been drawn up of some of Ireland's leading architects, who have submitted plans for the redevelopment of the ESB's head office in Dublin, based on Fitzwilliam Street. The HQ will contain at least 35,000sq m of office space.

According to the Irish Times, among the companies who have been shortlisted are Grafton Architects working with O'Mahony Pike Architects, Gilroy McMahon Architects working with Henry J Lyons and Partners, Scott Tallon Walker - one of Ireland's longest-established architectural firms - and OMS Architects, working with Copenhagen-based 3XN Architects.

Starting a business has never been cheaper - and now is the time to do it, according to a report by the Times. For start-up businesses, the recession has brought overheads tumbling down, with many essential business tools now a fraction of their 'boom years' cost, or free.

Serviced offices are a tried and tested method of securing cheaper office space. Here at officebroker.com, small businesses and start-ups make up a large proportion of enquiries - recent figures show that 77% of all enquiries over the first two quarters of 2009 were for businesses seeking office space of five desks or under.

A new office in Newcastle city centre is regarded as one of the most significant property developments in the city for more than a decade, according to Property Week.

Edinburgh's economy is outshining other UK cities, according to a report by the Financial Times.

The city is currently scoring well on factors including house prices, new businesses being incorporated, and city-centre footfall, and is ahead of other major UK locations including Manchester, Newcastle, Glasgow, Leeds, Nottingham, Birmingham, Bristol, Liverpool or Cardiff.

Property consultants Colliers CRE have recently moved into office space in Birmingham city centre, on the top floor of a property on Brindley Place.

The move took place following a £200,000 revamp of the offices, in which the company's 70 staff can now enjoy "a 'best in class' new working environment".

The Royal Bank of Scotland has come under fire by taxpayers this week, since it was announced that the Group reportedly ploughed millions of pounds into revamping and fitting out their central London offices, based on Bankside.

In a report by the Times, RBS - the majority of which is owned by taxpayers - paid a construction group between £34 million and £68 million for the work.

Offices in Manchester are set to benefit from roof gardens, natural ventilation and terrace areas, in a bid to help workers keep cool amid the effects of global warming, according to Manchester Evening News.

Research by Manchester University shows that roof gardens act as insulation during colder months and help keep buildings cool in the summer.

In a recent investigation by officebroker.com, Richmond - a town in Greater London - has seen an impressive month-by-month rise in office space enquiries over the first two quarters of 2009. The town is one of the front-runners in the UK's push for a greener environment, and now boasts the best recycling rate of all locations in London’s south-west.

Occupying a prime location just outside of Central London, Richmond is famous for its wealth of green open spaces, such as Richmond Park, Bushy Park and Kew gardens.

Situated on the edge of Richmond Park is Richmond University, an international institution that enables students from across the world to study in London. The University benefits from the town's green spaces, proximity to Central London and excellent transport links.

Our latest report looks into the office space trends of Leeds, and how the city has fared over the first two quarters of 2009. And now that 2009's third quarter has got underway, we also chart the city's success rate and potential for the rest of the year.

Looking at enquiry levels for the first two quarters of the year, Leeds produced a significant drop at the start of Q2. But despite this, the city has seen a steady increase in enquiries which has led to a positive start to Q3. In fact, the opening of the third quarter produced the second highest enquiry levels of the year so far - suggesting a return to form for Leeds over the remainder of the quarter.

The Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) has recently approved funding for phase two of a recycling and waste technology project, based in the North West.

£7m is being invested into the expansion of the scheme, which is set to establish the region as a centre of excellence for recycling and sustainability.

A £12m project to construct a new facility at Aberdeen College, financed by the Scottish Funding Council, has recently been kicked off.

The scheme, which brings a state-of-the-art Construction Training Facility to the College's Altens site, will provide a training area for joinery, brickwork, painting and decorating and plumbing courses.

Place Index is a new survey by YouGov that uses public opinion to find out which cities are the most desirable for living and working in. The survey has found that London is the UK's most favourable city, while Edinburgh and York follow closely behind.

According to the report, the capital scored highly in several factors, including cultural experience, good cuisine and shopping. Respondents also felt that the city was easy to get around.

The business benefits of a serviced office are enormous - cutting overheads, saving time on maintenance and reaping the gains of a flexible contract are just the beginning.

So here at officebroker.com we've put together a list of the top 15 reasons to choose a serviced office. If you have any others you wish to add, please feel free to comment below.

A wealth management firm, who are currently operating from 11 offices, have set their sights on significant growth from their Manchester office over the next 5 years, according to a report by TheBusinessDesk.

Established in Manchester in 1993, Rensburg Sheppards have announced plans that include a substantial increase in client-facing staff. The firm have already started their expansion plans by appointing a Senior Investment Director earlier this year.

A recent report by UK business lobby organisation CBI has found that, for the first time this year, businesses are finding it easier to obtain loans.

The investigation suggests that larger businesses have seen a significant improvement, which is expected to continue over the next three months. 27% of firms surveyed said that availability had improved, while 10% said it had worsened - the resulting difference of approximately 18% is an improvement over May's figure of -20%, which is said to be the first step up in credit supply since the CBI's survey began in January.

A massive project set for Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter, which will see a former kitchenware factory converted into office space, homes, shops and more, has now sprung into action.

Demolition work has begun on the £160m scheme, which we reported on at the end of July.

Research by Avaya suggests that 67% of employees believe that flexible workers are happier, and 59% of employers say they are most likely to adopt flexible working arrangements to boost productivity. As reported in an article by My Business, flexible working is also said to make staff more loyal.

A software company, RNM Systems, has stated that around 25m tonnes of carbon emissions in the UK could be cut each year, simply by consolidating unused office space. The current emission rate of offices in the UK is currently said to be 50m tonnes - which could be cut by half if firms tighten up on unused space.

CB Richard Ellis has announced that UK commercial property prices have risen by 0.2% in July - the first positive figure since the market peak in June 2007.

According to news source Reuters, CBRE's head of economics and forecasting, David Wylie, said:

"This month's monthly index results reveal the undoubted sea-change in investor sentiment that has taken place over the past month."

On Monday, we reported here on our blog about the government's plans to charge employees up to £350 per year for a parking space, which is due to be trialled in Nottingham.

A recent Market View report by CB Richard Ellis on Birmingham offices has shown some promising results from the investment sector. According to the research, the second quarter produced a "significant improvement" in attitudes towards commercial property investments in Birmingham.

A building contractor based in Merseyside has recently expanded with a new office in Greater Manchester, based in Chadderton. Rigby Construction has recently moved into offices in Broadway Business Park, under the name of RBC (Manchester) Ltd.

An office property on St Martin's Place in Central London's West End has been sold for over £33m, according to Property Week. The building comprises retails and office space, with the latter currently let to Redwood Publishing.

In a recent investigation based on officebroker.com enquiries, we looked further into the office space trends of businesses from the banking and financial sector. We wanted to find out which location these firms targeted for office space - and while some are fairly predictable, we also had a surprise in store.

News reports continue to chart the effects of the recession, with one headline stating that the decline is the "worst recession for over 100 years". So it's refreshing to hear that it's definitely not all doom and gloom - and that the UK's small business sector is confidently fighting back.

Troubled property company Metrovacesa, Spain's largest developer, has paid a £100 million penalty to pull out of a multi-million pound London development scheme, which was set to bring retail and office space to Walbrook, in the heart of the City.

A struggling north-west office supplies company, the Desk Centre, which was reportedly placed into administration last week, has been rescued by Vision Support Services. 36 jobs have been saved.

A recent report by CB Richard Ellis shows that the cost of renting office space in Liverpool has fallen further, and the city now represents one of the best locations for businesses setting up in the UK.

A parking levy scheme, which will be charged per office parking space, could be enforced in Nottingham from 2012.

The fees will be imposed on all companies with 11 or more parking spaces. Expected to start at £250 a year per parking space, the levy - which has been endorsed by the Department for Transport - will then be increased to £350 after two years.

A recent report produced by the CBI, the SME Trends Survey, suggests that prospects for the UK's small and medium businesses have improved.

According to the North-West's industry news source, TheBusinessDesk, the report shows that there has been a slowdown in the rate of decline of orders, and many are predicting a return to growth in Q3.