Your office space checklist

When it comes to office space, Bangkok boasts a wide range of locations to choose from with a vast assortment of offices for rent. The quality depends on the grade of the building and facilities, accessibility to public transport, and location within Bangkok.

The highest concentration of offices is within the Central Business District (CBD), covering Sukhumvit, Sathon, Silom, Wireless and Rama IV roads. You can also find office properties for sale or rent throughout other parts of the city, especially in locations such as Ratchadaphisek, Bang Na, Chaeng Watthana and Vibhavadi-Rangsit.

In terms of proximity to mass-transit systems, it would be ideal if your office is near the MRT subway and the BTS skytrain, the primary and most convenient means of transport within midtown and central locations.

LOCATIONS

Bangkok office locations can be classified into the following areas:

Bangkok CBD: The Central Business District consists of Sukhumvit (from sois 1-41 and the Asok area), Silom and Wireless roads. The mass-transit infrastructure of the MRT and BTS allows them to spread across different key nodes of urban development with a mix of residential, retail and office structures.

Core CBD: The Core CBD passes through Rama IV and Phloenchit roads, taking in areas such as Ratchadamri, Wireless, Sathon and Silom roads. This is where a majority of top-class office buildings are located. Many multinational company headquarters and foreign embassies are found here, and both masstransit systems serve the area.

Outer CBD: This covers more residential areas along the route BTS Sukhumvit line, from Soi 1 to Asok and beyond to Sukhumvit Soi 41.

Non-CBD: Some suburban and midtown areas have attracted significant office development. These consist of Ratchada North, the inner and outer Northern corridors, late Sukhumvit and Bang Na-Trat roads, East and South Bangkok. Companies that require accessibility to downtown, the airport and industrial locations tend to buy office space within this region. Offices within the non-CBD area tend to be concentrated along masstransit routes for obvious reasons.

OFFICE CLASSIFICATION

Grade A, or the absolute best category, should include the following characteristics in order to be officially graded by CBRE as such:

A regularly shaped floor plate that should be divisible and lack structural hindrances.

A centralised air-conditioning system with air volume that can be controlled and adjusted instead of a watercooled system with air volume that is automatically regulated at one setting.

The computer rooms of the tenants should also have a supply of air-conditioning 24 hours a day.

The elevators should have quick accessibility and short waiting periods, serving different floor zones in higher buildings as appropriate. A service lift with its own separate lobby should also be present.

Floor lobbies, the main entrance, and other common areas should feature complex designs meant to impress and charm people; these include having beautiful decorations and the highest quality fittings.

A recommended height of at least 2.8 metres for ceilings within offices.

A professional building management team or staff should be present in every building.

The entry and exit routes of all parking lots should be efficiently and smoothly designed, so that they do not create needless traffic.

Most buildings should have destination-control elevators and controlled-access turnstiles.

Some buildings (especially the newly built ones), should be LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified.

OWNERSHIP OPTIONS

Single ownership: Single-ownership office developments include high-rises and purpose-built properties owned and operated by one office landlord. The companies and individuals who buy units and office space from the landlord are essentially the landlord’s tenants. Single ownership, or proprietorship, is the most common type of office development within Bangkok.

Multiple ownership: Also known in Thailand as office condominiums (and elsewhere as strata title ownership), these are quite limited in number in Bangkok. They allow for multiple ownership of a given building or property. All units have the premises sold to individual owners rather than being rented out by landlords.

The main difference between single and multiple ownership setups is that the latter has a different method of property management. The management company for multiple ownership offices is supervised by a coowners’ committee, which manages the common areas.

As in the case of condominiums for personal use, these office condos have shared responsibility for areas outside of the units bought by the multiple owners; on the other hand, the maintenance of individual office spaces is the sole responsibility of the owners who bought them.