The Internet Provider Bringing Flexibility To London's Commercial Real Estate Market

Ensuring internet connectivity is a top priority for owners and developers, both in new builds and retrofits. But it’s not always easy to guarantee, particularly in London, said Matt Chippendale, head of commercial real estate at Vorboss, a fibre network owner and managed service provider. 

The capital is one of the oldest and most difficult cities to build in from an infrastructure perspective, he said. However, those who work with partners to proactively establish connectivity early on are seeing the benefits. 

“Internet connectivity used to be an afterthought for landlords and developers — something for tenants to organise when they move in,” he said. “Now, they’re using connectivity as an amenity that will differentiate their properties.”

Vorboss relaunched in September 2022 as a provider of internet to commercial real estate properties across London. The team had been building its network since 2019 after raising £300M in funding. 

Due to the pandemic, which halted work for many businesses and emptied streets, the firm was able to achieve network development in two years, far shorter than it would normally have taken, Chippendale said.

Last year, Vorboss acquired three businesses, expanding its managed services to include cybersecurity, IT and network management. This gives London businesses a single expert provider for all their connectivity needs, Chippendale said.  

“Customers were asking us to provide more than just internet connectivity,” he said. “They seek the office-in-a-box concept, where everything is taken care of, from WiFi to day-to-day IT support.”

In the last few years, Vorboss has steadily increased its market share of fibre provision across London, growth that Chippendale largely attributes to the business’s ability to be more flexible than larger providers. 

Developers are generally under time pressure and need to ensure services are available when a building is completed, but they often struggle because they are operating in a dynamic environment, he said. 

“Plans can change on an almost daily basis, particularly as buildings constructed decades ago aren’t designed to be technically-enabled,” he said. “We’re willing to roll with the punches, be flexible, because we do everything in-house.”

Vorboss owns and manages its network independently. As the team is London-focused and therefore smaller than the larger providers, Chippenale said customers appreciate having one point of contact and the same person to survey and install fibre. 

However, this doesn’t restrict a landlord in terms of providing choice to tenants, which is another challenge faced by property owners, he said.

Vorboss is an open-access network, which means other providers can use its underlying infrastructure. If a tenant has a preferred supplier, such as a global contract with one company to provide internet, a landlord can accommodate this while still leveraging the infrastructure that has already been installed.

“This means they can still bring us in during building design and refurbishment to ensure connectivity and achieve the same outcome,” Chippendale said. “We’re now starting to put completely agnostic infrastructure into buildings.”

To make its service as easily available across buildings as possible, Vorboss pre-agrees wayleaves with large landlords when possible. The team can speculatively connect buildings to give future tenants the choice of using them, which Chippendale said is more proactive than other providers that might not survey a structure until it’s closer to being ready. 

When Vorboss has preconnected a building, a floor could have internet connectivity within 48 hours of a tenant signing for space. This is important for managed space providers, Chippendale said, a growing segment of the market.

Managed space currently accounts for 12% of London’s office market but is predicted to reach 20% by 2030. 

Increasingly, businesses taking space in London, whether managed or on a traditional lease, are in the tech sector, Chippendale said. Often, they’re artificial intelligence companies, which don’t just want a high level of connectivity but also a backup in case one service fails. 

Vorboss has offered a 100-gigabyte product for several years, but few companies needed that bandwidth three years ago. Today, the business is providing far more contracts giving this level of connectivity, and almost all of them are from fast-growing sectors such as AI, media, tech, gaming and fintech, he said. 

“High-capacity internet is the lifeblood of AI businesses,” Chippendale said. “If you cannot provide that as a landlord, then you’ll miss out on that tenant. Our goal is to help them make sure they provide this utility at the level their customers need and expect.”

This article was produced in collaboration between Vorboss and Studio B. Bisnow news staff was not involved in the production of this content.

Studio B is Bisnow’s in-house content and design studio. To learn more about how Studio B can help your team, reach out to studio@bisnow.com.