Building Engines and FastOffice Form Strategic Partnership to Bring Virtual Office Tours to Market
April 16, 2020
Space Visualization, Real-Time Touring and Planning Capabilities Fill Critical Need in CRE Industry
Boston and Toronto:
Building Engines, the leading provider of building operations software for modern commercial real estate (CRE), has partnered with FastOffice, the developer of a unique 3D visualization platform. The partnership will enable Building Engines’ customers to access FastOffice’s technology to help CRE brokers, owners and operators give prospective tenants virtual tours of vacant office spaces. This fills a critical need at a time when in-person tours are not possible. Additionally, the partnership will allow Building Engines’ customers to support prospective tenants in the planning and budgeting of their workspaces in real time.
Conventional PDF plans are often difficult for prospective tenants to understand. The dynamic 3D walk-through visualization allows for an immersive and interactive experience with a space, ensuring users can perfect their test fit quickly, while avoiding the significant costs typically required by engaging an architect. The technology shaves off several weeks from the traditional leasing process and design development time and prepares detailed budgets in a matter of minutes — all remotely. During the virtual tours, users will also be able to give current and prospective tenants the ability to virtually select furniture from manufacturer catalogs, plan out different workspace layouts and purchase and finance furniture directly through the cost-effective solution.
“FastOffice extends our already advanced visualization capabilities, which is especially helpful during the COVID-19 crisis. Prospective CRE tenants are prohibited from physically touring vacant offices. This partnership solution fills the gap by allowing brokers, owners and operators to virtually show available spaces in a safe and intuitive way,” said Tim Curran, CEO of Building Engines. “Leasing vacant spaces remains a top priority for asset owners, and this solution enables them to do just that without missing a beat. We’re very excited to bring this offering to market and see the outcomes of this partnership.”
I“We’re able to bring added dimension to Building Engines customers’ data, ensuring seamless creation of virtual experiences for prospective tenants and powerful vacancy management tools for brokers and owners. And, property managers will discover how valuable our visualization tools can be to cement positive relationships with tenants,” said Colin Graham, co-founder and CEO of FastOffice. “We understand the advantages of accessible and rapid visualization to owners as their tenants might want to reconfigure space, manage their workflows or inventory their physical assets. We’re excited to work with the Building Engines team to combine our visualization and data management capabilities with their powerful operations platform, opening it up to a broader CRE audience.”
“Colliers is always looking at the most innovative solutions for our clients and partnering with Building Engines and FastOffice is only the latest example of this commitment,” said Jake Edens, SVP, Technology and Innovation at Colliers International, a joint customer of Building Engines and FastOffice. “While the current business environment created by the COVID-19 crisis has accelerated the adoption of these technologies, we expect this to continue even after a return to normalcy. Leveraging the FastOffice solution allows Colliers professionals to virtually recreate the walk-through experience for our occupier clients, as well as provide a powerful marketing tool for our owner and investor clients. This allows us to review and edit floor plan layout and seat configuration options in real time, which makes it easier for our clients to understand the possibilities of each space and make strategic decisions without having to leave their offices (or home, for now).”
FastOffice complements Building Engines’ RealAccess, a space visualization solution designed for commercial real estate. RealAccess consolidates site measurements and CAD drawings to develop interactive floor plans, analytics, stacking diagrams and leasing tools. FastOffice can utilize those CAD plans, including PDFs, and quickly turn them into 3D visualizations, complete with furniture and 3D tours.
The partnership, set to roll-out on April 20, expands the potential market for FastOffice significantly and provides a much-needed solution to Building Engines’ customers.
About Building Engines
Building Engines is the premier operations platform powering modern CRE. Building Engines helps operators deliver an exceptional experience for building occupants, while maximizing profitability for owners. We designed our platform from the ground up to address all elements of building operations, from optimizing the tenant experience to maximizing rent rolls. Building Engines delivers an open architecture, enterprise-class capabilities and quick time to value, all through a single, easy-to-use interface. Founded in 1999 and headquartered in Boston, the company has raised more than $25 million in venture funding to build, buy and partner to deliver CRE’s most modern platform addressing long-standing problems in building operations. Today, more than 750 customers—including Beacon Capital Partners, Cushman & Wakefield and Highwoods Properties—rely on Building Engines to manage critical operational needs across more than 2.4 billion square feet and 25,000 properties worldwide. To learn more, visit www.buildingengines.com.
About FastOffice
Founded in 2019, FastOffice is a Commercial Real Estate technology company, providing 3D data visualization tools for marketing and managing real estate assets. Brokers, tenants, landlords and property managers use the 3D visualizations and tours developed within FastOffice to collaborate on marketing, leasing due diligence and ongoing management of tenant and operational needs. The FastOffice visualizations are produced rapidly and at low cost, and are, uniquely, editable in real time, enabling evidence-based decision making on the fly. The FastOffice platform also includes dynamic costing estimates, a vast catalog of furniture suppliers, financing options and more. The company recently completed the 2019 Colliers Proptech Accelerator powered by TechStars, following the Summer 2019 launch of the platform. The FastOffice software is now available to leasing teams across North America and globally. To learn more, visit www.fastoffice.com and follow them on LinkedIn.