In our pre-pandemic world, not only were companies investing huge sums in ever more expansive and elaborate workplaces, but cities were falling over themselves to offer various incentives to locate those buildings within their boundaries.

As has been widely documented, the pandemic has meant much of that knowledge work has been done remotely, with numerous surveys highlighting the general reluctance of employees to venture back into the office again.

A lot is at stake for commercial developers, as in May it was estimated that just 5% of buildings across America had occupancy rates above 10%. While the situation was marginally better in Europe, the picture is far from rosy given the uncertain return to work in the coming months.

With data from Moody’s Analytics suggesting that as many as 20% of offices in America will be empty by 2022, there is clearly a demand among organizations for their real estate to do more than was previously the case. This is aptly illustrated by estimates from Fitch that the value of corporate real estate in America could half if remote working remains popular for three days each week.

Attractive places to work

As a result of the renewed competition from remote working, there is a clear need for corporate real estate managers to up their game and make offices more attractive places for workers to spend their day.  At the top of their agenda is making buildings greener and more sustainable.

There has been a gradual trend towards greener and more sustainable buildings for some time, with many property firms now pledging to only develop net-zero carbon offices. Such investments in sustainability inevitably favor new developments, however, with the task of retrofitting older properties that much harder.

For instance, the real estate fund manager Schroders became the founding signatory to the Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative in December 2020, and earlier this year published its pathway to becoming net-zero by 2050. The $20bn fund manager wants to ensure that assets are in line with the carbon reduction targets outlined in the Paris Agreement.

While talk of the death of cities as a result of the pandemic is almost certainly overblown, Covid has renewed our appreciation for the role our landscape plays in public health. Parks and other green spaces are likely to prevaricate after the pandemic, with the shift towards walkable cities accelerating as officials strive to make cities not only buzzing places to be but also healthy places to be.

Healthier workplaces

The Exchange, a new development in the Paddington area of London, aims to bring green spaces inside with an indoor park within the walls of the development providing workers and visitors with a space to relax and recharge.

The 18-story development aims to blend the comfort of working from home with the communal aspect of working life.  This is especially important, as while tools like Slack and Zoom have done great things in ensuring that a degree of continuity can be maintained during the pandemic, we have also witnessed a surge in loneliness that must not be underestimated.

For instance, chronic loneliness has been linked with life reductions akin to that achieved by smoking 15 cigarettes a day, and while remote work has undoubtedly been a fast and efficient way to get things done, in our desire for more human experiences at work, the communal nature of a well-constructed workplace is likely to be crucial.

To that end, The Exchange is built to try and make work more humane. As well as featuring a wide range of bars, cafes, event spaces, and yoga suites, its office spaces are designed to give workers far more space than would ordinarily be the case.

As well as being a place of work, the building will host a program of events, workshops, and classes, to enable occupiers to develop themselves, unwind, and meet others from across the building.

Covid safe

Of course, as well as supporting our mental wellbeing, it’s also vital that workplaces provide a safe environment in terms of the spread of Covid itself.  This is especially so at a time in which Amazon has announced that they will be stopping testing in its warehouses alongside a phasing out of other protective measures.

At The Exchange, they’ve attempted to provide as Covid-safe an environment as possible, with the lower occupational densities allowing for social distancing, contactless facilities throughout the building, and state-of-the-art ventilation to ensure that fresh air circulates consistently.

“A lot of Covid issues won’t be fixable in existing buildings,” Barry Ostle, Development Director at Sellar, the developers of The Exchange told me recently. “We’ve been able to introduce Covid-friendly features into the building from the design phase.”

A new standard

Liviu Tudor, the President of the European Property Federation in Brussels, aims to go one step further and ensure standards are met for Covid-safe workplaces. He has developed the IMMUNE Building Standard, which include over 100 measures designed to ensure that organizations provide a safe workplace for employees as they return to the office.

For instance, the standards include measures such as temperature scanning in the entrances of buildings, antimicrobial paint to prevent the spread of bacteria, and contactless access points to lifts, offices, and so on.

“People have to feel more confident that the workplace will be safer for them than they will be at home,” Tudor says. “We already have green buildings, but we want to work towards healthy buildings as well.”

Managing the return

While the future remains largely uncertain, what does appear certain is that it will involve various forms of transition, whether it’s transitioning back into the workplace or to a hybrid form of work.  We’re seeing a fundamental change in the nature of work, and it’s vital that we consider both the moment and the movement.

The pandemic has done a good job of shifting our attention away from the hyper-productivity of old towards sustainability and whether the intense pressure the workforce has been under can be, or should be, endured into the longer-term.

This is a shift in mindset that is seeing wellbeing extend from the confines of our 9-5 existence to incorporate our entire lives, and indeed that of our families and communities.  As Tal Ben-Shahar describes in his latest book Happiness Studies, “the failure to bring about health and happiness, peace and harmony, is to some extent due to the focus on parts of the human rather than the whole.”

There is a growing understanding of the benefits of a happy and engaged workforce, be that in terms of retention, productivity, or innovation.  The workplace can undoubtedly play a key role in supporting that happiness and engagement, but it’s clear that the post-Covid landscape is demanding that employers up their game and provide workplaces that support our wellbeing as well as our productivity.