All hail the office of the future

At the beginning of lockdown, the successful transition of most people and businesses to working remotely brought serious debate on the future of the office.

The so-called“death of the office” has been touted in business circles before. Yet office spaces in cities and towns around the globe have adapted, whether by design changes, different layouts or new use of technology. They will continue to adapt, and the evidence of how that will happen is already emerging.

Although the situation is evolving, it is likely that there will be a more blended approach with working from home and other places. However, according to our research of hundreds of global businesses, just 8 per cent of occupiers anticipate needing less space per employee on the back of Covid-19.

In fact, 23 per cent believe they will need more, and 69 per cent expect to require the same–perhaps partly explained by more than half thinking they will need to reduce international travel. Indeed, it seems most people want to return to the structure the office provides. It creates the delineation between work and home time many have lost in lockdown, with research from Atlas Cloud suggesting people working from home will do an extra month’ s work each year if they continue current patterns.

The discussion has become more about what form offices will take, rather than whether they will exist at all. Some property analysts have pointed towards a hub and spoke model becoming more popular, where occupiers have a large office in the city centre with satellite operations in surrounding locations. This may be the case in large cities such as London but it is unlikely to work in Edinburgh and Scotland more generally where conurbations are smaller.

Nevertheless, with a similar property footprint, the more important change may be how city centre offices will be used. We expect more organisations moving towards a “café-style” layout for offices – characterised by communal and break- out areas. Some 92 percent of respondents to our survey said they will need the same amount or more collaborative space.

All of this suggests we are moving towards a point where the driving factor behind offices is not necessarily the physical office itself, but more how people experience it. And, in that respect, the pandemic has turbocharged the wellness trend.

While there are few properties in Scotland that have the official certificate, many are working towards that standard by including amenities inline with its objectives. Ever yo cc u pier is different, but what we are beginning to see is a new kind of office that promotes socialisation, collaboration, and education between colleagues and clients through a changing use of space.

As a concept, the office we knew may well be dead; but long live the office of the future.

Simon Capaldi is an office agency partner at Knight Frank Edinburgh