New London Architecture

NLA Expert Panel on Work

Wednesday 03 February 2021

Federico Ortiz

Head of Content

In the first meeting of 2021, the NLA Expert Panel on Work came together to share thought leadership and discuss pressing issues around the future of the workplace. Here are some of the key points that panellists raised: 
 
Commercial recovery, the bigger picture 
— The recovery will be different in central and outer London, but also different from London as a whole. Monofunctional areas like the City of London and Canary Wharf will have to rethink their offer.
— There will be a growth in jobs in the fin-tech and comms sectors, as well as delivery services and all the companies that effectively use the delivery infrastructure. 
— At the moment the hybrid model, with Tuesday-Thursday as office days and then flexible working-from-home days, seems to be the most widely accepted model going forward, both for tenants and employees. This requires imagining a support structure for the mental health and wellbeing of employees, rethinking the transport, logistics and digital infrastructure, and developing the right offer of cultural, leisure and socialising elements to attract people back into central business districts.
— When asked about when we would return to the office, the majority of panellists agreed September 2021 looks like a reasonable timeframe; with more optimistic viewpoints suggesting April 2021, although this seems too early to some other more cautious perspectives that alert the current working conditions may well stay in place until 2022. 
— Moving buildings: many buildings are changing hands and the realisation of a tired stock is driving exploratory and quick redesign projects. Retrofitting will be key going forward, especially in the wake of the climate emergency. 
 
Co-working and affordable workspace 
— Landlords are looking at expanding their own co-working, time-share and flexible leasing models. However, the operation of these services is key and whoever does it (the landlord itself, a third company/operator, or even the borough) needs to prioritise the actual needs of the end user, i.e. make it really affordable for the person that will be using the space. 
— At the moment the provision of affordable workspace is in a policy vacuum, with inconsistencies across London’s boroughs and operators not benefiting the end user. 
— There is evidence that, even before the pandemic, if there was a provider of co-working spaces in a building, almost all tenants would have had a membership with them. The main attraction being meeting rooms and shared spaces, but maintenance and hygiene are a concern. 
— There is an opportunity for co-working operators to cleverly provide different packages of affordability. But running a hospitality membership-based service is different from operating a workspace. Establishing partnerships is crucial. 
 
Data and international case studies 
— As the world is still going through different stages of dealing with the pandemic, it is still hard to pinpoint best practice and international case studies. Comparisons are also hard to do as each country is in a different phase and under special circumstances. Data coming in now will most certainly be very different in the summer. However, a few trends are coming from:
— Sydney is starting to return to the office in a hybrid model, arranged by teams per day. The response to COVID-19 is critical but the longer-term issue is future proofing buildings and responding to the climate change.  
— Los Angeles and Moscow are picking up bigger projects that follow a campus model of office buildings where you can do more than work. In Moscow this is to do with security and climate, in LA brand and membership. This requires big sites, but we will somehow see this trend coming to London.
 
NLA will closely follow the evolution of workplaces in London with a report launching in May 2021.

© Burwell Architects

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Federico Ortiz

Head of Content


Work

#NLAWork

Programme Champions

(ARCHIVE) Landsec
City of London Corporation

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