When we started the return to the office over the summer, it became clear to businesses and our tenants how critical face-to-face interaction and collaboration is to our working lives. But as new restrictions have come in, the return to the office is proving more complex than we originally thought.
Before these new changes came into place, Brookfield and other office developers in London were working hard to make sure offices were as Covid-secure and safe as possible. We worked with government, local authorities and tenants over the summer to help balance safety priorities alongside reopening goals.
We put significant work into adapting our offices, with strict social distancing and spaced workstations, transparent barriers, round-the-clock cleaning, new air filtration systems, and have engaged public health advisers who specialise in infectious disease and epidemiology to provide us with advice and guidance.
Supplement vs substitute
The future of the office will change. Working from home and the flexibility it gives us will become more prominent – although I believe as a supplement to, rather than a substitute for, the office environment.
As long-term London office market players, we will respond and innovate. In the long term we believe there will be greater demand for quality office buildings with the best systems, technologies and sustainability credentials.
We will always strive to provide environments that harness the power of human connections while supporting employees’ health, wellbeing and safety – and we will continue to adapt our spaces post-Covid.
The office will continue to be the hub of commercial life in London. What did we all do when first lockdown came in? We all went to the web to try and recreate the experience of seeing and hearing each other. We craved face-to-face contact. Over lockdown many of us found we were unable to separate work life and home life, and realised we need that physical separation for our minds, for our family and friends, and our communities.
Once we started the return to the workplace it was great to settle back into the creativity and comfort of the office. We all started to see and feel daily the benefits of being in the same room as our colleagues and feel the joy of watching the reopening of cafes, shops and leisure facilities alongside us.
The lifeblood of business
Social interaction and human connection will become more important as we return. Over the summer, tenants, local residents and the public showed us how they have missed the social interaction the physical office and all its benefits gives us.
In August we reintroduced food trucks back to the City at Citypoint, with the help of StreetDots. We facilitated events including socially distant yoga with Nuffield Health and themed silent discos by Secret Sunrise, all adhering to the relevant government guidelines. We also opened a new art exhibition, ‘Matt Smith: 2020’, at 99 Bishopsgate. The positive response we had was overwhelming.
We all know the positive impact the office has on us as people, our communities and the economy. The return to the office is critical to support the major workplaces that keep London thriving, and which are the lifeblood of so many of the capital’s small businesses. In the months ahead, we will continue to work hard and make sure that when our tenants return to the office, they can do so safely while they enjoy the benefits the physical office has to offer.
Martin Wallace is head of leasing at Brookfield Properties
