“What if the pandemic had hit in 2010? Then we would have been really screwed.” This is one of the most arresting things anyone has said to me all year. Cutting through the barrage of overused, slightly meaningless catchall phrases – my “new normal” fatigue has been well-documented – this particular observation really stuck with me. It neatly sums up 2020 from a technology and innovation perspective simply by highlighting how exponentially worse off we would all have been without it.
Imagine trying to set up remote working systems, basically overnight, with 2010 tech and local connectivity. Imagine trying to stay in touch with colleagues without Zoom, Microsoft Teams or Google Hangouts.
For real estate specifically, the challenges would have been just as stark. There was no technology available in 2010 to facilitate virtual viewings on any workable scale, no systems or platforms advanced enough to manage a building or portfolio remotely and no digital innovation cheap or scalable enough to equip buildings and cities with the features required to create spaces safe and healthy enough to encourage people to return.
Would the real estate sector as we know it have survived a crisis of this scale if it had happened a decade ago? Perhaps not. And, even if it had, it would likely have emerged limping from the shadows, in no fit state to embrace some of the more positive elements that have arisen off the back of this unprecedented, global pause on life as we knew it.
Where tech can make all the difference
There hasn’t been a year in recent history more significant in terms of revealing the true and real power of technology than 2020. I have said it many times since March and I will say it again, Covid-19 is not the path to success that anyone would have wished for. But society as a whole and real estate more specifically have been forced to reflect and adapt as a result, so it makes sense to try to learn from the situation we have all found ourselves in. To build on and improve the world we were living in. And that’s where tech can make all the difference.
I want to make clear that, even before Covid sparked global lockdowns and turned the world on its head, 2020 was already proving a big year for technology in real estate. Change was afoot and it seemed that the industry was ready to embrace digital transformation this year with renewed vigour.
Kicking off in January, Los Angeles-based tech investor Fifth Wall announced that it would be launching a $200m carbon impact fund. The news shot to the top of our most-read stories list two weeks in a row. This would be the real estate sector’s “pitchfork moment” said Fifth Wall co-founder Brendan Wallace, highlighting that the industry’s responsibility to tackle climate change and ESG was no longer something it could, or indeed should, ignore.
Then, also in January, more signs of tech focus from the top as SEGRO put a “disruptive thinker” at its heart as chief financial officer and former investment banker Soumen Das took on a new role to “oversee a new division covering strategy, investment and innovation”.
In February, JLL gave the wider sector a glimpse of the financial firepower of embracing tech and digital transformation as president and chief executive Christian Ulbrich reported “pleasing” revenue growth off the back of digital products. He added that out of the $100m JLL has ringfenced to invest in technology, 40% has been invested already and the deal pipeline is “very strong”.
In fact, February proved to be a stellar month overall in terms of demonstrating the power of and interest in EG’s tech content. News of CBRE’s digital head moving to a German tech firm, the big reveal of 22 Bishopsgate’s tech system and an analysis of whether Airbnb’s valuation would go the same way as WeWork’s – ie, not well – were some of our most engaged with pieces of content. The level of interest in these stories was clear proof that technology and innovation has never been more at the forefront of the minds and strategies. I like to think, therefore, that Covid or not, 2020 would have been as big a year as any for technology in real estate.
Then came March. And while news of furlough schemes, fears of redundancy and hectic recalibrations of financial projections dominated, this is where the technology sector really came into its own.
From “nice to have” to clear differentiator
Once a “nice-to-have”, digital tools including building management systems, virtual viewings set-ups and access to decent building data became a clear differentiator between those businesses struggling to keep up with the unprecedented changes and those that had an advantage by being ahead of the curve.
Our piece on how Covid 19 could change the way we work forever became one of many similar pieces written by journalists and commentators the world over spanning every sector. But back in April it struck a chord and addressed some of the issues we have come back to time and again over the past few months. Let’s not forget that, back then, the concept of companies not retuning to offices or changing their approach to HQs was new. Yes, we had been gearing up to a more flexible approach to life and work pre-pandemic. But no one could have predicted an acceleration on such a dramatic scale.
The debate and action points raised back then continue to rage on now. We still don’t know what the future holds for offices. Or wider portfolios. Or cities. Or our lifestyles. As a line in the sand and an initial foray into what the world might look like after the pandemic, this remains one of our most significant pieces of tech and innovation content of the year. It started the conversation. A conversation that still hasn’t stopped and likely won’t for months to come.
The return to work debate raged on for much of the spring until the sector started to shift its focus to how we might return and why technology would need to play a key role. Dutch developer EDGE technologies revealed how it used sensor technology to get its workforce back to the office by May and JLL, Savills and CBRE all announced plans and strategies to get staff back to offices.
The summer saw another tech trend shift, this time away from the return to work debate as a specific issue and more towards the wider impact of technology on our communities. And what a welcome shift it was, a dawning realisation that it was not just the way we spend our working lives that looked set for an overhaul, but our entire cities.
With more content and analysis focusing on the fundamental societal issues built into our cities and communities, like this one from US commentator Dror Poleg, 2020 began to emerge as the year when problems were no longer ignored and real estate started to see where it could step in and make a real difference.
This is another debate that has raged on. I think that’s only a good thing. How we create better, safer, more efficient cities is a discussion that should remain right at the top of the real estate sector’s to-do list. It incorporates everything: tech, ESG, people, economics, talent… to name a few. In November, this topic was addressed in depth again in EG’s Halo Effect section – a round-up of our best tech and innovation content – where three of the world’s leading urban design experts discussed how property and technology will play a crucial role in shaping the future of better, fairer cities and global communities.
Other highlights this year included meeting the Tech Titans; the global players repositioning some of the biggest real estate companies in the world for a digital future, revealing our fresh crop of EG Rising Stars – many of whom hail from the worlds of tech and innovation – and exploring whether tech occupiers will continue to bolster commercial up-take figures in cities despite changing work requirements.
It has also been quite the year for us here at EG in terms of our own approach to tech and innovation. We have brought you Halo, a new platform where you can access all of our tech and innovation content, from news to analysis and podcasts, for free and we have introduced a regular tech section, the Halo Effect, in the magazine for a round-up of the best of our online tech content.
Then there were the EG Tech Awards in September, EG’s first ever virtual awards event – and what an event it was. With 100 entries and nearly 2,000 people tuning in from around the world, we wanted to give our winners and finalists a ceremony worthy of their incredible achievements over the past 12 months. Thanks to the unfaltering engagement and support from everyone involved – from our entrants to the wider industry and from the team here at EG to our partners – we made it happen.
There is so much more I could cover in this 2020 round-up. So many stories of innovation, evidence of mindset shifts and hints at a better, more efficient future. It has been a challenging year. And of course for many, a tragic one.
But if silver linings are to be found, then technology is a good place to look. Innovation so often stems from times of great adversity. We are all well within our rights to have mixed to negative feelings about 2020. But let’s not dismiss it altogether. It has taught us a lot and might just pave the way for another decade of much needed change.
To send feedback, e-mail emily.wright@egi.co.uk or tweet @EmilyW_9 or @estatesgazette
