Nspace’s Post

The latest global indicators for the office property market point with growing clarity to a state of hybrid permanence with companies seeking higher-quality space, but less of it. Landlords, investors, managers, tenants and their supply chains are all going to have to adjust their models to give occupiers what they really need in terms of office space while also making the business side work. Read more - https://lnkd.in/e3sggHJZ #FacilitiesManagement #FutureOfWork

What are the top three trends in return to office planning? JLL's Americas Markets CEO John Gates speaks with Quartz about RTO and the signs he's seeing that point to growth for in-office work: https://co.jll/40h9hrr #ReturntoOffice #RTOtrends #occupancy #hybridwork

Interesting read from Bisnow. Companies that shrunk their office footprint during the pandemic are rethinking their decisions. With more companies requiring an in-office presence from their workforce, property owners are expecting more tenants to flee back to their desks. #RealEstate #Office #Workplace

In-person office numbers have been stagnant all year at a bit below half of pre-pandemic levels, Kastle data shows. Office occupancy was expected to spike after Labor Day, and it did increase from 47% to 50%, continuing a years-long trend of in-office work rising during the latter half of September, according to Kastle. -Kayla Carmicheal #cre #commercialrealestate

📰 IN THE PRESS 📰 Our London Markets Principal and Head of Flexible Office Advisory, Martin Devine MRICS contributed his thoughts in the Financial Times’ article which was published today on how businesses are rethinking their offices and how the pandemic has prompted moves to greener, better equipped and more central workplaces.   Many businesses have moved their workforces to new, more appealing premises as they encourage staff back to the office after the pandemic. Adapting to hybrid work patterns has been a chance to downsize and cut property costs. But it has also laid the ground for a more fundamental rethink of what the modern workplace should be, from issues such as net zero commitments and technology, to location and staff wellbeing. While parts of the office market are contracting, there is still demand for modern, smaller central locations.   “You’re competing with the commute. The pandemic really allowed people time to reflect and the post-pandemic mindset is, ‘I’m going to make decisions for me.’ People want to feel a sense of connection to the space they work in from a health perspective, a social perspective and individual perspective. And if companies don’t realise that, they’ll struggle to grow.” Devine commented. Certain buildings might have a great address “but when you break down the skeleton of an office building and how it operates, a lot of them need to be repositioned”.   The Financial Times visited three companies that have made significant office moves to examine how workplaces are evolving.   Avison Young │UK #AYLondonMarkets #londonofficemarket   To read the full article: Janina Conboye, Financial Times https://lnkd.in/eEpH-Zm6

I've found a good life lesson is to follow the money and incentives behind the scenes. If someone stands to gain or lose a lot of money over a particular outcome, it's fair to call that motivation into question, especially when it seems out of alignment with other stakeholders' needs / preferences. It's hard to even think about the commercial real estate market without making a quick and direct linkage to RTO or return to office policies; companies are putting their sunk costs first. As someone who loves working with colleagues in person when it makes sense, I'm not against returning to office, especially in a hybrid format. When companies call for a wholesale return to the office without a solid plan for how we'll get more out of the time we spend together than we did before COVID, I'm dubious. This piece from Sept 1 points to the alignment challenge: the office space belongs to someone and they want their money. Lessees paying for empty office space want to make use of it. That by itself does not count among good reasons to return to offices. #WFH #RTO #hybrid #why #emptyoffices

"Visits to office buildings in Chicago last month rebounded to about 63% of June 2019 levels, per a report from Placer.ai, which tracks foot traffic in 800 office buildings nationwide. That's a significant improvement from this time last year, when visits reached 54% of pre-pandemic levels." Foot traffic is picking up at Chicago's commercial office buildings, but a new report suggests workers are spending less time in the office. Monica Eng of Axios Chicago features Placer.ai's Office Building Index data in this recent article. Learn more here: https://lnkd.in/grzM55Wk Ethan Chernofsky Jocelyn Bauer Jennifer Cowen Tali Rozenman Shira Aliza Petrack Maytal Cohen Bracha Arnold Noam Maman Jordan Taub Maia Baram Natasha Feldman Tatiana Melamud Nufar Medan Denis Dlugach Tina Silber Noam Ben-Zvi Koby Ben-Zvi Ofir Lemel Zohar Bar-Yehuda Mark Bowman Ryan Dowd Jim Walsh Jessica Owen R. J. Hottovy, CFA Oded Fossfeld Benjamin Pitman Elad Ash Sam Becker Cornelia Holzbauer Allysun Johnson Juliette Simon Derring-Do Inc. #foottraffic #foottrafficanalytics

This has been my prediction for a while now. I think too many tenants made quick decisions on a situation (Covid) that none of us have ever experienced before. The dust hasn't even fully settled yet and everyone is supposed to make a long-term decision on space needs. That's a really tough place to be in. We will likely see more companies start to reverse course, not just because they'll want more people to come back in but also because their spaces will require more private offices, collaboration areas, additional smaller conference rooms, etc. which may lead to more square feet per employee. We're not out of the woods yet, by any stretch but I do think we're starting to see our way out. #CRE #OfficeSpace #CorporateRealEstate #Workplace #Business #RTO #HybridWork #RemoteWork #Princeton #NewJersey #NJ Bisnow https://lnkd.in/eqnjJXwK

Office employees stayed home slightly more often this past week, causing the peak daily occupancy to fall nearly a point to 60% on Tuesday. Across the Barometer, half of the cities’ peak day was on Tuesday, and the other half was on Wednesday. All cities’ low day was on Friday, with the average at 33%. Austin, Texas saw the highest peak day again at 74% occupancy. The weekly average occupancy also came down this past week to 51%, as most cities experienced slight to moderate declines, according to Kastle’s 10-city Back to Work Barometer.

It was lovely chatting to Mark Faithfull, writing for Bisnow this week. If you don’t already have a login, it is free to register and only takes a moment and then you can read everything we talked about. We discussed that whilst “getting people back into the office” remains a focus for many, perhaps RTO might now be legacy phrase. Indeed, a recent global CBRE survey suggested 55% of office occupiers believe their current occupancy levels have now reached steady state. We are talking a lot more about vibrancy; that Goldilocks zone (thanks Lewis Beck) of between 60% and 70% occupancy, not too full and not too empty. So the office is neither a ghost town, nor so full you can't find a desk or you can't jump into a meeting room. A lot of our current work in experience design, workplace strategy and behaviour change is focused on this quest for vibrancy. The article also discusses the use of Flex office space. I’ve joined Billy Hodges and Tim Hamilton in a number of brilliant discussions about Flex - they are both hugely knowledgeable and well-connected across the region. I have learnt so much from them both. If you’re an office occupier or investor and considering what your flex strategy should be, I’d highly recommend talking with them. Thank you, as always, Charlotte Kenna for connecting me into such interesting conversations.