Real estate insights: offices - reports of my death are greatly exaggerated

ABSTRACT

Purpose The aim of this Real Estate Insight is to comment upon the role that offices will play in the post-COVID 19 work environment. The impact of lockdowns, worldwide, was to accelerate the changes in office use that were already beginning in the late 2010s as changes in work culture and practice and supporting technology were slowly transforming the way in which people worked. Design/methodology/approach This Real Estate Insight will comment upon changes in the UK market as a bellwether for global working practices. The nature of the "Insights" briefings means that this is a personal view of the author. Findings This paper looks at office usage in a transitional, post-COVID 19, marketplace. The findings are a reasoned conjecture that traditional office use still has a place for the workforce of the 2020s and beyond, although office use will be less intense as workers adopt a range of other working practices, including coworking and working at home, outside the four walls of the physical office building. Practical implications As with all property investment, the value and performance of the property assets is interlinked with the use and demand of the space in question. There will be a rebasing of rents as the use of office space becomes less intense and the lowering of unit costs will allow companies to restructure the internal space to accommodate a more flexible working environment. Originality/value This is a review of the UK office market in relation to a seismic change in how workers choose to work post COVID-19.