The pandemic and subsequent quarantine highlighted the weaknesses of all businesses without exception. Moreover, if earlier the word “business” was equal to the word “office”, now it has become clear that you can quite successfully and productively work at home. There are more than 170 business centers of various classes in Kiev, and, according to Volodymyr Gelyuta, managing partner of UTG Offices, up to 90% of office employees worked remotely during quarantine. So, at the end of the pandemic, we will definitely see a reconception of both existing and future office real estate projects.
“For these two months, the business has lost a lot of money, so it will try to look for any opportunities to reduce its operating costs and start earning more. Someone will optimize the area, someone will change the location, because they were not given a rental vacation or a discount for the quarantine period. The offices themselves will start functioning differently, ”notes Andriy Ryzhykov, CEO and managing partner of the development company DC Evolution.
Removing quarantine, unfortunately, does not automatically cancel the pandemic itself and the likelihood of infection, so companies will look for ways to ensure the safety of their employees – whether reformatting the existing space or moving to a conceptually new place. According to Andriy Ryzhykov, in the future, offices with the most flexible layouts and the possibility of re-profiling will be in demand, so objects that are at the design stage and have not yet been built will be revised to meet new requirements.
“I predict a change in the number of storeys of future office centers: people don’t want to ride elevators, especially in large business centers, where it is comparable to a trip to the metro at rush hour, so the demand for detached offices will grow. In addition, there will be a demand for real estate in which you can live and work at the same time, without going outside the building, ”adds Volodymyr Geluta.
Andriy Ryzhykov also supports this idea, which recalls the relevance of the concept of “live, where you work, work, where you live,” which allows you to realize spaces for living, working and relaxing. “If previously a well-designed IFC simply simplified life and freed up time for really important things, now it’s also about security,” Andriy Ryzhykov summarizes.