ADVICE & OPINION
COMMENT
REGIONAL VIEW
COVID-19 has created disruptions in all areas
of our working lives - from conference calls
at kitchen tables to home-schooling in between
meetings. So, it’s hardly surprising that the vast
majority of workers are eager to return to the
o ice. However, it is unlikely that teams will
return to the workplace as they le it.
Facebook has said that up to 50 per cent of its
sta will continue to work remotely for the next five
to 10 years. At the same time, Barclays and Lloyds
Bank have both confirmed that they will reassess
their real estate commitments - turning away from
a central o ice model to embrace ‘strategic hubs’
across the UK.
As businesses rethink their real estate footprint
in favour of greater flexibility and new ways of
working, regional flexible workspace is primed
to cater to the new demand. Already impressive
growth in this market is set to be fuelled further
still by decentralisation of o ice catering to
social distancing and strengthening preferences
for working closer to home. And, underpinning
this shi , will be the critical role of technology in
facilitating a more footloose workforce now and
well beyond COVID-19.
FIRM FOUNDATIONS
The growth of flexible workspace in towns and
cities outside of London is not a new phenomenon.
Over the past five years, the entire UK market grew
by 50 per cent and in the country’s second and third
14 SEPTEMBER 2020
cities expansion has been even more dramatic. In
Nottingham, for example, flexible workspace grew
by 93 per cent between 2017 and 2019 – testament
to the strengthening demand for workspaces
outside London even before the pandemic.
This trend has not been hampered by COVID-19.
In fact, operators such as BizSpace, already
specialising in regional workplaces, are reporting
a significant uptick in enquiries from larger
businesses rethinking the need for long-term leases
in central cities. Increasingly, such businesses are in
favour of a strategic hub and spoke approach that
combines remote working with regional flexible
workspace options.
DECENTRALISING FOR SOCIAL DISTANCING
So, far from slowing demand for regional
workspace, it appears the pandemic has
accelerated it. Indeed, COVID-19 safety guidelines
have raised new questions about the suitability
of the traditional city centre o ice, with the
skyscrapers synonymous with London’s skyline
particularly unsuited to the demands of safe
distancing. HSBC, for instance, intends at least for
the foreseeable future to keep its capacity in o ices
below 20 per cent in order to comply with new
health and safety priorities and social distancing.
For businesses now seeking o site solutions
to o ice blocks unable to accommodate density,
flexible space outside the capital is the obvious
answer, limiting crowding in central o ices and
public transport by providing alternative spaces
closer to home. City landlords and o ice providers
are, in turn, beginning to adapt their approach
accordingly, with the managing director of strategy
at Canary Wharf suggesting that the central o ice
could become the mothership at the centre of a
network of smaller, dispersed o ices.
STAYING CLOSER TO HOME
With 72 per cent of people identifying ditching their
commute as the main advantage of lockdown home
working, there is also growing desire to work on a
more flexible basis in the long term. Nonetheless,
a survey by The O ice Group showed that almost
half (46 per cent) of lockdown remote workers
have felt disconnected from their colleagues.
Clearly, the need for physical o ice space will
not vanish completely, but many are turning to
flexible workspace closer to home as a solution,
combining the convenience of working without the
lengthy commute, but with all the amenities and
connectivity of the o ice.
So, there can be little doubt that our new, more
flexible working preferences will continue to drive
this shi . In fact, our clients within the flexible
workspace sector are already reporting increasing
demands not only for workspace in town and cities
outside the main hubs, but also workspaces in rural
parts of the country.
TECHNOLOGY IS KEY
However, as businesses adopt a decentralised
approach to the o ice, a shi to regional flex
space must be matched by crucial investment
by landlords and operators in the technology
infrastructure to power a more dispersed and
footloose workforce. In fact, up to 72 minutes of the
working day are lost as a result of poor connectivity
and out-dated technology.
As businesses turn to a more flexible model,
o ices will need to act as a ‘digital nucleus’,
providing access to cloud based systems, remote
telephony services and digital collaboration
capabilities such as video conferencing in order
to maintain connections and communications
between disparate teams in regulatory compliant
ways.
THE FUTURE IS FLEXIBLE
Flexible workspace in regional towns and cities
o ers a much-needed solution to the pressures
faced by the workforce as lockdown begins to ease
— the incompatibility of city centre skyscrapers
with social distancing, a desire to work more
flexibly, closer to home, and to ditch the commute
for good.
But with estimates that 71 per cent of digitally
unconnected spaces will become obsolete in the
near future, robust technology capabilities have a
vital part to play in ensuring the viability of regional
workspaces to meet new demand now and for the
years to come.
Richard Morris, Director at technologywithin explains why demand
for fl exible offi ce space outside of the capital is set to grow