Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa Real Estate Investor Magazine - October 2017 | Page 36

OFFICE
Rethinking the Office
Solutions for the
mobile generation
BY MARY ARROW
F
or as long as most of us can remember, work was some-
where you went, not something you did. Due to the type
of work most people did, the workforce of yesterday had
to go to work. But, things changed. Typewriters became tab-
lets; telephones became smartphones; fax machines became
emails. In today’s world, the need for an office has been de-
cidedly reduced.
Size matters
There was a time when the measure of a company was the
size of its office. Having an office was considered a necessity.
The taller your building, and the more staff you employed, the
greater your perceived success (and the more commercially
relevant you were). After all, people needed somewhere to go
when they “went to work” and clients needed somewhere to
come to meet with you. This was good news for landlords who
benefitted from the commercial and real-estate boom.
As with most sectors, the advancement of technology also
had an effect on the property market. The technological revo-
lution picked up momentum towards the end of the previous
century, coinciding with the introduction of the virtual-of-
fice business model. The first serviced office saw the light in
the mid to late 1980s. Due to the fact that business could be
conducted with more ease, globalisation kicked into top gear.
Travelling businessmen and salesmen were the first to benefit
from this decentralisation, having the option to work from
virtually anywhere.
Changes in real estate dynamics come about due to shifting
needs in the market. At no point in time has this been more
apparent than during the past 20 years.
The transition to a more flexible work environment hasn’t
been embraced by everyone. Old-school managers, stuck in
traditional corporate mindsets still manage their workforce by
attendance and not by performance, they cannot fathom that
you could be working (let alone productive) if you are not in
the office.
Despite this, great progress has been made since the intro-
duction of co-working. Once only found far and few between,
co-working spaces are now frequently used by a more mobile
workforce. The logic is sound: why have a full-time office when
you only need it for a few hours a week. The increase in free-
lance workers and start-ups have played an essential role in the
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OCTOBER 2017 SA Real Estate Investor Magazine
rise in popularity of these spaces, leading to exciting opportu-
nities within the office market.
Out with the old
Co-working spaces are popping up all over our cities, offering
tenants customised solutions. The space can be rented per hour,
day, week, or month. In addition, tenants can choose between
private offices, lounges or shared desk spaces, depending on
their need for the day. Where traditional offices were designed
for privacy and seclusion, these modern solutions are laid out
with collaboration in mind.
With each passing day, the lines between work and play; of-
fice and home; leisure and online vs. offline, are being blurred.
In order to stay relevant, companies need to rethink their real
estate strategy and workplace environment. Some fortune
500 companies are including coffee shops and co-working
design principles into their offices to entice their staff back
to the office, promote productivity and attract new talent. To
expand their offering and appeal to a wider audience, some
co-working spaces also offer closed offices for one person or
small teams.
According to research from JLL, in some cities serviced and
co-working operators are fast becoming the single biggest ten-
ants in some key buildings. This is good news for the market, as
it shows a shift towards a sharing economy that’s here to stay.
SOURCES
NeuNomad, JLL
BENEFITS OF CO-WORK SPACES
Why would you choose a shared space over a
traditional office?
• Flexible contract
• Increased collaboration
• Networking opportunities
• Modern technology and facilities
• Only pay for the time and space you really need