28 minute read
Offices: The new ways of working
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Ronny Nuten
Head of Office Agency at Ceusters
The impact of the new ways of working on the office market
We gathered four real estate experts, Rikkert Leeman, Laurent Calonne, Ronny Nuten and Mathieu Van Marcke, around the table. The topic? The ‘new way of working’. Will we soon return to the office life we had before? Or has home-working become an acquired right? What should the workplace of the future look like? Is it still relevant? These questions ignited an inspired discussion in which the concepts of ‘flexibility’ and ‘balance’ prevailed.
The experiment
Ronny Nuten, Head of Office Agency at Ceusters, jumpstarts the panel discussion. ‘We live in more than interesting times’, he states. ‘After all, the corona crisis has turbocharged a trend that had already been present in the office market for some time: hybrid working. This acceleration has, in turn, set all kinds of dynamics in motion. Not just whether you still need an office or what a present-day workplace should look like, but it also raises questions about labour legislation. How, for example, do you embed home-working into the company policy? And what about insurance? The ‘new way of working’ due to COVID clearly awakens questions about both business accommodation and business management!’ Rikkert Leeman, CEO of Alides, immediately chimes in and proposes looking at the last year and a half as one big experiment. His fellow panel members are immediately intrigued.
Rikkert Leeman: ‘Take, for example, the first full lockdown. The compulsory remote working pleasantly surprised many people: no more annoying commute to work, an easier combination of private tasks with work, the possibility of getting some fresh air during the day, ... Moreover, it turned out that certain work activities, that are rather technical or repetitive in nature, could indeed be done just as well from home. And maybe even better! Because it is easier to focus at home. In short, we can conclude that it was a successful experiment. Thanks also to the good weather. But then comes the other side of the coin. The ‘experiment’ has lasted too long. The novelty soon wore off. The fourth virtual happy hour was one too many. Our heads were about to explode after the umpteenth Teams meeting ... And above all, we have discovered that we are greater social animals than we had ever suspected. I believe in management by walking around; you get so much more useful information from informal contacts. There are many mini contact moments in which important information can be checked. You don’t set up a Teams meeting for these small, yet important, things.’
Laurent Calonne: ‘We can’t ignore some of the pros. Multidisciplinary remote cooperation is very successful, at least if it is well supported technically and focussed on well-defined subjects. I have experienced this myself on several occasions. The ‘Teams era’ has generated a lot of work comfort. I can even say that this technology has given our company a productive boost. I just had a very successful meeting while commuting by train thanks to this technology. It used to be unthinkable and would have cost us a lot of time. Working from home helps save on mobility, which results in greater availability. At the same time, you have to add the nuance that traffic to and from work also offers the possibility to switch on and off and, moreover, it is for many people the best time to make some phone calls. But when talking about the pros, we must also honestly name the cons. The best ideas and the crucial social component require a real-life, in-person gathering.’ Mathieu Van Marcke: ‘It was no coincidence that Google abandoned its own experiment of making home-working compulsory for everyone. For both employees and employers, home-working has, besides some positive aspects – which no one will deny and which I believe we will not abandon – also created problems. For example, employees develop stress because their work life and private life are too mixed up and they can no longer vent over a coffee break ... And on the employers’ side, they have seen productivity fall during the compulsory home-working period! Essentially, the peace and quiet of your home can help you concentrate ... but it is not a perfect alternative, and certainly not for all tasks.’
Ronny Nuten: ‘Furthermore, we have noticed another problem here at Ceusters: it is difficult to onboard people. As a family business, we have a company culture that relies on a very transparent and, above all, very close cooperation. It is quite a challenge to convey that culture from a distance.’ Rikkert Leeman
CEO of Alides
Laurent Calonne
CEO of Banimmo
The office is not dead, on the contrary
The topic of company culture seems to have hit a nerve. ‘I would go as far as to say that there is no such thing as a remote corporate culture. You need people to work together in ‘real life’ for them to move in the same direction. So this experiment can’t be considered as an unqualified success’, Rikkert Leeman responds. All of the panel members nod in agreement. Does that mean that we need to push the pendulum back in the other direction? No, they say in unison. Depending on the organisation, the activities and the culture of the company, we will have to look at how and where work can best be organised.
Rikkert Leeman: ‘We need to find a new equilibrium, which will not be a one-size-fits-all formula. Only a few months ago it was suggested that the office was dead. I am not at all convinced by that hypothesis. On the contrary. How will our situation evolve? Well, it is an iterative process. We are all still searching for the ideal formula and how it can be anchored. Nevertheless, it already seems clear to me that the ‘hygiene’ situation and the corresponding need to alter the spatial layout of the office has undeniably changed things. I don’t see people wanting to sit close to each other in landscape offices any time soon, maybe not ever again. Or under low ceilings and without well-functioning ventilation. Moreover, the average usable area of an employee must evolve from 12 or 13 m² towards 30. That extra ‘oxygen’ seems to have rightfully become an acquired right.’ Laurent Calonne: ‘Cubicles are set to disappear. That is inevitable. I am firmly convinced that office space will more than ever be used in the war for talent. And I’m not talking about the obligatory foosball table or ping-pong table. No, we are talking about offices with, for example, an enjoyable shared food and beverage area instead of a mini-kitchen. A shift to fully equipped meeting places ... The office will be much better suited for both efficient and pleasant cooperation. After all, fully focussed, individual working on a specific task can still be done at home. By providing an office with a pleasant sustainable working environment and all sorts of extra facilities and services, you will be able to make a real difference as an employer.’
The cost of a new office
Ronny Nuten notes that it is inevitable that there will be corrections in the market. ‘Some companies have room for improvement in this area, but that requires necessary investments.’ Which immediately leads Nuten to the next question: ‘Does the gap between the better equipped offices and the others threaten to quickly become much bigger than it already is today?’ Mathieu Van Marcke chimes in and wonders out loud whether, how and to what extent those investments will be able to be passed on.
Rikkert Leeman: ‘In London, it is already visible that the ‘Grade C’ offices are having a very hard time and, at the same time, there is a great shortage of ‘Grade A’ offices, which are easily accessible by bicycle or public transport and enable collaboration and a collective experience in an ultra-modern way. Besides, it may seem like a side issue, but it really isn’t: there have never been so many ergonomic complaints as in the past year and a half. People don’t have the optimal office chairs at home. A workplace brimming with work comfort – with literally motivating spaces – is a good weapon against the social isolation and the difficult separation of work and private life when working from home… I am firmly convinced that what was good in the past will become even better, and what was bad is deteriorating even faster. The COVID crisis has widened the gap, but the essence of the problem was already there.’
Laurent Calonne: ‘The shift has definitely begun. Office buildings that were already struggling are finding it even harder to rent out their space. I suspect that companies will opt for a central office – fully equipped, state of the art – with a few small satellite offices. The latter tends a little towards co-working, but that business model has clearly expired. That has now been sufficiently proven. What will continue to work is the provision of services related to co-working: ensuring that room X is equipped with all of the technological facilities, and drinks and catering at a specific time, or that room Y is preheated by a certain time ... I am thinking of real-time, remote control of all kinds of comfort parameters, but also movement detection, presence and absence control and access control. Managing this flexibility requires a certain expertise. In any case, the shift towards even greater digitalisation in office management has begun. In a modern office, technology is taking an increasingly prominent place. And yes, that too requires investment. (offices-as-a-service)’
Flexibility at all levels
Mathieu Van Marcke, president of Realty Belgium, raises the question of how big the return to the office will be once the COVID measures are abolished. Since the pandemic has taken over the world in waves, we have the advantage of being able to look abroad. Van Marcke notes that in China the return to the office is complete and in Australia it is as high as 80%. ‘Quite remarkable. The United States, on the other hand, shows an extremely variable story where the return to the office depends on the sector – with Goldman Sachs forcing everyone back to the office full time and companies like Apple and Microsoft keeping their people at home as much as possible.’ Rikkert Leeman rightly remarks: ‘There is no greater marketing stunt imaginable to promote one’s own services, of course. The technological advances have also undeniably been a boost for alternative approaches to work. The concept of the new way of working is inextricably linked to the technological boost.’ But despite all the technology, none of the panel members see remote working as the nail in the coffin of the office. Or, as Ronny Nuten says: ‘It’s not because home-working is a keeper that the office space is not.’ Laurent Calonne: ‘Many advantages have undeniably been discovered in the last six months and you must try to cleverly encapsulate these in your own organisation. I believe in a formula in which – obviously depending on the specific activities and sector – x number of days a month can be worked from home combined with a few fixed days at the office. This means that the management at Banimmo will be present at the office on set days and – importantly – be available to our employees all the time. So on those days, we make sure that we are not hauled into meetings throughout the day. Instead of a few fixed days per week working from home, I believe in a fixed number per month, because one project naturally requires more consultation than another. Every week has its own requirements.’
Ronny Nuten: ‘The decisive factor here is flexibility. The office will thus become a place of cooperation rather than a workplace. The office will continue to play a central and crucial role for companies. We are also noticing this in reality, because we still see companies in the market readily entering into long lease commitments.’ Rikkert Leeman: ‘There’s no denying that flexibility comes at a cost. But it is true that companies today are willing to invest in that flexibility. Precisely because they see that it benefits the working climate and thus productivity. In the large office ecosystem, I see problems emerging elsewhere. Much business travel will be cut − which will also be beneficial from an ecological point of view – and which will have an impact on business hotels. Or take the hospitality sector in office districts ... They have had an incredibly difficult year. Since, as I believe, office life won’t return to full time, they too will have to adapt.’
New formulas
Mathieu van Marcke launches a thought experiment: ‘It may be a wild idea, but could a formula work in which company X uses an office for 2 or 3 set days and company Y on the other weekdays? A co-working at company level, as it were ...?’ The reactions at the table speak volumes. The panel members see little point in this idea. After a brief analysis of the dark clouds that are gathering above the very concept of co-working, the members return to the thought experiment.
Laurent Calonne: ‘I don’t believe in that formula. Don’t companies want to radiate a certain individuality? Especially through their offices. Are you going to change the corporate branding every time? Surely not. Companies are right to hold on to their identity. For start-ups, something like this might work. I rather see flexibility as evolving towards an office space that can be expanded or reduced. The possibility of shifting from 100% to 75%, or vice versa. Without having to move. We are already providing that possibility in some projects today, through an option that can be activated during the course of the lease.’
Rikkert Leeman: ‘That kind of flexibility will also come at a price. After all, a hotel room has different price indications when booking for a night or a week. Due to Belgian inertia, certain changes take time. New labour and rental agreements come at a slow pace. It is slightly cynical of me to say, but this inertia also means that companies have time to thoroughly review the office market and take well-founded decisions. But, regardless of how flexible the working days will be in the offices, there is another story at play: sustainability. And there is no time to lose on this front. Investments will have to be made anyway.’
Laurent Calonne: ‘You see, there is nothing as stable as change. The real challenge is how you deal with change (and the speed at which it happens), so we definitely need to aim for flexibility in our thinking and our actions. That flexibility will help us to design offices that cater for rapid change. And to respond to what was said earlier about a ‘new equilibrium’; I believe that there is a demand for a balance between people and technology, but also the environment. In short, new formulas are bound to emerge.’
Rikkert Leeman is the CEO of the Ghent-based real estate investor and developer Alides, geared towards the leading Flemish cities, Brussels, Luxembourg and Poland. The company mainly invests in offices, but also in residential property, hotels, healthcare, student accommodation and semi-industrial property.
Laurent Calonne is CEO of the real estate developer Banimmo, which is based in Brussels. The civil engineer describes himself as an innovator and a sustainability believer, and he has extensive experience in real estate development.
Mathieu Van Marcke is a member of the board of directors of Ceusters, organiser of the real estate summit Realty, founder of the real estate communication agency hooox and an active investor in PropTech start-ups.
Ronny Nuten is Head of Office Agency for Ceusters and is responsible for a team of a dozen consultants spread over four offices in Flanders and Brussels.
A sustainable future
The sector has changed enormously in recent years. Even before COVID. The aim for ‘sustainability’ wasn’t new, for example. In that light, the Energy Performance of Buildings regulations, also known as the EPB standards, have been introduced, causing offices built in 2006 to be completely outdated in terms of EPB today. The commercial life-span of a building has been shortened as a result. At the same time, the office concept is being profoundly reinvented. After the abandonment of the classic office concept at the end of the 1990s and the introduction of the landscape offices, we are now clearly ready for something new.’
Ronny Nuten: ‘It must be said: everything is constantly changing. That is not easy. As a building owner, you don’t want to price yourself out of the market, you have to keep investing – both in terms of the furnishing and the modularity of the building, and in terms of energy and sustainability ...’
Laurent Calonne: ‘Just think of certificates such as the sustainability label BREEAM (in full ‘Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method’) for the realisation of sustainable buildings with minimal environmental impact as of 2009. Or the WELL Building Standard, which monitors up to 700 scientifically-based criteria to see if your building supports the well-being of its employees ...’
Rikkert Leeman: ‘Development has undeniably become more expensive. The list of expectations and criteria to be met keeps growing. Anyone who wasn’t in on it before COVID is now fully aware. And this is the background against which the search for the future of office life is taking place. But one thing is clear to me: the office is not dead. In fact, the office will play an even more crucial role in our professional lives. It will look different, that’s for sure. And in my opinion, it will become a better place for better co-working.’
Circular Sustainability in Antwerp Headquarters
CONIX RDBM Architects were already considering moving to a new office before the pandemic. “We wanted a contemporary office, one with long-term potential. Because the best way to feel optimistic about the future is to shape it yourself,” says Christine Conix. “Since then, our plans have really started to take shape. These days, you can often spot us in a cheerful mood at a construction site on Antwerp’s Mechelsesteenweg, because we’ll be moving into the ground floor of the former premises of the Antwerp Water Works. We found the location thanks to the local expertise and mediation of Ceusters and its office department. Our new office will combine flexibility with (circular) sustainability. These two nouns summarise how we see the new way of working (which was obviously influenced by trends that the pandemic set in motion) and, above all, how we see the offices of the future. We want to lead by example,” Jorden Goossenaerts explains.
It is clear that technology will play a key role in the new office. CONIX RDBM Architects is planning a giant screen with a height of 3.5 metres, for example, to display all kinds of content; in line with the idea of ‘show, don’t tell’, the screen will present clients and employees with a gripping visual story. The screen is part of a large, open space that is ideally suited for events – including after-hours activities. “The company restaurant – to use a conventional and rather boring word – will straddle multiple concepts. Once the working day is over, it will morph into a regular restaurant. All of this means we’ll be strengthening our connection with the urban fabric. We’re literally inviting the city into our office. The workspace in the office will primarily be a place to work together, as a team,” Christine Conix points out.
“Flexibility is key, as is sustainability. We’re using so-called urban mining for the interior design of our new office. When ING’s former head office in Het Zandkasteel in Amsterdam was being dismantled, for example, we salvaged a series of glass partitions. We’re also repurposing their insulation walls – filled with recycled jeans! – which we’re currently using in a temporary project in Brussels. And we made sure to reuse everything that was already present in the old office on the Mechelsesteenweg. We didn’t let anything go to waste. For us, sustainability means 100% circular sustainability. In terms of energy, we’re also pulling out all the stops, with fully circular management of heat and cooling, including a green digital processing unit. This not only eliminates the need to install new windows, but also means that our office will have the power to heat the entire building. We do it because we can, because we believe in it and because it works! It’s a story we’ve written ourselves and which we’re replicating in our projects,” Jorden Goossenaerts concludes with a strong sense of commitment.
The office as a cool place to be
In early 2022, Touring’s headquarters will move from the Rue de la Loi to the brand new Quatuor complex located between the Place Charles Rogier and Brussels-North railway station. We talked to Véronique Brasseur, Touring’s HR Director, about the how and why of this move and the search for an office that had to meet quite a few criteria. Touring’s current headquarters lie in the European district; more specifically, in the Rue de la Loi. Spread over eight floors, some 400 employees provide an optimal service to their members and B2B customers. Today, Touring, as a player in the multimodality sector, provides roadside assistance to cars, bicycles, kick scooters, one-wheelers, motorbikes, scooters and much more. It also seeks answers to all of the possible mobility questions with which our society is confronted today. In short, Touring has come a long way since it started out as a cycling club in 1895, before, in 1948, becoming the first Belgian company to assist drivers on the road with 12 road assistance workers. ‘At the end of the nineties, an extensive renovation was completed. Several manor houses were transformed into one large office complex. Two decades later, the new, once quite modern, office was already very outdated. A ‘modernisation’ was needed. However, that turned out to not be so simple, since building and office standards have evolved greatly over the years’, says Véronique Brasseur. ‘These new standards meant that we would actually have to start from scratch. As the owner of the building, we then discussed certain considerations. Would we completely gut and rebuild the building? That would mean that we would have to move temporarily and then move again. Was that really the way we wanted to go? In addition, we also asked ourselves whether this was still the ideal place for our headquarters. Until, as luck would have it, a property developer came forward and offered to buy the building on attractive terms. Our choice was quickly made. We were going to start a completely new project. After the finalisation of the sale at the end of 2019, we were given two full years to move.’
Véronique Brasseur has been HR Director at Touring since September 2018. Prior to that, she worked as HR Business Director at t-group and HR Manager at Alcatel, Microsoft and Crossroad Consulting, among others.
Catherine Leheureux is Senior Consultant Offices Brussels at Ceusters and acknowledged as a member of SIOR.*
*SIOR is the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors. The society is active in 32 countries and is recognized as the leading professional commercial and industrial real estate association. What criteria did the new headquarters have to meet?
Véronique Brasseur: ‘We set up a strategic exercise. What is our ambition for the future? What kind of office do we want? And where? How do we see the new way of working? What is important for us as an organisation and for our employees? We work in shifts, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. That means that our employees must be able to feel 100% safe when they come to the office. As a major Belgian mobility organisation, we wanted to remain in the Brussels Capital Region and be easily accessible by various modes of transport. Nowadays, many of our employees use public transport, so the proximity of a train and metro station was an important condition, but we also wanted to encourage the use of bicycles. A safe cycling route, a spacious bicycle shed, charging facilities for electric bicycles and shower rooms were therefore also a must. That was not so easy in the Rue de la Loi. If, as a company, you want to contribute to building the mobility of the future, you have to follow your own advice, of course. We also wanted a parking infrastructure with sufficient charging stations for electric cars. Véronique Brasseur
HR Director at Touring
Sustainability is also very important to us. So it had to be a centrally located, ecological and state-of-the-art building with plenty of natural light. Because, yes, we immediately wanted to take the opportunity to choose a building that would reflect positively on our organisation and boost our innovative drive. Those are quite a few parameters to meet. Especially when combined with a strict moving deadline and the need to have our own concept store – visible from the street – in the new building.’ At the end of 2019, the search for a new head office, both in terms of location and interpretation, was launched. What will your new office look like?
Véronique Brasseur: ‘Starting from our strategic exercise, we looked at how many square metres we would need in the new head office if we were to switch to a home-working policy of two days a week. We started this ‘new’ way of working before the outbreak of the COVID pandemic. Afterwards, the compulsory full-time remote working only confirmed the idea that it could be done. In other words, COVID helped us in this shift. At the same time, it was also clear to us that we had to go for a different layout of the office space. One that would promote interdepartmental cooperation; gone was the classic picture of one department per floor. With a central lift and a staircase that is somewhat camouflaged, there was far too little spontaneous contact between the departments in our office in the Rue de la Loi. That is a terrible shame, because in my experience that is how the best ideas come about. So we ended up in the Quatuor complex on the corner of the Boulevard Baudouin and the Boulevard Roi Albert II, close to Place Charles Rogier and the Brussels-North railway station. We rent 3 spacious floors in the C-Tower, aka The Cloud, of the Quatuor complex. One floor has been fully equipped as a ‘collaboration’ zone, accessible via an internal staircase from the work café. The main aim was to be close to each other, without being too close to each other. The slogan that encompasses everything for us is ‘A cool place to be’. With the emphasis on ‘to be’. Since we are convinced that an employee is much more than just a talented professional.’ Catherine Leheureux
Senior Consultant at Ceusters - SIOR
‘A cool place to be’ can also be an additional asset in the war for talent.
Véronique Brasseur: ‘It sure can. From an HR perspective, this move is a super interesting exercise. We are creating a pleasant, inspiring and stimulating work environment that employees will enjoy coming to and where cooperation will be the focal point. Such a move is, of course, a narrative of change and people management; a challenge for which my own work experiences have served me well. I started my career at Alcatel, and after many years I moved to Microsoft. I literally moved from an ‘old’ environment to a super-modern building. From the moment you walked in, you could feel the energy, the innovation ... the urge to jump in. An inspiring office environment can really have a substantial impact. That’s where you want to work. The COVID crisis has made it clear that working from home is possible, but at the same time, the call for an office as a crucial place for meeting and working together is louder than ever. We must make this space as attractive as possible.’ Talking about collaboration: this move is the result of a collaboration between Vinci, Brainmove and Ceusters.
Véronique Brasseur: ‘In Vinci we found the partner who wanted to initiate and guide the entire process. They then called in Brainmove and Ceusters, who each brought their own expertise to the table. And expertise is not just a luxury for such a large project. Catherine Leheureux of Ceusters brought the necessary real estate expertise on board. She has a particularly good understanding of the Brussels office market, which is a very specific market. In order to find an office building that would meet all of our parameters, you really can’t ask just anyone.’
How was the cooperation with these partners?
Véronique Brasseur: ‘The collaboration within that ecosystem was nothing short of excellent. Ceusters worked with us on our in-house strategic exercise and looked for office buildings that met all of the criteria on our rather extensive list. [laughs] In our search for our new office, we worked intensively with the Brussels team at Ceusters, led by Catherine Leheureux, and evolved a longlist of 15 buildings to a shortlist, before finally arriving at the Quatuor, which we visited during the start-up phase. Literally with a helmet on our heads and wellies on our feet, between the scaffolding and the concrete mixers! 3D models filled in the missing pieces. And so, at the beginning of 2022, we will move into a brand new office in which we will not only feel at home right away, but which will also offer us the necessary energy and drive for the future!’
It’s all about the shopping experience
Together with Toon De Meester, Operations Director of Retail Property Management at CEUSTERS, we examine the extent of the pandemic’s impact on shopping centres and take a look at the innovative ideas that emerged as a result. Will we soon be shopping in a completely different way?
Background
The coronavirus crisis came as a huge economic blow to shopping centres – places that unite catering and retail outlets. “For many shoppers, lockdown meant an end to their ‘regular outing’. And then there was all the hassle with face masks, disinfecting your hands, social distancing, a limited number of people per shop… It made shopping a lot less pleasant,” Toon De Meester says. “The activity just wasn’t the same as before, no matter how hard the retailers and organisations involved worked on all kinds of scenarios to combine health and safety with shopping comfort.”
Luckily, early September 2020 brought a turnaround. For a while, things seemed as if they might be back to normal again…
Toon De Meester: “We witnessed a sharp increase in visitor numbers. At the same time, however, all these additional measures and provisions put enormous invisible pressure on retailers. This was quickly followed by a new semi-lockdown. Everyone then worked extremely hard to make shopping go smoothly via click & collect systems. All kinds of online platforms were set up at almost unprecedented speed. But it turned out that customers don’t really take to this kind of shopping. Precisely because it was at odds with the traditional shopping experience, and certainly because food and drinks establishments stayed shut. The fact that this happened during the most commercially interesting period of the year was an additional major setback.” Toon De Meester
Operations Director of Retail Property Management at CEUSTERS
What had always seemed to be the major advantage – no need to worry about rain or bad weather – became shopping centres’ Achilles heel. Because everything in shopping centres happens indoors...
“The presence of cafés and restaurants is a huge attraction for shopping centres, but of course they have no – or hardly any – outdoor terraces. While the air quality in our shopping centres is constantly monitored, these establishments still weren’t able to open their doors. People are now talking about the introduction of mandatory CO2 meters; But we’ve already been using these in shopping centres for 10 years…”
Retailers and their staff have shown incredible resilience throughout the whole pandemic.
“Complete closure, reopening with measures, click & collect, shopping by appointment,... We’ve seen it all. Each system demanded a different approach. That’s very tasking, especially if you combine it with customers who feel like they’re walking on eggshells under all these difficult circumstances. Retailers deserve the greatest respect for their agility and commitment. The same goes for the obliging attitude and goodwill of the owners. Luckily, there are plenty of indications that once all Covid measures have been lifted, everything will take off again. Naturally, we hope that retailers will finally be able to experience another outstanding end-of-year period in 2021. They’ve really earned it.”
