6 minute read
Buildings Will Be Healthier
California Buildings News • Q3 2020
Buildings Will Be Healthier in the Future
Surge of Innovations, Better Practices Will Overcome Coronavirus Challenges
Clean is ertainly the new green. And clean in a "healthy" building increasingly means germ-suppression. That's the new absolute in buildings design and operation.
Workers, tenants, guests, visitors, customers and patients in the Age of COVID-19 must be assured that going into a facility does not result in a trip to the ER. Even with a vaccine, the world will still need to protect itself since vaccines will not eradicate the virus. That means the economy will have to get back and running during a years-long siege.
And we can do it! But indoors will be different—and in some ways better than before. Manufacturers, building operators and commercial real estate service providers are creating clear paths toward healthier work environments. And if people cooperate by masking, distancing and practicing hygiene, buildings can function effectively again.
A study by Californiaheadquartered architectural firm Gensler shows that the overwhelming majority of employees want to spend at least some of their time in a physical workplace. (See page 16 for more on Gensler.)
Buildings that can demonstrate a healthy profile will have an enormous competitive advantage, many speakers said at the recent virtual conference of the Buildings
Owners and Managers Association
International. (See page 22.)
How are building managers ensuring that their facilities are “healthy?” California Buildings News surveyed many of California’s top commercial real estate executives and researched many other relevant sources to help answer that question.
Since we spend 90% of our time in buildings, the CRE industry has been focusing on healthier buildings in recent years, but this will only become more intense during the pandemic.
Even if scientists eradicate COVID-19 in the next year, the deep collective scars on our psyches will last for decades to come. People will expect their enclosures to be much healthier than they were before. The best people will gravitate to facilities that have demonstrated healthy internal environments and creative approaches to work. And the best people produce the best business outcomes, so companies will be motivated to invest in healthy buildings. It will become a personnel recruiting tool, just like LEED buildings have been for decades.
What management teams are doing in California
Long global leaders in the design and operation of buildings, California facility and property managers and architects are stepping up to the challenge of creating and maintaining healthier buildings.
Marsha Ramsey, managing director, operations for Cushman
& Wakefield’s Asset Services in
Northern California, says “Safety is first and foremost for Cushman & Wakefield. Since every San Francisco Bay Area county sees asset services and property management as an essential business, our management teams have been working both from home and in on-site offices to serve the needs of our clients and tenants. We have implemented Cushman & Wakefield’s Safe Six protocols around the following workplace essentials: 1) Preparing the building, 2) Preparing the workforce, 3) Controlling building access, 4) Social distancing plan, 5) Reducing Touch Points, and 6) Communicating for confidence, which have been very effective in allowing property management staff to work as a coordinated team in their offices.
“In offices where there may not be adequate space to fully implement these guiding principles, our managers have set up rotating schedules to
California Buildings News • Q3 2020
accommodate both work-from-home (WFH) and in office. As needed, Cushman & Wakefield is also accommodating WFH for staff who are at a higher health risk. Cushman & Wakefield also understands employees who are parents, especially with young children, are facing additional challenges and stress due to limitations on available day care or in-home schooling and is therefore working to accommodate their needs with employee assistance programs and continued WFH strategies.”
In Southern California and in the region beyond, says Bob Nowak, JLL Southwest regional manager, property management, “With the onset of COVID-19, JLL’s Southwest property management team pivoted quickly to provide and implement new strategic plans for buildings that helped our institutional and private investor clients maximize the wellness of their investments and create safe places for their tenants.
(Continued on page 32)
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California Buildings News • Q3 2020
KastleSafeSpaces: Bring Workers Back Safely
Kastle Systems is the leader in “Managed Security,” an end-to-end approach for servicing clients’ security needs, taking long-term responsibility of their security package and operations. The company created KastleSafeSpaces to get workers back to work safely in the COVID-19 era by integrating its access control system of touchless technologies for doors, turnstiles, elevators and more, with employee health screening protocols, social distancing and contact tracing to reassure workers they are returning to their offices safely. To learn more, visit www.kastle.com or call 415-962-1300.
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Screen In / Screen Out Contact Tracing
Social Distancing
415.962.1300
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