London in 2030

BREXIT CONCERNS Group calls for clear path to Brexit to allay fears

FUTURE WORKPLACES Firms are becoming more savvy to flexible working hours

BEHIND THE WHEEL Driverless car technology gets underway in Milton Keynes

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London 2030

SPECIAL REPORT Matt Smith on how smart technology and smarter thinking will lead to a more efficient, streamlined capital

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As London changes and expands, planning and innovation come to the fore

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ONDON IS at a crossroads in more ways than one. The capital must navigate the aftermath of the country’s decision to leave the European Union while addressing the issues surrounding its own expanding population and looking to the future by embracing new technologies and ways of working. This represents a steep task in anyone’s book.

Along with the rest of the UK, the capital was thrown into disarray back in June when the country voted in favour of Brexit. Most of London’s boroughs voted to remain within the EU, and the city faces an anxious wait for the outcome of the negotiations.

The pound has fallen to 30-year lows against the US dollar, prices have begun to rise and there are murmurings of financial firms moving away from the City of London to other financial hubs on the continent if the outcome does not suit them.

It’s an uncertain time for businesses that had only recently regained their footing following the financial crisis of 2008, but

OPENING SHOTS MATT SMITH

those on both sides of the debate will be hoping Theresa May can lead the country, and its capital, to prosperity after its departure.

But there are also issues that need addressing closer to home.

London – a city of 8.6 million that already faces a housing crisis and with little space on its packed rush-hour transport systems – could be home to 10 million people by 2030.

This huge increase requires significant planning in terms of infrastructure, with major decisions needed to ensure that there is adequate accommodation, transport capacity and public services availability to cater for 1.4 million new residents.

It’s not all doom and gloom, however. Despite the challenges ahead, there is also plenty of opportunity for innovation and prosperity in the coming years.

In particular, London’s hi-tech industry looks set to shine, with Tech City asserting that the UK will remain “at the forefront of global innovation and entrepreneurship” even after it has negotiated its way out of the European Union.

Leaps in technology could also help ease the pressure on the city’s transport system, with tools such as video conferencing allowing workers to clock in from distance and reducing the need for packed rush-hour journeys to central areas.

In fact, as we discuss later in this issue, innovations like this could inspire a whole new business culture in the British capital, with companies opting for smaller, more flexible office spaces around the city rather than large headquarters in its inner zones.

In this edition of Business Reporter we take a look at some of the key issues and decisions London and its firms will face in the coming years, including those surrounding Brexit, public transport and the changing role of technology in the workplace. These are the decisions that will shape how the city looks – and indeed how it performs – in 2030.

There are many challenges on horizon, but if there’s one city that has the talent, the diversity and the ingenuity to take them on, it’s London.

“Despite the challenges ahead, there is also plenty of opportunity for innovation and entrepreneurship”

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To watch these videos, and for more information, go to business-reporter.co.uk/category/video

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London 2030: a capital view Matt Smith looks at how London needs a joined-up, data-driven approach to life, work and transport if it is to keep moving into the 21st century

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“I think, in the long term, there will be an issue of integrating transport and land use to reduce the need for travel” – Dr Enrica Papa, University of Westminster

ONDON HAS a wealth of history, but with an imminent explosion of innovative technologies that could transform the way we live, work and t ravel, all eyes are on t he future.

Dr Enrica Papa, senior lecturer in transport planning at the University of Westminster, says the capital will face a number of key planning challenges in the coming years – not least a projected 1.4 million increase in its population to reach 10 million by 2030.

“The main issue will be, first of all, accommodating growth,” she explains.

“The population is going to grow, so where exactly do we locate new development? The second issue is housing. Then, of course, the environment and transport – how to ensure, due to an increase in the population, equ it y a nd accessibi l it y to a l l Londoners.”

Part of the challenge is planning exactly where this growth will be integrated. London is a dense crisscross of intertwined systems and developments, so the city will have to decide carefully where to accommodate new residents and businesses where they can be supported.

“I think, in the long term, there is an issue of integrating transport and land use, meaning where to locate new developments in order to reduce the need of travel,” Papa explains.

“That means, for example, increased density in old station areas that are more connected. So a strong link between connectivity, accessibility and new development – this is related both to both housing and a number of other economic activities.

“So a strong interaction between land use and transport [is needed].

This would mean not just reducing the need for travel, but reducing the need for car use.”

Although much investment in transport is planned and Transport for London has published details of its designs for the decades ahead, Papa believes the different modes of transport in the capital need to work together more smoothly in the years to come.

“I still feel there is the possibility to improve and better integrate the bus and Underground systems, and also walking and cycling should be really integrated into the bigger network,” she explains. “It seems that transport modes compete with one another and this is not happening in other world cities where everything is integrated.”

New technologies will also bring their own benefits and challenges to London’s streets. Papa gives the example of autonomous vehicles (see pages 4-5), which could free up space with more efficient road use, but she warns against the adoption of technology for technology’s sake.

“All the transport people are talking about autonomous vehicles, which is something I’m quite interested in, but at the same time I think that we should not be that fascinated by the new technologies, but really think in a strategic way. Our priorit y should be to reduce the need for travel, really reducing times and distances,” she says.

“Of course, I think they have a place in the future. It could increase the

efficiency of the road system in a way.

Really, on the sharing economy of cars, that means we will probably need fewer parking spaces along our roads and highways.

“These new cars really are built on road efficiency optimisation. The drawbacks could be instead that we will not get rid of the cars for a really long period, because this is just another way of driving and giving priority to cars instead of other transport modes.

“It’s still not clear and I think this is another big challenge – how to manage, control and make this new technology really have a role in increasing the quality of our streets.”

The collection and analysis of big data and advances in IT will also help the capital to find extra transport capacity. By crunching the numbers, transport chiefs can get better insights into where to increase investment and improve facilities.

“This is fascinating,” Papa says.

“The huge amount of information which we can now access – I am sure it will change the way we move and we choose and make our decisions in terms of which transport modes and which routes [we use].”

She gives the example of Finland, where in some cities all modes of transport including cars, taxis, buses, trains and bicycles operate under a mobility-as-a-service model and are available through a single app, either via a monthly package or on a pay-asyou-go basis.

But while transport must be easy for Londoners to use, it is also important that their need to travel is kept to a minimum to reduce stress on the

NOVEMBER 2016 Publisher Bradley Scheffer | Editor Joanne Frearson | Production editor Dan Geary | Client manager Michele Taylor: production@business-reporter.co.uk | Contact us: info@lyonsdown.co.uk

network. Papa predicts that businesses could move to more f lexible, less central offices closer to their employees’ homes.

“There is the potential that a lot of businesses will move around, so London will not be so centralised anymore, but will be more like a city network,” she explains of this change in structure. “This will have a huge impact on how people move.

“This is something that is already happening in Amsterdam. Companies really try to accomplish more flexible work hours, also to reduce the cost of the working spaces in really expensive areas of the city. There are studies that demonstrate that there are some benefits but also some negative impacts in terms of social interaction and quality of life.”

One of the other big changes for London’s workers has already begun with the introduction of the Night Tube, Papa explains. While it may currently be used primarily by latenight revellers, she says it is just the first step in London’s transition into a 24-hour city.

“It is a challenge related to the night economy,” she says. “In the future we can imagine that all the global cities will be so connected that they will be in a way forced to work for 24 hours.

The offices of big companies will be connected, so people in Tokyo and people in London could have to work at the same time on a project.”

A lot could happen by 2030, but with careful planning and navigation of key issues like population increases and transport demand, London could be transformed.

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Driving the changes in data Business Reporter talks to Dr Steve Melia and Professor Graham Parkhurst about how data lies at the heart of the driverless car revolution SPECIAL REPORT MATT SMITH

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N A weekday morning, you step out of your front door in London’s suburbs and climb into a driverless car. Your journey to work in the city is smooth, as the autonomous vehicle follows a route designed to avoid congestion and red lights. Your journey is much quicker than it used to be, thanks to an expertly managed transport system fuelled by big data analytics.

This is the vision of the future touted by those behind the technology, but how close is it to reality, and how effectively are governments and firms using the road data available?

For Dr Steve Melia, senior lecturer in planning and transport at the University of the West of England (UWE) and author of Urban Transport Without The Hot Air, the potential is there, but these organisations must first have access to the data and the means to process it.

“The question is usually about access to it – the practicalities of obtaining it and who has the capacity and the time and the resources to do what with it,” he says.

“There are a number of big projects that are looking into those issues. The potential for research – to better understand how vehicles behave in a city, for example – that is something everyone has recognised the potential of. There’s been a lot of talk and there are a small number of projects, but it’s a massive job.”

One obstacle is that data that could be used to bring about more efficient and sustainable transport is held by private companies, which either view it as confidential or simply lack any business incentive to share it.

“One of the major issues with all this is intellectual property and who owns the data,” Melia says. “A company such as Uber would collect an awful lot of data, but it’s probably not going to be very motivated to share it with other parties.”

That said, even with the right data in the right hands, there is no guarantee our transport problems would be solved. The potential of selfdriving cars, for example, has filled many column inches, but it is difficult to predict exactly how a technology will change the world.

“It’s one thing getting the technology to work, but it’s actually at least as big a challenge to work out how the world would operate if there were lots of these things moving about the roads,” Melia says, before explaining one of the potential unexpected pitfalls.

“One of the negatives from a capacity point of view is that if respecting all the rules was actually built into the vehicles, that would significantly reduce road capacity in many ways, because in

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Seoul National University is developing a smartphone application for its driverless car project, Snuber

Driverless cars hit the UK’s roads in realtime test success DRIVERLESS CARS hit the UK’s streets for the first time last month, marking the next step towards the technology’s introduction on the country’s roads.

The Transport Systems Catapult (TSC) vehicle (pictured above) travelled 1.25 miles through pedestrianised areas of Milton Keynes at speeds of up to 15mph. It used cameras and laser radar technology alongside virtual maps to navigate, using software developed by Oxford University’s Oxford Robotics Institute.

This marked the first time a driverless car had been used outside of test zones in the UK, although a driver travelled in the vehicle to take over if anything went wrong.

However, the TSC said the demonstration, which marked the end of the 18-month LUTZ Pathfinder Project, was a success.

“This public demonstration represents a major milestone for autonomous vehicles in the UK and the culmination of an extensive project involving UK companies and experts,” said Neil Fulton, programme director at the TSC. “Oxford University’s technology will go on to power automated vehicles around the world and the LUTZ Pathfinder project will now feed into a much wider programme of autonomous trials across the UK. Driverless vehicles are coming to Britain and what we have demonstrated today is a huge step on that journey.”

The government hopes the UK will be at the forefront of the technology’s development, and has launched a consultation that could see driverless cars on normal roads by 2020.

Google’s self-driving car being demonstrated at the Google Campus in California last year

reality most of the time most drivers don’t respect those sorts of guidelines.”

As well as large-scale analysis to tackle capacity issues, there is also potential for automated cars to share data with each other – a prospect that Professor Graham Parkhurst, professor of sustainable mobility at UWE, says would open up “all kinds of possibilities”.

“If vehicles were more connected together in terms of their operating systems then you could have platooning, which is running vehicles very close together because their braking systems are interlinked,” he says of data-sharing vehicles travelling on high-speed roads.

While this could increase the capacity of motorways, for example, Parkhurst says that in urban areas where vehicles are closer together anyway the data shared could enable self-driving cars to synchronise their journeys with traffic lights and cut energy waste.

“In principle you could optimise vehicle speeds so they arrive at the traffic lights to find they are ideally on green. So you are not braking and accelerating, which is bad for both carbon emissions and noxious air pollution,” he says.

At a management level, increased data collection could enable those in charge to build more accurate predictions of congestion at a given time. Think of the traffic data in Google Maps, Parkhurst says – but more detailed, and available to inform road management.

“One of the big ideas is that we can use predictive analytics to work out, based on where people travelled before, where the problems and congestion is likely to occur on future similar days,” he explains. “The idea is that transport system managers, if they had these data analytics, could be pre-emptive in their management.”

There is certainly potential for data to change the way we travel, but there are still challenges

“It’s one thing getting the technology to work, but it’s at least as big a challenge to work out how the world would operate if there were lots of these things moving about the roads” – Dr Steve Melia

to be overcome to bring these ideas into the real world. One of these is the volume of data available, which can be too much for firms and governments to process quickly.

“I think one of the challenges is that the sheer speed at which this technology and the availability of data is changing will exceed the capacity of organisations to make full use of it,” Melia says.

“So to what extent it is used and in what ways I think will probably depend on more traditional issues of politics and finance.”

And despite the technology available and the potential of big data, Melia points out that it is not an automatic solution to problems surrounding congestion and the environment.

“Technology itself does not solve human problems,” he says. “I tend to feel the technology itself is neutral… Whether technology leads to an improvement or to a worsening of the situation depends on how human beings use it.”

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Report urges Brexit certainty for London As the High Court rules that Brexit must be approved by parliament, the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry demands clarity of purpose from the government

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ONDON COMPANIES are not panicking about Brexit just yet, but they do want the government to be decisive on key issues to ensure the capital’s status as a global business hub is protected, according to a newly published report.

The report, by the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), found that the city’s businesses want prime minister Theresa May to address several key concerns when negotiating the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union.

According to 47 per cent of respondents, looser immigration restrictions on workers from outside the EU should be a medium or high priority, while 31 per cent said minimising restrictions on access to labour from the EU should be a high priority in discussions with European leaders.

Nearly a quarter of business leaders said the current immigration status of their EU employees is causing uncertainty, as it is unclear where they will stand after Brexit.

“We are very reliant on being able to attract and hang onto some of the best talent in Europe,” remarked one participant. “It has been easy for them to come here and enjoy it and now they are concerned. We now face some real difficulties to keep our staff happy.”

The report also highlighted businesses’ local priorities in the run-up to the UK’s departure.

Heathrow given green light for third runway

Making decisions on major infrastructure – such as the new airport runway – was considered very important for the London economy, with 44 per cent of respondents highlighting it as a priority. And until formal talks with the European Union begin, the increased devolution of tax and spending powers to London was also seen as important for the city’s economy, by 56 per cent.

LCCI chief executive Colin Stanbridge said: “Speaking to our members, we have been left with a very real sense that they want policymakers to act decisively, and we need to focus on what needs to be done now to ensure that the whole country prospers in years to come.

“There are some very tangible concerns here, and they need to be acted on, not placated. We need the government to lead the vision for London, for it to act boldly and to act now.”

The group made several recommendations to the government ahead of its EU negotiations.

It suggested that a “Brexit helpdesk” could be set up to offer advice and information, and that the government should commit to investing in and moving forward with major London infrastructure projects including Crossrail 2, airport runways and river crossings.

The LCCI said chancellor Philip Hammond should use his first Autumn

Theresa May and German chancellor Angela Merkel making a Brexit statement earlier this year

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HE GOVERNMENT has approved plans for a third runway at Heathrow after years of consideration over the future of the capital’s airports.

The decision to back the proposal means a new runway could be operational at the west London hub by 2025, prov iding an economic boost of up to £61billion over 60 years. The Department for Transport said the move would also create 77,000 additional local jobs by 2030 and allow the airport to serve six new regional routes.

“A new runway at Heathrow will improve connectivity in the UK itself and crucially boost our connections with the rest of the world, supporting exports, trade and job

opportunities,” said transport secretary Chris Grayling when the decision was announced in late October. “This isn’t just a great deal for business, it’s a great deal for passengers who will also benefit from access to more airlines, destinations and flights.”

But the plans must first undergo a public consultation before a final vote by MPs next winter, with the government e x pec ted to face lega l challenges.

The move also received a mixed reception from MPs, with Conservative Zac Goldsmith resigning from his Richmond Park and Kingston North seat in protest. Goldsmith’s mayoral campaign earlier this year backed the rival bid by Gatwick airport.

Foreign secretary Boris Johnson and education secretary Justine Greening were also vocal in their opposition to a new runway at Heathrow prior to the announcement.

The runway’s construction is expected to trigger £50million of investment into the supply chain by the end of next year. The vast majority of procurement spending – 95 per cent – will be within Britain, and up to 2,700 British jobs could be created as a res u lt . C ont r ac t s wor t h £460million are set to be awarded before construction begins in 2021.

Backers of the project said it would “support jobs and investment today while creating thousands more over the years ahead”.

statement later this month to “reinforce London’s economic potential” and devolve spending powers for finance, transport and skills to City Hall, giving the capital more autonomy.

It also proposed a “capital work visa”, which would give immigrants indefinite leave to remain and provide some stability to businesses and their EU national employees. Mayor of London Sadiq Khan wants a special deal to be considered for the capital of London work permits, which would provide access for future skilled migrant workers and help employers fill posts.

“The perceived potential threat to talent recruitment and retention is a pressing matter that ministers should take note of,” Stanbridge wrote in the report’s foreword.

“No one is in any doubt that the Brexit negotiations that the UK government faces will be testing, and many hope that the prime minster can find a way to manage various competing demands and agendas towards a satisfactory end.

“For now, it is broadly business as usual across our capital as we all monitor developments. However, in the mid to longer term, business cannot maximise potential and grow successfully in the absence of certainty.”

The government is appealing the High Court’s ruling that parliament’s approval is required to trigger Article 50, which starts the UK’s withdrawal process from the EU. Plans for Heathrow’s third runway have finally been approved

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We must train the project managers of tomorrow today A committed and long-term plan is needed if we are to allow infrastructure projects to flourish “London is ready for change, and the project profession is ready to deliver it”

41% Number of organisations growing and looking to recruit new staff Source: APM Salary Survey 2016

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ITH A population approaching 9,000,000 people and demands to service a global economy within tightening constraints, project professionals are facing immense pressures to deliver infrastructure, transport hubs and IT networks within increasingly challenging limitations.

While the profession continues to meet these challenges and, in turn, continues to develop and mature, with such a diverse pipeline of projects scoped both inside and outside of London, a long-term plan is needed to assess and prepare for the UK’s impending project demands at the very highest levels of government and industry.

By laying the groundwork now, free from the shackles of political influence, projects will benefit from an environment geared towards project success through front-loaded planning to deliver the maximum possible return on investment both socially and financially.

Currently, though, this is a task easier said than done. A continuously changing political, economic and social economic horizon continues to impede efforts to forward plan – and despite projects reaching consultation periods in a timely manner, they must overcome several hurdles before work can commence.

Just this year, Hinkley Point C was commenced in the knowledge that if action wasn’t taken, it would endanger Britain’s energy security. A similar story could be seen surrounding Britain’s nuclear submarine fleet and the construction of a new range of aircraft carriers.

Efforts have been made by a wide range of public organisations to fix this hand-to mouth approach. Former mayor of London Boris Johnson developed the London infrastructure Plan 2050. However, political shifts inevitably brings uncertainty, making long-term planning difficult.

There is hope in sight for a long-term plan, however. Originally set up in late 2015 on an interim basis, the National Infrastructure Commission is now in the process of being established as a permanent executive agency as of January 2017, set up to look at the UK’s future needs for nationally significant infrastructure, and to provide greater certainty for investors by taking a long-term approach to the major investment decisions facing the country.

The National Infrastructure Commission is now undertaking the largest ever assessment of the UK’s long-term needs over a 30-year horizon. Reflecting on what the assessment means for the UK, deputy chair

of the National Infrastructure Commission, Sir John Armitt, said: “The National Infrastructure Assessment will be a world first in size and scope – and the Commission is absolutely committed to carrying it out in an open, transparent way, engaging with a wide range of stakeholders.

How can infrastructure best support growth, how should we decide what we repair and what we build, and who should pay for it – these are the sorts of big questions we need to answer.”

While this is a start, it is now for the captains of industry to carry the recommendations forward while embracing the skills, advice and knowledge of the project profession at each step to ensure the effective stakeholder communications and long-term planning needed to deliver the benefits promised at the outset.

Looking to 2030 may be a challenging proposition to undertake. But with increasingly complex projects on the horizon, it is now that the UK must prepare itself to ensure it has a diverse pipeline of project managers and project leaders to carry the weight and responsibility of multi-billion-pound investments.

Many major projects, such as the implementation of the UK’s high-speed network

from London – expected to complete in late 2020 – and the Heathrow third runway, expansion to head well into 2030, are well underway. In 15 years, those currently sitting their GCSEs and A Levels will be charged with managing the success of these and others, and will be responsible for vast sums of investment for projects that are already in the planning stages. It is therefore vital that we focus on developing and training tomorrow’s project managers today.

This situation also allows for a wider conversation between shareholders and organisations, to deliver not only world-class infrastructure, but projects which encapsulate the demand from all stakeholders through consultations and transparent planning.

Long-term planning is vital for future success for vibrant cities, especially London.

But with a fast-moving economy and new technology being introduced more rapidly than ever, there must be future resilience in our minds.

Purpose-built complexes must have the ability to adopt new identities, and transport hubs must be able to expand and welcome new technology. We must plan towards 2050 with a keen eye on what we require our city to look like at the end of the current

century if today’s projects are to hold their value.

The same approach must be taken with encouraging skilled professionals who are charged with developing our cities. Diversity is paramount if we are to have a well-established skills pipeline which reflects the ever diversification of projects.

As well as attracting young professionals looking for an exciting career managing the evolution of our city, we must also look to wider career professionals and ensure they are trained to the high standards to ensure that cities enjoy projects which are delivered on time, on budget and to a worldclass standard every time.

The work is now underway to develop a strategy for building our future city.

London is ready for change, and the project profession is ready to deliver it. Once in place, a solid commitment from political and business leaders will create an environment for well trained and highly skilled project managers to deliver new infrastructure, and ensure London remains a world class city.

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Working out the new workplace

As technology advances, many firms are embracing flexible working – and it could also save money and improve public transport. Matt Smith reports

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F YOU’RE reading this article as an escape from your morning Tube journey, you might be in luck. Experts predict that by 2030, many companies will give their employees the option of working closer to home, away from their central London hubs.

Property firm JLL’s report – Workspace, Reworked – predicts sweeping changes in the ways in which businesses use their office space, which could lead to less rushhour travel and more comfortable and hi-tech workplaces for Londoners in years to come.

“Basically, we’ll see organisations reevaluate the function and value of the office,” explains Tom Carroll, director of EMEA and UK corporate occupier research at JLL. “We expect to see less of the processdriven aspect of work conducted in core office locations in central London, so we will see a reduction in the amount of those types of processes that are taking place in core real estate and we’ll see a range of new spaces develop to complement core office space.

“We’ve seen an enormous rise in serviced office, flexible and co-working space in London over the last five years and we expect to see that continue, because that flexibility will become increasingly important to how organisations operate going forward.”

The report predicts that 30 per cent of businesses’ real estate portfolios will consist

30% The percentage of business real estate that will consist of flexible working space by 2025 Source: JLL

of flexible spaces by 2025, and the nature of those buildings is also changing.

“We’re seeing the first generation of smart buildings coming onto the market,” Carroll says. “I think that’s a factor we expect to continue and develop over the next ten to 15 years.

“We think that’ll create a range of data, moving towards a situation of a pretty much data-defined workspace, where organisations are able to evaluate the effectiveness of their workplace and adjust and adapt it to improve the experience for their staff, very much having increased choice for employees and for their staff in terms of how they work and having greater selection in terms of the environment in which they work.”

As well as internet of things-connected buildings, Carroll also expects virtual and augmented reality and greater use of personal devices to become the norm in day-to-day working environments.

“We certainly expect to see virtual reality and augmented reality integrated into the workplace for training and collaboration,” he says. “We also expect to see smartphone and wearable technology really start to become one of the key ways in which users are able to navigate the workplace and select the environment in which they wish to work.”

While this may sound like technology for technology’s sake, Carroll explains that it actually serves to provide more flexibility

“Technology is enabling mobility in a way that’s not been seen before, and organisations are becoming better equipped to react and adapt. More than that, they’re realising that it can be a competitive advantage to create a work environment that really supports the need for top-tier talent” – Tom Carroll, JLL

to meet the needs of an increasingly demanding workforce.

“New generations coming into the workplace are driving transformation and change,” he says. “Technology is enabling mobility in a way that’s not been seen before, and I think organisations are becoming better equipped to react and adapt to that.

And more than just reacting to it, they’re realising that it can be a competitive advantage to create a work environment that really supports the needs of top-tier talent.”

In addition to attracting the best workers possible, the move could also save firms

money, as they are likely to need less space in expensive areas like central London.

“If you are able to reduce your core real estate in high-cost locations by using flexible formats, there may be some benefits to organisations reducing their headcount and the space required in those locations,” Carroll says, adding that a side effect could be a less strained – and therefore more comfortable – transport system.

“If you have that increasing flexibility, it may ease the day-to-day pressures on the public transport system,” he says. “If you have a more flexible and dispersed workforce, it could improve some of that rush-hour pressure on the system if we see it truly integrated into corporate strategies on a consistent basis.”

So what’s the key to ensuring your business makes the most of 2030’s new opportunities? Carroll says this requires harmony between a firm’s innovation, technology, HR and sustainability strategies – and planning for that needs to start now.

“I think today you can really be in the planning and analysis process,” he says.

“You can really start to evaluate your current mix within the portfolio and really start to focus on delivering a greater user experience from your workplace and real estate.

“While the pace of technological change is going to be huge, I think the key thing for successfully implementing this is to ensure that it’s improving the day-to-day experience of your staff, of your people.”