Written by:
Clare Bailey
Director in Commercial Research
Savills
Covid-19 and its impact on our lives have made us all a little more selective about where we want to spend our working days and the ability to be closer to home is certainly becoming more attractive to employees.
The digital age has enabled people of all ages to work remotely more than ever before and Covid-19 has created the biggest home working experiment of our time. However, initial research suggests that even digital savvy younger workers still crave personal, face-to-face interaction.
Our town centres and high streets need to adapt and diversify their offering to cater for the post-covid way of working. Invigorating smaller towns and creating new, local businesses by encouraging multiple uses within a town centre can assist with helping the UK economy bounce back. There will still be occupier demand for city centre offices where, occupiers can host meetings and events, but for day-to-day work that doesn’t require physically travelling to HQ, flexible workspaces in local centres could offer employees an attractive alternative to their home environment.
Many retailers had already started this process before the pandemic began. John Lewis and Selfridges, for example, have already introduced flexible retail and workspaces into their property offering, with London White City Westfield shopping centre recently doing the same. The move to flexible workplaces has actually been underway for some time – unsurprising, given that demand for flexible offices has grown by over 50% in the past five years.
Productive in the pub?
Membership and co-working spaces are particularly good at attracting people because they are putting on the activities that people want to come to. They encourage people to network, work together and share skills. As well as creating spaces where local people can come to work, creating flexible workspaces in local centres will create community, boost footfall and help support shops and amenities in the surrounding area. This could significantly help re-invigorate town centres.
Coffee shops are also at the heart of a community, with The UK Coffee Association estimating that around one in five people visit a coffee shop in the UK on a daily basis, with cafés often a magnet for self-employed workers. Co-working cafés could also be the ideal launch pad for start-ups. Recently Cardiff has enjoyed something of a coffee revolution, with an array of new, independent coffee shops with free wifi scattered across the city.
Areas outside the city centre also becoming a magnet for freelancers and those that want to work outside the home but don’t want to travel into the office. The Tramshed, located in a Grade II-listed building on the edge of Grangetown that was once the old tram depot for West Cardiff, is a great example of the type of space that an area outside of the city can offer. Canton is an another up and coming area for creatives, with the development of The Bone Yard, a thriving community of artists and creatives. The site houses a number of shipping container studios and independent businesses, as well as communal areas, and events space.
Local pubs, many of which sit completely empty during working hours, could also offer a lifeline to the high street by helping workers find quick, convenient and cost-effective short-term desk space. Young’s chain of pubs have already started this trend with their Work from Pub (WFP) packages for freelancers and home-workers. Running throughout the week, each participating pub is fully equipped with free Wi-Fi, charging points, quiet spaces and, crucially, unlimited tea and coffee. Never before has the pub been so productive.
The way we work is changing. People are increasingly looking for engaging workspaces in a stimulating environment close to home, so it’s important to provide towns and high streets which promote both wellbeing and a sense of community. There has never been a more opportune time to create happy local workspaces that can support both the business and local community. Work now has the ability to become even more local.
