Maintaining The Office Post-COVID
By Allan Wood, Managing Director, Optima Systems.
The pandemic has certainly disrupted all aspects of society and the economy, and we’ll no doubt be feeling the ripple effects for years to come. One aspect of daily life which has changed irrevocably is the role, and very nature, of the physical workspace, from the way it will be used, to how it’s planned, designed and fitted out.
Workers coming back to the city will be looking for a lot more from office space than what they left behind in March 2020.
From a health and safety perspective, there will be an expectation of more room to manoeuvre, as well as better HVAC and lighting. There are also more lifestyle-led aspirations, including a more ‘home-style’ aesthetic and flexibility to work and collaborate across the office, rather than be fixed to one desk.
That’s all before the wider-held social values, now (rightly) expected to be reflected across a business and its assets such as sustainability, diversity and wellbeing, have been considered.
Of course, the ongoing maintenance required of these enhanced spaces will both increase the importance of the FM’s role to deliver on these evolving, contemporary requirements.
It also means not only building management, but everyone involved in the design, build and running of the office, will need to be equipped with additional knowledge and skills to ensure they’re met. It presents both a challenge and an opportunity.
To get to the bottom of the issue, we recently hosted a roundtable which aimed to get to the crux of what the office will look like post COVID. Here, I share a few of the most pertinent findings, highlighting how we need to respond to ensure we’re prepared for the ‘Brave New World’ of work.
Planning For Every Eventuality
There’s still a great deal of public uncertainty and apprehension, and, whilst we talk about the ‘Post-COVID office’, people will actually be coming back to workspaces during a lull in the pandemic. As we have seen from the number of different, emerging variants, future outbreaks and case spikes are highly likely as face-to-face engagement increases.
We, that is everyone involved in the design, fit-out and operation of offices, all need to have robust short, medium and long-term plans in place to accommodate for fluctuating levels of building occupancy, required facilities and their ongoing maintenance.
In the first instance, it’s creating a strategy and schedule for that first day back, ensuring all health and safety guidelines have been met, and access to offices for various occupants is as seamless and low-risk as possible.
Further, we all need to ensure our teams are fully up to speed with any new physical and digital systems which might have been implemented to assist a smooth return to the office for a flexible workforce (e.g. desk booking platforms, video conferencing facilities or freestanding, temporary adaptable meeting rooms (AMRs)). Most suppliers, Optima included, will be able to provide expert training on request.
In the medium to long-term, it’s about conducting regular strategic and tactical audits to guarantee our approach sits in line with evolving requirements, and tweaking accordingly. Then, it’s about reviewing systems and facilities to see how they are performing over an extended period of time.
Maintaining A Safe Environment
One of the biggest challenges businesses will face when trying to encourage their employees back into the office will be inspiring confidence that the spaces they’re returning to are hygienic and low risk.
Fortunately, an understanding of how to better design COVID-safe office interiors has grown over the last six months. In fact, many companies have introduced protocols or undertaken fit-outs which simultaneously offer their workers maximum protection and comfort.
One way in which we’ve done this is to readdress the fixtures, fittings and finishes within the space, particularly surfaces.
At the roundtable, one architect mentioned a particular increase in the use of non-porous materials, seamlessly joined or sealed, which discourage the harbouring of harmful bacteria and germs. Further, the participant mentioned that these types of systems, which range from reinforced glass partitions to engineered stone flooring, are much easier to clean and will withstand strong antiseptic products.
Another highlighted that whilst this makes the FM’s life easier, it’s also important to educate O&M teams to look after these features in the correct way, particularly when cleaning them, to prevent any accidental damage which can pose a risk. For example, a surface scratch or chip is a perfect place for bacteria to accumulate, so a certain degree of care is needed when cleaning.
Managing For Sustainability
The pandemic has also had the effect of driving cultural change, and nowhere has this been more apparent than in attitudes towards sustainability. Although momentum was building around greener lifestyles pre COVID, it picked up pace with consumers and business during the lockdown, prompting personal and professional commitments to live in a more eco-friendly way.
Many companies have now introduced robust ESG strategies which overarch their entire operations, offices included. This means fitting-out offices with low carbon products, and systems manufactured in a circular way, as well as exploring passive HVAC systems and digital tools which reduce energy usage.
Anyone involved in office design, specification, fit out and O&M will be expected to get under the skin of these sustainable offices tools. It might require further investment in training, to ensure maximum efficiency is achieved from these more eco-friendly systems.
This will result in reduced operational emissions and meet requisite targets to achieve Net Zero targets over the next three decades, meeting the demands of the client and expectations of society.
So there we have it: Strategy, Safety and Sustainability.
These are the three essential ‘S’s which should become the mantra to us all as we work in collaboration with our clients to get workforces back to the office in an orderly, hassle-free and low-risk way.
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