THE PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT REVIEW
Lendlease’s office - Courtesy of Office Snapshots
And through this complexity, using data and drawing on Lendlease’s international experience and perspective, we find that (and breathe now): simplicity is our greatest ally. People want to be where other people are, where cool things are happening, connected to transport and where nature is. There’s a lot of talk about flight to quality in the office sector right now, and at Lendlease we’re in fierce agreement that more sustainable, better constructed, digitally enabled and healthier places are our future. Side note: these factors are also Lendlease’s past and present… but that’s another story… needless to say, we’ve been on that track for many years, decades even, and we’re not going to stop leading the pack on this anytime soon. But it’s not just a flight to quality that will define the next generation of the office sector; it will be the flight to humanity. Hybrid work is more popular than ever, according to recent reports. How is the office sector adjusting to employees opting for a mix of WFH and working in-office? The phrase ‘earn the commute’ does spring to mind here, perhaps it’s overused but there is a point. Is it worth the time, cost and family-juggle to go to a dusty desk in an outdated place?
The office needs to be easy to get to, and great when you get there. Immediately transport proximate, amenity rich, fun yet safe places bring people and life back to our cities – and not just for the benefit of the office space. The city is underpinned by small retailers, start-ups, and scaleups that rely on proximity and footfall to survive. Not to mention the arts and culture sector. We owe it to them to get hybrid right in many ways. At Lendlease we’re supporting our urban retailers but also introducing culture into our precincts, activating the spaces in between the offices to see how we might play with the mix of what happens near the offices, to the benefit of the whole community. But we also have to get the basics right, family friendly amenity like childcare, gyms, showers with fluffy towels, great food options, even better coffee options. These are no brainers and again, part of what we have been working on for some time, we’re restless place-makers at our heart. Sustainability is becoming a pre-eminent concern for many tenants. How are developers going about creating more sustainable office spaces? We have to think that development is now planet-first. Sustainability is the core consideration in all of our office and
October / November 2022 – 9
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