Anamaria Cretu (Skanska): Hybrid workspaces and the outlook on the demand for offices by the end of 2023

Business Review wanted to know how does Skanska CEE approach the topic of hybrid workspaces and what is the company’s outlook on the demand for offices by the end of 2023, a question answered by Anamaria Cretu, leasing & asset manager in the commercial development division.

“After the pandemic has redefined our day-to-day lives along with the working conditions and flows, we are seeing the office spaces being reshaped in order to adapt to the new reality and to embrace a more dynamic, flexible, and well-being-centered lifestyle and approach among employees. Based on the experiences, investors, tenants, and employees are increasingly aware of the importance of flexible working environments, which should offer complete experiences and the highest standards and always be ready to face change and challenges. Therefore, hybrid workspaces have become the new standard.

Hybrid working doesn’t just refer to the blend of remote and on-premises work. It also refers to a promise of a new model of work, in an environment that integrates both the professional and personal life and interests, providing a balance between the two, and fostering a culture that is more focused on well-being, being it both physical and mental, as well as on collaboration and innovation.

Today, employees from all generations are looking for physical spaces that offer attractive design, natural light, greenery, comfortable furnishings for different work styles, and the latest technology, as well as amenities like restaurants, cafes, gyms, and wellness features. As a leader in developing future-proof buildings, Skanska has paid great amounts of attention to these aspects ever since the very beginning of our activity. Our effervescent and dynamic buildings are always ready to meet and accommodate a wide range of needs, offering flexibility and varied possibilities, to work, stay active or relax, and adapted to the dynamic lifestyle of today’s employees. Therefore, all these features were already integrated within our projects by the time the hybrid model has become the new way of carrying out our professional activities, redefining the office buildings and workspaces. Services and facilities that ensure a balance between professional and personal activities, such as those related to food and nutrition, physical activity, or outdoor relaxation can be found within all of our projects.

One of the best examples in this regard is Equilibrium, one of our main projects that is successfully adapted to the hybrid standards. Just as the name says, the complex aims to provide employees the possibility to develop and maintain a life-work balance, through its characteristics, by offering flexibility and seamless integration with facilities that add value to the time spent there. The project offers 3,500 square meters of green space for both relaxation and outdoor work, free wi-fi coverage, solar-powered tables, and comfortable armchairs inside and outside the building. Equilibrium also provides an inspiring, flexible and customizable workspace, ensuring plenty of fresh air and generous access to natural light. Not only an office building but an active business and social hub, Equilibrium provides extensive amenities for socializing and enjoying free time, such as restaurants and cafeterias.

The post-pandemic and hybrid work-centered reality has also raised more and more awareness when it comes to the importance of well-being. As the concept of well-being stands at the core of our activity, our buildings and workspaces are designed to support physical and mental wellness. To encourage a healthy lifestyle, the architecture and design of each project offer the opportunity to integrate physical movement into the daily routine. The users of our buildings have access to showers and changing rooms for athletes and cyclists, along with bicycle repair and maintenance stations, bike-rental services, bike parking stands, and solar chargers for electric scooters. Moreover, the Campus 6.2 and 6.3 buildings are equipped with a rooftop running track, the first of its kind in Romania, situated at a height of about 42 meters, where employees can go for a run outdoors while enjoying a panoramic view over the entire city. Overall, through our projects, Skanska’s main focus is shifting the traditional office space towards a fluid workspace designed around social interaction, collaboration, valuable personal time and relationship building, such as the hybrid models propose.

As the hybrid model has become the new standard, we see more organizations fine-tuning their policies based on employees’ experiences over the past years and adjusting their workspaces to be fully suitable for this kind of model. The integration of the hybrid dynamic in the working model of most service companies will eventually lead to the stabilization of the office market in the next period of time, with a better adaptation to the new working environment.

Along with the evolution of hybrid work, a new important trend that will contribute to the redefinition of the office spaces within the next years is the increasing attention accorded to the ESG standards. With investors, tenants, and employees that are more and more aware of the importance that environmental, social, and corporate governance holds, the demand perspectives will change and will be in favor of compliant ESG companies. The pandemic has raised more and more awareness on the topic of climate change, leading to sustainability becoming a key consideration in the investment decision. Since the built environment accounts for nearly 40% of all energy-related carbon emissions in the world, the demand perspectives will focus on green, sustainable buildings, with a reduced carbon footprint. This is great news for Skanska, as sustainability is part of our DNA and guides our whole activity. The Skanska Group’s goal is to reduce carbon emissions by 70% in our own operations by 2030 and to achieve a net-zero carbon emissions in our own operations and value chain by 2045, thus accelerating the transition to a carbon-neutral society. By this moment, we have managed to reduce our carbon emissions within our own operations by approximately 50%, and the first phase of the project Equilibrium is running 100% based on renewable energy sources. The second phase of the project, Equilibrium 2 has recently become the first office building in Romania and CEE to obtain the Zero Net Carbon Buildings pre-certification, which we are developing in collaboration with ROGBC (Romania Green Building Council). The building is now under the first of the two evaluation stages, with the final certificate to be obtained after implementing the solutions and monitoring their performance for a minimum of 3 months during the operational stage. Moreover, in addition to developing sustainable buildings in line with the new standards, the renovation of old buildings in order to bring them up to the nZEB standard is also vital, as they represent the largest share of the Romanian real estate portfolio.

Further to the energy performance improvement, the pandemic has accelerated certain tendencies such as digitalization, new hygiene and safety protocols, restructuring of the working spaces, and the use of the new technologies or gears previously integrated into the existing office buildings. As health & safety are among our top priorities, since the beginning of the pandemic period we have worked on developing the “Care for Life Office Concept”, meant to strengthen the employees’ confidence to resume their activity at the office, offering the guarantee of spaces adapted to the new context, with a series of measures that put health, well-being and safety first. The concept involves the implementation of safety protocols and solutions at the highest standards, helping to prevent the transmission of the COVID-19 virus as well as any other potentially infectious diseases in the future. It provides tenants with recommendations and advice on the measures and protocols implemented by Skanska that have resulted in obtaining the WELL Health-Safety Rating certification: adjusting existing technologies within buildings, air quality, detailed sanitation plans and the concept of touch-free building, which aims to reduce contact with surfaces as much as possible.

In terms of industries, as we already see, IT&C continues to be the major focus of companies leasing office spaces, accounting for over 50 percent of the total demand. We expect this trend to remain stable, if not to also increase by the end of 2023. Although the office space market seems to be at a low level in the wake of the pandemic, in two years’ time, we are expecting to face a lack of new space in Bucharest.”

Anamaria Cretu, leasing & asset manager in the commercial development division of Skanska CEE

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