The Future Business District Study and the Future of the Office

Hannes Read, City REDI, reflects on the emerging research.

Since the Covid-19 pandemic, many people and businesses have been required to work from home rather than the office. The sudden shift away from working in the office has significantly impacted the Business, Professional & Financial Services (BPFS) sector.

The Accelerating Trend in Hybrid Working

The director of policy and research at the Centre for Cities, Paul Swinney, has recently appeared on the Wake up to Money programme on BBC Radio 5 Live claiming that, in the long term, we will see a return to the office five days a week. Yet, even prior to the pandemic, many people in the BPFS sector were not working full time in the office. The ‘flexible’ or ‘hybrid’ working that many people have become accustomed to recently was already underway; what the Covid-19 pandemic has done is accelerate those existing trends. So, the wheels were already in motion to move away from a five-day office week. A move back to pre-pandemic trends would still include a growing portion of remote working.

There are opportunities for younger people to learn good practice and building connections from meeting face-to-face. Exactly how the office space is used is more open for discussion. Yet our research has found it is likely to evolve to better capture the benefits of office-working, with more break-out rooms, areas for collaboration spaces and a greater emphasis on leisure.

The Journey to the Future Business District

Almost all the businesses, developers, and organisations we spoke to as part of the Future Business District study considered hybrid working to be here to stay, in some form. Whilst exactly how to coordinate and manage some people working part from home and part from the office is less clear in practice, the intention is certainly there. Still, teething problems may need to be worked out. For example, if the decision was left to employees to choose when they may come into the office, there could be a larger number of younger people going in the office on a Friday in anticipation of post-work drinks at the end of the week. And by the same token, there may be few people coming in on a Monday to ease themselves into the week. The uneven demand for office working can be at odds with some businesses acting to reduce the supply of office space.

Still there is evidence from the Future Business District study that, in Birmingham, there is demand from both businesses and employers for a high-quality office space.

The demand for good quality meeting rooms, collaboration spaces and breakout rooms is likely to increase. The considerations for energy efficiency, carbon zero building materials, sustainable transport infrastructure and parking, are also on the increase. Developers and businesses have planned for these trends already and the demand for high quality office facilities is likely to continue to increase in the aftermath of the pandemic. Likening the office to a ‘destination’ is one way to encourage people to come into the office space and facilitate collaborations between people.

Role of BIDs in the Future Business District

The findings from the Future Business District study shows that the way in which businesses and people will work and interact in the office are likely to change. Yet office working is unlikely to return quickly to something more akin to 2019. Hybrid working, where people work from home part of the week and from the office the rest of the time, is likely to continue to be the norm. The shifting office use towards a high-quality destination with greater collaboration and networking space is an opportunity to adapt to the changes. BIDs and other place-focused organisations have a significant role to play in facilitating a smooth and practical transition in the way hybrid working and new office uses. It cannot be ignored that many lower grade offices may become less attractive too in future. But plans for how they can be used in future, such as public indoor spaces, or education spaces could help bring an attraction to those areas. Encouraging the office and the wider city centre to become a destination where people can come in has wider benefits for the broader city centre ecosystem.

The changing business district can be seen as a journey. It is unlikely there will be a point where we ‘arrive’ at the trends facing the future city centre. But there can be a series of iterations and learning about what works well for businesses and the work-life balance of employees. Leadership organisations such as BIDs and local authorities from across the city centre are vital in working with businesses and organisations to adapt to the changes for the future business district.

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