In the fifth of a new series of blogs discussing Schneider Electric’s approach to Responsible and Responsive real estate, we talk to Bedeir Rizk of Paragon, Dan Drogman of Smartspaces. Darren Lovelock of Lloret about how to create future-proof spaces for occupants. Watch the two videos interviews conducted by both, Cormac Crossan, Global real estate business development director, at Schneider Electric, and Westley Thurley, European segment leader, digital energy, at Schneider Electric, here:
What can you do if employees simply don’t enjoy going into your office? For Bedeir Rizk, the entrepreneur behind Egypt’s Paragon Developments, a lot of his firm’s smart thinking was born out of a sense of “hating going to work”. The business, which prides itself on helping develop workplace communities that grow and thrive, is currently revolutionising the commercial sector in Egypt with a little help from Schneider Electric and its EcoStruxure platform, which comprises cutting-edge smart building solutions.
We decided to think outside the office and outside the box that’s called the building – Bedeir Rizk
Adds Bedeir: “How many times do you go to your office feeling like you don’t want to go? And is it possible to create different experiences around that, in that case?” Bedeir suggests that “what we call the work-life balance doesn’t work”. He explains: “So, we decided to think outside the office and outside the box that’s called the building. We asked how we could create unique experiences within the workspace, and by doing that, integrate work and life together.”
Schneider Electric’s Global real estate business development director, Cormac Crossan, thinks that the office experience has never been a hotter – or more urgent – topic. “There’s currently a huge existential question around workplace and hybrid work,” he notes. “While we’ve all emerged from Covid, a lot of remote working has persisted, and there’s been a lot of reduction in overall footprint for corporate occupiers.
I think the way we experience spaces is a key component of that conversation, that is not often talked about. Is work something that we can only do remotely or from the office? What’s the role of the office from a tenant perspective? – Cormac Crossan
Bedeir is ready to answer that question. “The office is dead, thank goodness,” he says. “That gives us an opportunity to recreate different work experiences. Today, 20-40% of office buildings are vacant in the US and I think, rightfully so. There’s no point in trying to force people into spaces that they don’t want to go to. But there are new experiences that are created in different areas of the world, like workspaces on the beach, in the mountains.”
I think the future of work is still ahead of us. And this is why we are doing our experience experiments – Bedeir Rizk
For Bedeir, that throws up a more interesting question – “why are offices not attractive anymore?” He answers it with a further observation about seismic changes in the urban experience. “Why do we move to cities? And the short answer is, because we want to get better work opportunities. And it is striking now that you don’t need to move to a new city to work in that city. If the basic foundation of a city is no longer the office, then the purpose of the city shifts. So why would I now move to Paris, Berlin or New York?” Exploring the remote work trend further, he argues that forging new friendships and personal relationships has become harder. He concludes: “I think the future of work is still ahead of us. And this is why we are doing our experience experiments.”
These “experiments” have translated into something called the Paragon Hub, an amenity space which is designed to take up about 10% of each Paragon development. While this includes the obvious like bookable meeting rooms and coffee spaces, it also goes much further in serving occupiers. “We also focus on art and culture, there’s a gallery and art exhibition; there’s a focus on wellbeing, and a nursery catering for the whole office and surrounding developments, so you have access to your kids, plus a healthy food offering and a gym. We also actively think about the tenant mix from day zero. Ultimately, we design these spaces to really cater for the tenants and surrounding buildings.”
Backed by Schneider Electric technology, Paragon’s projects use smart infrastructure to simplify and enrich the occupier experience. Cormac notes that tech today can both make life easier for tenants as well as driving sustainability gains, all of which help defend against “tenant churn”. Yet when tenants do want to move on, Schneider Electric is also working on a circular approach to the hardware used in fitouts to preserve its use beyond the first tenant with some simple software reconfiguration solutions.
Other key partners for Schneider in the office revolution include proptech innovators Smart Spaces and building management systems specialist Lloret, both experts in the tenant experience arena. Dan Drogman, CEO of Smart Spaces, describes how their tech was crucial in the early days of the firm when working for clients who were rolling out business parks. “Business parks have to attract occupiers out of cities, which can be a tougher sell, so you need to offer a lot of amenity, and need to be able to deliver that and measure its use. Quite quickly after deploying our apps and systems, property investors could target what was working, rather than having to take a sporadic approach. Central London landlords started calling us after that.”
You can’t just have technology for the sake of technology – it’s about getting the balance right between technology and culture for human interaction in the building – Westley Thurley
Westley Thurley, European segment leader, digital energy, at Schneider Electric agrees that while apps have become quite commonplace in the building experience, there are often vast differences in quality. “You can’t just have technology for the sake of technology – it’s about getting the balance right between technology and culture for human interaction in the building.” Any tech deployed in this way needs to consider both the requirements of occupiers and of those tasked to maintain and operate the building, he says. “When you are trying to encourage the adoption of an app, if people understand what it can achieve and the why, it will be used to the greatest effect.”
Darren Lovelock, managing director, Lloret, observes attitudes changing around how user technology is deployed in buildings as occupiers gain a greater understanding of its potential. He notes: “It’s a market that is changing from conventional engineering to a more IT based engineering; you need to know about IP addressing, and know about coding. A range of protocols are becoming more and more of a requirement across projects, and that really does need a different level of skillset. In turn, our teams need to prioritise early engagement with the building occupier.”
He adds: “We are also seeing a big move towards the wellness aspect, and that is really driving a lot of the revolution around signage: the more information you can give, the more comfortable users feel. The diffusion of the WELL standard is contributing further to this, as end-users become more experience savvy.”
Schneider Electric: Enabling Responsible and Responsive Real Estate
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