Featuring Amanda Steele and Suzette Lamont
Thursday 26 November 2020
AS:
Hello and welcome to Talking Property with CBRE. A podcast in which our team of experts share their commercial real estate insights. My name is Amanda Steele, Executive Managing Director of Property Management here in the Pacific, and I'm your host for today's episode.
We’re going to be talking today about how 2020 has had an impact on human behaviour and transformed workforce expectations around hygiene, wellbeing and security. I'm delighted to be joined by Suzette Lamont, Regional Director of Client Solutions in the Pacific. Suze, thanks for joining me.
SL:
Thank you so much for having me, Amanda. It's lovely to be here.
AS:
So, Suzette, we're going to talk about hygiene to begin with. So, we're seeing more and more companies return to the workplace - finally, it's delightful, I love seeing a busy street. Our expectations though have changed significantly particular those around personal health and hygiene, so it's a new big focus for us. So, from your perspective, what are some of the things that landlords are doing to ensure the safety of their tenants as they return to work?
SL:
Look, it's probably more the question of what they're not doing at the moment because, really, the whole world of managing a property with safety and hygiene in mind has never been more heightened. So, we're really looking at this from a very specific perspective of touchless environments and that proof and surety of safety and proof points that that is happening. So, some of the ways that we're seeing touchless environments come to fruition is around things like self-opening doors. I think you've got a good experience, haven't you? In touchless bathrooms, Amanda?
AS:
Yes, I love the fact that you can have spray hand sanitizer and then the door opens. I love the fact that you can have the soap dispenser come out without actually touching anything, I think we’re getting very used to senses. In fact, Suze, I'm sure you’re like me I walk into a bathroom now and put my hand under the tap and I’m shocked that I have to turn it on!
SL:
I wish it was at my home as well. I think the other thing that we're now seeing which we weren't seeing as much in the past is the use of voice activated things like vending machines. So no longer are we wanting to be touching a vending machine, but we can say “please give me my 3pm Mars Bar, thank you very much”.
I think the use of touchless is all well and good as long as you can access it from your smartphone. I think that's why CBRE’s Host product has been just so incredible during this period because of the way it's built we can surface all the different apps for that that are out in the marketplace, whether it be a touchless loading docks solution or perhaps it's the lift security. But you can do it using your own smartphone, which is clever because people sanitise that all the time for themselves.
AS:
Yes, absolutely. I think the lift one was really interesting for me Suzette, returning to work because people expected it to be a problem. People expected to be queuing for lifts, that there'd be a huge jam of people in the lobby trying to get through and it hasn't quite turned out to be like that.
SL:
No, I mean, we're looking at a 65% return to work at the moment, however, that is per tenancy and we've probably only got a 20 to 30% return to work within each tenancy. So, we're not at full capacity and therefore lifts aren’t at full capacity. We also looked at things like lobby cams during this time to ensure that people could have a little check of what was going on in the lobby before they came to work and make their own decision on whether to come. But, you know, I don't see this is a bad thing, having some touchless lifts or having lobby cams just means that you've already put the innovation in there as a landlord to make that return to work safe and if we haven't had to use it, then it was great to have it there is a backup anyway.
AS:
I agree. I think the other interesting piece around returning to work and hygiene and safety is the end of trip facilities because I didn't think we anticipated that so many people would want to be wanting to use those facilities and of course, it's a space that needs a lot of cleaning.
SL:
All the time and a lot of people using it and end of trip, you're absolutely right the reason that they're so busy at the moment is because, as we've stayed at home, many of us have started walking the dog or maybe riding around the neighbourhood, and we've got fitter and we're wanting to come in, probably avoid public transport as well and use those in end of trip facilities to facilitate a really great healthy workday. So what we've been able to do is actually have a booking system in an end of trip and what that booking system allows people to do is have that surety of space and they know when they come in that they've got their spot, that it's not going to be overcrowded, that there's a fresh towel waiting for them. They also know that we as a property management team have taken the foresight to ensure that we're only allowing a certain number of circulations of people through that before we get our cleaning squad in to make sure that it's beautifully cleaned for the next lot.
AS:
So that technology allows you to book the end of trip space and also for the cleaners to have the visibility on when they need to go in and clean the space. So, you’re getting that certainty.
SL:
Cleaning has been very important, and I think being able to prove cleaning has never been more important. So I look at something like fogging, which who would have thought that that was ever going to be a thing that we saw in our lives, they’re almost like Ghostbusters that come in with this crazy fine mist over everything but just being able to film that taking place and show people that on digital screens in the foyer as they arrive or perhaps they're looking at it on their phone through an app as they arrive that surety of cleanliness has been important. We've got some of our properties that are even showing people what brand of disinfectant they’re using. That’s been an important thing for them. So, the surety of space, the surety of booking space the surety that that's touchless. All of this has made a big, prevalent play for how we now manage properties.
AS:
Great. I'll talk to you a little bit about experience and how you get a good experience out of that hygiene and sanitation. But what I want to know more than anything else is do we have cleaning robots yet Suzette? I want one for home please.
SL:
Well, I can put you onto the TV channel and you can have Arumba tomorrow. We definitely are seeing robots now, making their way into commercial spaces and in fact, in a number of our shopping centres throughout Asia right now, those robots are not only cleaning the floor and disinfecting the floor, but they're using a UV sanitation bar and what this does is that kills all traces of the virus as it goes around. So, expect to see more of these. They're very visible that can be automated, people no longer need that human touch, but in terms of visibility, of robots were also now seeing that our cleaning staff are a lot more visible and you will have noticed that they're wearing bright orange.
AS:
The high-vis vests, the COVID Marshalls. I really like that, I like the visibility of it which is great, and I love the fact that our cleaning people are getting more visibility because, of
course, they keep it going for us.
SL:
Oh, they are so incredibly important and I encourage everyone who works in a big, shiny building to get to know their cleaners name because they really are the best person out there.
AS:
Yes, for sure. Now, experience has been something on the agenda for a long time, for occupiers and landlords providing that positive experience. I think another surprise for a lot of us has been how important that has been returning to work after COVID. So, I'm interested in the fact that we're seeing some buildings adopt branded sanitises and branded cleaning products. I know that there are certain stores I walk into that have very nice hand sanitizer that smells and feels better than other brands. Are we going to see that as part of the experience of buildings returning?
SL:
I think it's inevitable, isn't it? We had already been starting to look at beautiful hand soaps. We'd already been starting to look at perfumes and scents that we put through the HVac systems that could be the signature scent of your building. So, yeah, I think that's definitely a gift for 2020. Each building should have their own personalised hand sanitizer
AS:
I love that, I want that! Suzette, I'm going to move to wellness because I think that is a big focus and it has been a big focus for a long time, and so there's been WELL ratings and systems around how you can really assess the wellness of a building, but I feel like it's shifted a bit with COVID. So, can you just talk to me a little bit about the investments you're seeing from landlords around, keeping those buildings and communities safe and what's happening in that?
SL:
Yeah, I think what we're seeing there is really the big shift towards increased communication with tenants. So, whilst we've had certification such as WELL, such as NABERS, often that's kept in the background. It might be used in that upfront leasing negotiation, not within the community of the people that are there. We’re not seeing that that's really being pushed at a grassroots level. So, in a lot of our buildings that we have, we're now pushing information such as the amount of take away cups that we’re recycling. We're pushing information such as CO2 readings or how much recycling we’re doing, when the last fresh air was coming through and this is the kind of information that again, it's that surety of cleanliness, that surety of wellness. So, I see it as being something in the back pocket of a leasing agent to really being front and centre of that building community so that everyone feels safer and, of course, more well.
AS:
And so, do you think those companies that have invested heavily in indoor air environment quality ratings do you think they'll have an advantage coming out of COVID or in this new COVID normal space, will they have that advantage?
SL:
Absolutely Amanda and we've seen a lot of snake oil salesmen during this time. I think that our teams are working really hard at the moment just to kind of wade their way through what is actually working in HVac and what is being sold as snake oil but we do know that there are a lot of filters out there. I think the one thing to keep in mind, then, is that it does affect your energy consumption and I think you know more than anyone how that can sometimes complicate your NABERS rating as well.
AS:
Yeah, you need to make sure you're getting good advice and that the quality of the advice is right up there. Suze, as we've moved to working from home, and we're now in this hybrid situation where people are working from home and they're working in the office. We've all become more reliant on digital technology, and I think it's an interesting shaping off where we are going to with the new working environment around security, extending not just in the cleanliness and sanitation space, but that cyber security piece.
I know when we all started working from home, there was that concern around you know, is this a secure place to work in. I think that's going to become a focus in the actual workplace as well and again, like wellness it's been there for a while, it's now just become more important than ever. So, we rely on digital technology, and there is risk around the management of data security there. So, what are some of things landlords can do to protect their assets and their reputation around that cyber security piece?
SL:
You're right, Amanda. Since COVID we've never had more demand for that quick, high speed Wi-Fi and of course, to have that in a building there are a lot of penetration points for hackers, for the dark web, for people to be able to come in. So, I think if you're a clever landlord at the moment you're investing mainly in that upfront audit. You're looking at your network. You're looking at your hardware, your software and all the points that can be penetrated in these buildings. We do have certification such as WIRED Score, which is becoming more and more popular. I guess what this does is this give a reputational guarantee of cyber security and also usability of Wi-Fi and network within your building. But I think with the upturn of, especially as we come towards racing quickly towards 5G, to do this audit, upfront and analyse where your penetration points are and to have a plan for patching them. That's what is going to be asked for by the smart tenants and delivered by the smart landlords.
AS:
Yeah, beautiful. Suzette, we've talked about robots, we've talked about Ghostbusters, we've talked about good scented hand sanitizer. I feel like we've touched on a lot.
SL:
Can we talk about virtual concierge?
AS:
Suzette, please talk about virtual concierge, I hope it’s a hologram.
SL:
Almost Amanda. I think what it's going to be in the future is - look, sadly, there has been some shifts in how we want to be spending our money. CAPEX may not be flowing as fast as it was back in 2019. So, we're trying to look for where we get the best bang for our buck. So, we are looking a lot at the moment of how you continue that amazing connection and experience and yet maybe make your budgets a little bit more efficient. So virtual concierge imagine this – it’s like a face time on your phone, but you don't need to actually be speaking to beautiful Andrew, the concierge in real life but Andrew will follow you on a screen throughout the building and potentially three or four other buildings in that city block in order to still give you great service. So, I can see great use case for this that would be that security of people returning to their car late at night.
AS:
Okay, so it's a human being on screen. It's not like…it's not a hologram?
SL:
It’s not a hologram, no, we're not doing any Space Invaders or Star Wars here so I'm sorry about that.
AS:
Good, so you're still getting that human contact, but in a more efficient way. That's great, that’s smart. Thank you so much for your time, Suzette. It's been a lovely conversation as ever. I feel we could talk for much longer and we should stop before it gets boring.
So thank you. Thanks for listening to talking property with CBRE. If you like the show and want to check out more, please visit cbre.com.au/talking-property or subscribe through Spotify and Apple podcasts.
Until next time. Thank you.
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