The Future – Hosted by Cushman & Wakefield Portugal, this conference is about upcoming changes to the way we live, work or consume and the impact this will have on homes, offices or shops. Everything will change, and it remains to be seen how.
Those who attended the conference on the future of real estate, promoted by Cushman & Wakefield in Portugal, understood that the sector would not be immune to the revolution generated by the advancement of digital technologies, the expansion of remote work, the competition for talent , the growing concern about climate change and the vindication of this economy The neo-participation that privileges access to services over ownership of goods.
Just look at the new generations that have exchanged the stability of a professional life for the opportunity to experience new challenges, that have exchanged desks for the freedom to work from anywhere using a computer, that have exchanged their car keys for cell phones that unlock bicycles and electric bicycles or that have substituted the purchase of a washing machine for the hours spent online on the sofas of the new American laundromats. This revolution in the way people live, work and consume is already in the streets of large cities and will quickly affect the way in which their buildings are used and made profitable, whether for offices, logistics, residential or commercial. It remains to be seen how.
If the railways allow the expansion of cities and if the elevators allow the construction of ever taller buildings, it is difficult to imagine the disruptive potential that the announced Fourth Industrial Revolution could bring to the real estate sector. One thing is certain: changes are coming, both for the owners who will become service providers, and for the tenants who will become their customers.
Because the best way to predict the future is to create it, the Managing Director of Cushman & Wakefield in Portugal, Eric van Leuven, invited four speakers to project what the future of the sector could be. “We want to discuss future trends that will define the way we live, work, consume and spend time, and therefore how we design, build, market, finance and operate real estate,” said the host.
Disturbance on the Horizon
The collaborative economy will reach the real estate sector. It is already starting to appear in cities like London, San Francisco, New York and Tokyo, where real estate prices have skyrocketed, forcing us to completely rethink the way we use buildings and share spaces,” Richard Pickering told Expresso.
This expert, who heads Cushman & Wakefield’s future strategy division, envisions “service delivery” for residential and office buildings, with developers creating “ecosystems” where communities of residents and workers increasingly share services and spaces. common areas, from meeting rooms to kitchens, from reception to laundry, from nurseries to gyms, from bars to restaurants.
With the advent of electronic commerce, this expert predicts the “Disneyfication” of shopping malls. Families will no longer flock to the mall for the need to own the products, but for the joy of the experiences that brands will create to entertain families and drive sales.
The Secretary has Passed
“We live in fast-paced times when it comes to technological advancement, the pervasiveness of data, changing work patterns and offices not keeping up with the pace of change,” said Duncan Swinhoe. This expert comes from architecture and design consultancy Gensler, creator of innovative spaces like the San Francisco headquarters of Gusto (pictured), a successful tech company, that resembles a giant living room, where employees are invited to leave the shoes at the door.
Duncan Swinhoe says offices will need to become more sustainable and resilient to meet the challenges of climate change and respond to the sharing economy. Above all, offices must be able to attract the most talented people and create increasingly comfortable spaces designed to encourage creativity, productivity and innovation in companies. That is why he advocates that the focus of offices be on people and on the experience and well-being of those who work in them.
All by Cell Phone
With the aim of creating flexible, sustainable and increasingly attractive offices for millennials, who will account for 75% of the workforce in 2025, the director of Siemens Building Technologies, Sergio Rocha, has revealed several characteristics of intelligent buildings that will reduce energy consumption. and improve the comfort and safety of buildings.
“People want to know everything that’s going on around them at the touch of a phone.” The colleague you are looking for, either to inform you of the events that take place in the building, to control the Ventilation or to know how to charge an electric vehicle.
“Pay as You Go”
In this collaborative economy, another trend introduced by the Siemens expert is “pay as you go”, that is, the presence of increasingly flexible and modular workspaces where, at any time, you can pay for access to meetings , for example.
Marta Costa, director of research and consulting at Cushman & Wakefield, spoke of the “collaborative revolution” to take advantage of the scarce free space in buildings that must be ready to operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Phenomena such as coworking or colouring, reveal a trend in which owners are no longer limited to renting spaces, but rather offer a series of services, all included in the rent. “Landlords who provide services will create their own brands, and tenants will be their customers.”