For those who spend most hours of their day in their place of work, the office sure becomes a home away from home. Over the years, the term office has evolved to mean beyond a mere physical place of work for employers as well as employees. Regardless of the company’s ethos or objectives, creating aesthetically pleasing looks around the office is increasingly crucial to making a lasting impression on clients as well as employees.

In fact, if you look around, offices are now being developed as collaborative spaces to foster productivity through informal settings Why some may wonder? The pandemic has essentially catapulted a shift by ushering in a new era of employee centricity that prioritizes employee development and well being above all. Because of this shift, flex spaces have become a go-to choice for corporates as offices can evade the cost of redesigning offices in the new normal. To cater to this rising demand, the coworking industry is steadily focusing on attuning its spaces to this repositioning in the ecosystem by:

Acing the aesthetic appeal
By enabling minor changes in office designs and aesthetics, companies can embark on the road to success with employee attraction & retention, wellness, operational performance, etc. In the recent past, office design has taken a people-driven approach as they have to ability to affect moods, create atmosphere, and bring vibrancy to office spaces. Diving into the overall office layout; colour scheme updates and ergonomically led furniture not only redefines the look and feel of a space but also changes how employees feel when in the space. A lot of the associations with colours are relevant to employees’ productivity. Cool colours like blue and green represent a calm and focused work environment whereas yellow and red boost the creative energy of a workplace.

Since light has an enormous impact on our physical and mental well-being, workplaces are increasingly raising the need to prioritize spaces with larger windows to make better use of natural lighting. To redesign offices that are more employee-centric and promote workplace ambience, permeating the office spaces with illumination can surely elevate the mood and morale of employees.

While we think of aesthetics, adding greenery can also reflect a trendy office space. While the benefits are far beyond look and feel, it evokes feelings of relaxation, positivity and tranquillity. Finding motivation around walls draped with greenery adds natural elements to workplace success. Although the concept of redesigning an office is a visually pleasing environment, modern workspaces also encompass functional elements. The open floor plans not only give more space and makes the work environment vibrant but also eliminate the barriers in communications amongst the teams and put all team members at the same level, thus fostering a sense of harmony. Additionally, office spaces designed with live cafés and break rooms boost a quick two-communication system amongst the employees..

Integrating technology into our everyday
Several global reports on the future of work have confirmed that comfort and well-being is the foremost driving factor of customer expectations in the new work world. While validating the same, furniture is an integral comfort component of a workspace. Not just that, besides being a utility, whether funky or minimalistic in look, furniture takes the overall aesthetic appeal a notch up. Having furniture with bright colours and movable elements could indicate the flexibility of the space.

Smart office furniture like lounge seating or flexible furniture has long been the preferred choice of employees. To keep employees supported and sitting well throughout the day, the new-age furniture features a broad range of technological innovations. Something as simple as redesigning the seating arrangement with chairs to personalize the recline tension with a simple click or palm seat back to encourage active movement can elevate employees’ everyday experience at work.

Additionally, with safety and hygiene defined the new workspaces, offices and coworking spaces are abreast to accommodate technology from entry to exit points through automated attendance scanners, touchless doors, soap dispensers and faucets, digitalized ventilators, etc.

Many businesses believe that creating unique and artistic offices costs a fortune, but with an aversion to office stereotypes and a passion for individual identity, managed office players like Awfis are providing the option of customizable interiors, which has proved to be budget-friendly.

Revamping the office space with amenities and rejuvenating spaces not only celebrates productivity, health and well-being but also provides the best social experience for clients and employees. As Winston Churchill rightly said, “To improve is to change; to be perfect is to have changed often.” Therefore, as we continue to predict the future of work, the one thing that is constant is the changing needs and preferences of employees which will often impact the design trends of modern and flex workspaces.

This story appeared in the 12 June, 2022 issue of Commercial Design of India and was originally published  at: The Design Edge: Redesigning office spaces for a new normal, Commercial Design of India

With employers calling their workforce back to offices, there is a visible demand hike for co-working spaces. Corporate occupiers to independent tenants are taking up spaces and signing long leases; trend likely to continue for the rest of the year.

Factors like expansion by co-working operators, improvement in service offerings, flexibility in lease conditions and formalities, management ease, and occupiers’ caution to reduce costs have led to increased activity.

Recent findings from Colliers, a professional services and investment management company, said flex space saw its share increasing to about 15 percent from 5 percent in Q1 2021. Large corporates continue to explore managed offices, and this has led flex spaces to open new centres in metro cities and even in non-metro cities, the findings said.

Interestingly, in this new work environment, co-working spaces have emerged as the best mode for adopting a hybrid model at offices, as per an ANAROCK-LinkedIn survey.

“We continue to see an increase in demand for flex space as a result of the numerous benefits it offers employees and businesses. Whether it’s lower fixed costs, greater customisation options, flexibility to scale or simply access to a culture of community, collaboration and networking, our spaces enable organisations to ensure a smooth transition back to work,” said Karan Virwani, CEO, WeWork India.

Operators plan expansion
The trend is evident from the space-taking and expansion plans of operators. “At WeWork, we plan to expand our portfolio by a million square feet in 2022, with over 50 percent of the planned development already pre-committed by enterprises… Meeting the demands, we have leased more than 1.7 million square feet of office space to large enterprises and smaller firms in the past year and foresee this trend to continue,” added Virwani of WeWork India.

Another large player, Awfis, has transacted 30,000 seats in the last five months and “has crossed pre-pandemic seat sales,” said Amit Ramani, CEO and Founder, Awfis. In January 2022, Awfis reached the marquee 100-centre milestone and is optimistic about the growth of flex spaces in the country.

“In line with the same, Awfis aims to double its capacity in 2022 with 200 centres by continuing to expand in emerging Tier I cities like Lucknow, Nagpur, Bhubaneshwar, Kochi, and Jaipur, alongside metros. We are also soon crossing the 150 centres and 90,000 seats mark — by end of April 2022,” added Ramani.

Other operators like Smartworks, IndiQube and Simpliwork are already looking to expand and are signing deals.

Occupiers have exercised caution while taking up traditional workspaces. “Occupiers have started asking their employees to be back in office in a phased manner. They are also opening their workspace in a hybrid manner — neither completely remote, nor completely work-from-office,” said Mehrotra of Colliers.

“Enterprise customers who were primarily fence-sitters pre-COVID-19, have come to realise the crucial role that co-working spaces play in providing flexibility and meeting their now evolved workspace needs. In fact, given the uncertainty of the times we live in companies do not want to bear the added cost of running multiple offices and are therefore opting for a decentralised model that cuts costs, and helps maintain business continuity, while enabling access to talent across the country, more efficiently,” added Ramani of Awfis.

As a result of the demand and expansion, there are indications that rental values are firming up across centres. Moreover, to meet the health and safety protocols, co-working operators are transforming by way of digitalisation. This includes the installation of automated attendance, voice-controlled features, sensor-activated disinfectants and digitalised ventilators, among others.

The momentum to continue
The momentum is likely to continue for the rest of the year. And operators and market experts are hopeful that the space taken will increase from these levels. The need for customisation and a hybrid working model will continue to have a direct impact on the absorption trends. Moreover, the concept of neighbourhood centres will gain popularity.

“The demand will be driven by new co-working centres that will open not only in the CBD area of the city but also around residential neighbourhoods (to cater to the work-near-home market),” added Verma of TOP.“Going forward, we are likely to see developers of commercial office assets across the country align with such operators and carve out specialised spaces for them. The expansion plans of major players and the increasing appetite for this format from occupiers, property owners, and co-working operators would be fuelling the growth,” said Puri of ANAROCK.

This story appeared in the 20 April, 2022 issue of Commercial Design India and was originally published  at : Co-working continues to register growth amidst office opening- Commercial Design India