The global pandemic brought unpredictable changes in the way office tenants operate, and it has been a learning curve for Atterbury Europe and its localised partners’ management teams. As the virus recedes into the background, life is returning to normal, with office workers returning to work across Europe.  Laurenţiu Manea, Office Buildings Manager at Iulius Town Timișioara, gives a view from Romania.

As a mixed-use development that includes large open public spaces Iulius Town must have fared better than many other developments did during the pandemic? Were you able to leverage these green spaces to the benefit of Iulius Town, and how did tenants and visitors respond?
The outdoor spaces and parks were definitely a plus that we took full advantage of during the period of restrictions. Despite everything, people still needed to relax and meet with friends and loved ones, and still wanted to feel that life could be enjoyed, in an environment where their safety would not be compromised. By taking all the mandatory measures in the pandemic context, we still managed to offer them all this, which was reflected in the traffic we attracted. For instance, during summer, when the epidemiological situation was favourable, the recorded footfall was comparable to the pre-pandemic period and even higher. We noticed this trend in all our centres, not only in Iulius Town Timisoara.

How did the global movement of working from home impact on the offices at Iulius Town, and how was it managed with tenants?
In our experience, companies will not give up the physical office, because employee engagement, organisational culture, creativity and motivation are undoubtedly developed through physical togetherness. These days, we see hybrid work models across all companies; however, there is a lot of competition for attracting talent, and the conditions that offices provide are an important consideration for choosing jobs in the future.

We have over 30 000 sqm currently undergoing fit-out works in the United Business Center 0 building. We’ve seen that tenants are allocating larger budgets for fitting out their offices, creating more areas for socialising, as well as specific facilities to accommodate hybrid work models. Informal areas are created for employees to interact with one another in a more recreational way. In addition, equipment, materials and designs are employed to provide a whole new level of safety and security for employees coming to the office, and software applications and procedures are implemented to adopt hybrid work models as efficiently as possible.

What is the status with business – has it completely normalised and what does this “new normal” look like?
The number of people working from the office doubled when all restrictions were lifted in March, and we expect attendance to exceed 50% starting this autumn. The trend shows people returning to the office, and as mentioned earlier companies are increasingly adopting hybrid work scheduling with a minimum of two days a week in the office. In companies with R&D centres, physical office attendance is above 70%.

Have you implemented any particular strategy to get people back into offices?
Many events have been organised in Iulius Town after the restrictions were lifted, and that has boosted the number of visitors to the footfall level recorded in 2019 and even higher. We found that most of the employees in the office buildings as well as visitors to Iulius Town wanted to return to “normal life” as it used to be before the pandemic. The local marketing team prepared a summer packed with events for a wide range of audiences – festivals, outdoor cinema, concerts, exhibitions, themed fairs and outdoor parties. These create a vibrant atmosphere and a relaxing experience for workers in the office buildings and visitors to Iulius Town alike. Each event contributes to a gradual increase in visitors and in the number of employees coming to the office every day.

Is there a sense that any useful lessons were learnt because of the pandemic regarding tenants’ requirements of office space?  What would those be?
Yes, we certainly learnt all about quick decision-making, and how to constantly adapt to the new requirements from tenants and providing solutions that meet safety, health and environmental requirements.

Have you adapted the way you do business, and how is that working out?
There have been a lot of changes to the office building business during the pandemic period, as well as after the lifting of restrictions. Work from home, hybrid work models, and pandemic-driven security requirements are topics that frequently came up in negotiations with tenants during this period.

At the same time, the hybrid work model brought many new elements to the design of office spaces, as well as in the acceleration and adoption of digital solutions in everyday operations. The development team and the leasing team had to adjust their work modes and their expectations in accordance with these work conditions.