CHICAGO, July 10, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Space
utilization was ranked number seven on The Counselors of Real
Estate's 2020-21 Top Ten Issues Affecting Real Estate. Many new
space-related ideas, solutions, and procedures have been born
through the Covid-19 pandemic and will remain a part of society
even after the pandemic subsides.
According to the report, the use, location, mechanical
infrastructure, and interior configuration of commercial buildings
are under stress. High-rise, urban core buildings will suffer in
the short term, while more suburban office blocks will experience
reinvestment that has evaded them for much of the last generation.
The focus on mechanical systems in all buildings will cause major
redesign and rebuilding to improve indoor air quality and reduce
transmission threat of airborne particulates. Attention will be on
the health of building occupants across all aspects of their
journey: building entry, vertical transit, air quality, and even
mitigation of unsanitary plumes in restrooms by adding toilet
lids.
The report states the clear beneficiaries from this crisis
appear to be technology companies and e-commerce providers. A huge
increase in the volume of goods purchased online is not only
generating short-term benefit for those providers, but also
significantly increasing the literacy of online shoppers. The
result will be catalytic post-pandemic behavioral change on
provisioning and distribution of retail and wholesale goods and
services, fundamentally changing the expectation of normal. Many
who had resisted the idea of online grocery shopping have since
embraced its convenience. At scale, this migratory behavioral
change will not only transform city planning—replacing the need for
large-format grocery stores with smaller specialized markets—but
also result in more direct connections between food production and
consumers by removing the need for product staging and retail
display. Consumers will have access to fresher produce, at lower
costs, either directly from producers or regional
wholesalers.
Many classic retail formats and retailers will never recover and
require creative re-use or fundamental redevelopment to replace
their former vitality. In that respect, the Covid-19 crisis is
catalyzing change, rebuilding, and transformation on a scale not
seen since the end of WWII.
The Counselors stated acceleration is expected of planned,
medium-density, mixed-use communities in place of old retail
formats, with design that will embrace walkability and integration
of uses that enable continued normalcy in case of subsequent
lockdown orders. Intentional design will deliver social
connectedness with physical distancing that integrates residential,
office, retail, and public spaces that closely resemble older
European cities.
Density and affordability of housing, job opportunities, social
services and health care, as well as cultural, sports and
recreational activities will be even more key in urban planning,
with significantly-revised expectations on capacity as society
climbs out of the pandemic period.
The Counselors of Real Estate ranked Covid-19 as its leading
concern, followed by Economic Renewal, Capital Market Risk, Public
and Private Indebtedness, Affordable Housing, Flow of People, Space
Utilization, Technology and Workflow, Infrastructure, and ESG
(Environmental, Social, and Governance), respectively.
For additional information and perspective on each issue, visit
https://www.cre.org/topten.
SOURCE The Counselors of Real Estate