How must offices in a post Covid-19 world adapt to play their part in restoring vibrant life to our city centres?  There are 5 lessons to learn.

In an earlier post, I spoke about what we’d like to see to encourage businesses and people back to Newcastle City Centre and its close neighbourhoods. Most of the things I spoke about are not within our gift. However, we recognise that businesses like ours – responsible for office space – have a part to play.  How  must The Racquets Court begin thinking big about smaller offices, to meet the changing demand for space.

What has changed?

In the past 12 months, we (and most of the planet) have learned how to work from home.

We know what we like about it and what we don’t. We know what we miss and what we do not. We’ve solved some problems and not others.

The genie is out of the bottle. It will not be put back.

We are not certain what all of these lessons are, but these are some that we are working with.  We must:

1.  combine the best of ‘home’ with the best of the office
2. tempt people with ensuring that the frustrations they ‘probably’ encounter at home will never be ecountered at the office
3. recognise that it will be the norm, not the exception, for people to combine working from home with working at the office
4. ensure that the safety from infection that people feel at home are replicated to the fullest extent possible at the office
5. work with the knowledge that the pressure for employees to work from home, some of the time, will come from their employers.

The best of home PLUS the best of the office / compensating for the frustrations of working at home

The evidence suggests that, where home is comfortable, people enjoy working there. That phrase ‘where home is comfortable’ however is a big one.

There is an obvious connection between how well off someone is and the degree to which they find working at home comfortable. More than this, the better paid will find it easier to afford the additional costs of working at home. Although homeworkers save on travel (and on clothes that are worn below the waist), outside the South East, this may not compensate for the greater costs incurred for utilities.

There are other issues.  ‘Before Covid-19’, home was big enough, now it is not.  The desk chair used for brief periods before Covid-19 was OK; sitting on it now for hours at a time, it’s killing my back.  Before Covid-19, the table was OK for brief periods of work;  as a desk, the table is too small.  And ‘my table’ has not before been used so extensively for work; my table is my metaphor for the difficulty of separating home from work.  Where does one stop and the other start? Before Covid-19, this was relatively easy to distinguish; today it is much harder.

Connectivity?  OK for my personal use;  Zooming and Teamsing all day is entirely different. And my partner is on it too – it won’t cope.

The psychological impact of Zooming and Teamsing

Microsoft has largely found itself missing out on the plethora of slang associated with the harms associated with video conferencing. We have ‘Zoom Gloom’ and ‘Zoom Fatigue’.  The slang does however mask real concerns about the psychological impact of the exccessive use of this technology.

So we should assume that employers who care about their people will wish to reduce the use of Zoom and Teams by bringing them back into an office – at least for part of the week.

Playing our part – tempting people back to a Newcastle City Centre office.

We have to be comfy.  We’re not ‘home’ but we can be a great alternative. You will not get a bad back sitting at your desk (because the chairs have won design awards in Germany and the USA).  The desks are amply sized, screened and with nifty pull away tops to hide the wires.  They are made in Yorkshire.  The office will be quiet because the carpet is designed to insulate you from office noise.

The coffee won’t run out, because it’s locally sourced and delivered. When the building is full, you’ll be able to reach into the fruit bowl and grab an orange or an apple, sourced from Grainger Market.  You’ll never have to wait for the kettle to boil or for the tap to run cold because boiling and chilled water is on tap.  And your space will be clean – because we clean it every night. (And we employ our own cleaners – on excellent terms and conditions).

These luxury features have guided us from the beginning; we have always wanted to be thinking big about smaller offices.

We will be flexible with space – desk space and meeting space

You will probably not want space every day of the week. We will therefore offer you space when you need it. If you need desk space for only 0ne or two days a week – then we will make that possible. If you need one desk one week and two every other week – we’ll accomodate that too. If you need to meet others in the middle of the night – well, that OK because the building is 24/7.

We recognise also that this way of working is unlikely to reduce the Zoom or Teams load. This is because not all of your people will be together at the same time. So we will make our meeting spaces more flexibly available.  Before Covid-19, meeting room were bookable for a minimum of half day.  We will reduce this to 2 hours for those outside The Racquets Court; for members, we will reduce this to one hour.

And of course, you do not have to worry about connectivity.  The Racquets Court is one of the very few buildings connected to Stellium’s Metro Network.  We have a Gigabit carrier and 200 Mb up AND down. Every desk has a wired connection and there are 3 wireless networks in the building. If you need extra security, then we can offer your own connectivity the Metro Network.

Covid-19 has not disappeared. The Racquets Court must be safe

Currently, desks are socially distanced; we have reduced the capacity of our cafe area.

We have installed a facial recognition, no touch, temperature scanner. We anticipate that everyone entering The Racquets Court will wish to ‘scan in’.

There is a hand sanitisation station at the entrance to the building and all sinks are stocked with Arran Aromatics luxury hand wash and hand cream. Regular handwashing and sanitising is drying out our hands.  It is very important therefore to moisturise them.

Air Circulation

Additionally, The Racquets Court has a sophisticated air circulation system. It does not have air conditioning.  The system continuously draws fresh, filtered air into the building and pushes out the air from inside. Therefore, you can feel confident that the air you breathe is as fresh as possible and filtered.

Our system is also more environmentally friendly than air conditioning, helping to protect our planet as well as our people.

The Racquets Court also has a self-opening glass roof for maximum fresh air. And of course, it has rain sensors so it closes automatically when the weather turns.

Cycling to The Racquets Court

Many of us are avoiding public transport and cycling. Newcastle City Council is promoting this of course with more cycle lanes.  The Racquets Court has secure bike storage. And there are luxury showers to freshen up (Arran Aromatics toiletries provided).

Making the home / office balance work for all

If you are running a business, and you’ve downsized your office needs, we assume that you will wish to devote resource towards making your people feel as though their home / office balance works in their favour.  This is about your business thinking big about smaller offices.

If you can get it right, if your people feel that they can get the best of both worlds (comfort, ease, frustration-free, hygiene factors satisfied), then employee satisfaction will be high and productivity will increase.

And the cost to you is predictable; there will NO additional costs except for those you ask for such as a meeting room for an hour or two.

If you are an employee, then going to the office should be an appropriate alternative for everything that working from home might offer. And perhaps that should include the odd additional trinket that you might not get at home.  This might capture some of the things mentioned above, but also easy access to John Lewis, Marks & Spencer and Fenwick, a drink after work in a City Centre pub, followed by a trip to the cinema or theatre.

This is what we mean by thinking big about smaller offices

In my last post on this subject, I talked about Newcastle’s ‘bit’ – those things over which we have no control which make our City attractive. This post has been about our ‘bit’

Our ‘bit’ is the offer of luxurious office space in the centre of our City which people will WANT to work in.  The future appears to be that many of us will wish to combine working from home and at the office; we believe that The Racquets Court can be ‘the offfice’ that makes this combination work to the benefit of businesses and the people who work in them.

The Racquets Court is dependent on vibrant life returning to Newcastle. And vibrant life in the City depends on workplaces like The Racquets Court. We’re inter-dependent. This post is about making Newcastle attractive to business.  If we can do this, the people of Newcastle, and around, will return – in droves.

What must we (the owners of The Racquets Court) do, (our bit) and what must ‘the City’ do, (its bit)?  This post is about the latter; we discuss the former here.

Is investing in our City a ‘choice’?

For close to a year, there has been a debate about lockdown choices.  Should we prioritise health or the economy?  Our position is that this is not  a ‘choice’.  We prioritise health because unless our population is healthy, they will not be working, buying goods and services, stimulating demand.  The health of our people is the pre-condition to a healthy economy.

Some may argue that investing in our City is a ‘choice’. In other words, we can choose between prioritising resource allocation to our communities most in need, and investing in making Newcastle attractive to business. However, like the Covid-19 example, this is not a choice.  Unless Newcastle is attractive to business, those most in need will continue to suffer joblessness and deprivation.  Businesses that are attracted to Newcastle or are started here, create jobs which are a pre-condition for an end to deprivation.

Choosing to invest in Newcastle

Restoring life to Newcastle is about reimagining the extensive literature on what makes locations attractive to businesses. This is not new material; it has been around a long time. We must remember and adapt it to the current / post Covid-19 situation we face.

Location attractiveness to businesses – those who run them and work in them is about four features:

1. Are we close to arts and entertainment facilities that our people can enjoy and use? This is the culture effect.
2. Do transport links effectively and efficiently connect our business and our people to those other places we need to connect to? This is the easy access effect.
3. Does the location look good? Is it attractive? Will our people want to walk its pavements to get to the arts venues that it houses? This is the ‘wow’ effect.
4. Are we close to other businesses with whom we co-operate and compete and organisations that support our activity such as Universities or trade associations? This is the cluster effect.

The culture effect.

In spite of evidence that shows that, for entrepreneurs, theatres, galleries, museums are greater attractors than beaches and countryside, the North East seems wedded to promoting the latter over the former. Perhaps this explains why Darlington has attracted the Treasury rather than Newcastle – an odd decision which may incite insurrection amongst the Mandarins.

For Newcastle, it must be a priority to open our culture venues as soon as we can. They must not be starved of support; their role is crucial.

The easy access effect.

People will continue to be nervous of public transport for some time. How might we facilitate access? Perhaps the restrictions on some parking might be eased? Perhaps city fringe spaces might be opened?  For example, the space traditionally used for the Hoppings on the Town Moor might be used with people completing the journey on foot.  How many other cities in the UK have such a potential facility so close to the City centre?

I am not of course suggesting this as a permanent facility – merely a temporary one until a semblance of normality is resumed.

The ‘wow’ effect.

It’s very good news indeed to see that the City is to invest in its Centre.  I have occasionally been dismayed by previous efforts in the City which have featured copious quantities of astroturf and planting and plant containers that are aesthetically challenged – so please let this happen to deliver a ‘wow effect’.

But it’s not just the City Centre. Gosforth is a key residential attractor for entrepreneurs and others thinking about re-locating to Newcastle.  Gosforth High Street is currently a mess of largely filthy red and white poles delineating cycle lanes, with the white patches peeling off many of them. This is not a plea for the removal of cycle lanes. It is a plea to make them look good.

The cluster effect.

To deploy a cliche … last but not least.  Those that know my background will be unsurprised to see me talk about clusters. I led the UK’s whole economy cluster mapping project in 2001;  I remain persuaded that the concept is powerful.  It is surprising just how much of what we said 20 years ago, retains its currency.

For businesses like ours (data technology – ish), proximity to Newcastle University is a great example of the cluster phenomenon. However, the relationship of our business to others, close by, is less obvious. I have no idea what clusters there are – and I am not persuaded that others do.

Are there examples of City Centre clusters?

Our own City of London is an obvious blueprint. The City takes in all financial services, City University, specialist printing (financial services is THE biggest user of print services) and so on. Post Brexit – who knows?

Outside the UK, the clothing cluster in Los Angeles is a wonderful exemplar.  The cluster captures masses of manufacturers right there in central LA, the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM) and California Mart, where buyers from across the US can easily visit hundreds (yes hundreds) of small clothing designers.

I recall discussing the strategy that gave rise to the re-imagined and commercially successful fashion infustry in Los Angeles (with the LA Development Corporation). My overwhelming impression was the clarity with which the strategy was articulated, based as it was on a solid research base. The LA cluster is now bigger and more successful than that in New York. It has given rise to brands like Diesel and American Apparel as well as clothing tech businesses that challenge the traditional hegemony of France and Germany.

Both of these are examples of clusters based on markets (finance and clothing). Today, we’re more likely to see clusters defined by a technology – ‘digital’ for example.

Clusters – technology based or market based?

I find it difficult to identify the glue that might bind businesses together simply because they use similar tech.  Certainly, the most recent work on clusters is remarkably devoid of a market focus.  A 2018 BEIS study uses some nifty maths to identify clusters, but I don’t see what use the analysis is.

For example, this study identifies the second largest advertising cluster in the UK to be centred on Manchester (my team found the same in 2001 – industrial structures change slowly). However, the study evinces no curiousity about why it’s located there.

The answer is to with the fact that Manchester was the home of the original catalogue industry (Grattan for example) that sprung out of the clothing businesses based in the North West – the precursor of online apparel. ¹ THIS IS WHAT WE SAID IN 2001:  Perhaps associated with both textiles and household goods is the region’s major strength in mail order retailing. Its size, degree of geographic concentration, links to industries such as market research, advertising and packaging and its role as a distribution channel for consumer and household goods, suggests that mail order might be seen as a significant regional cluster in its own right. In this context, it is worth emphasising that the industry is not dissimilar in many ways to the emerging dot.com industries.

And from the embers of what was there, other things spring up.  Alongside Misguided, there is Boohoo, Pretty Little Things, Matalan and others.  Supporting them is the textiles department of Manchester University and those other industries (advertising and so on), that we identified in 2001.  They are all thriving and adapting in a digital age.

Having a market oriented understanding of clusters enables strategies to prevent clusters unravelling, or stimulating appropriate responses if that unravelling can’t be stopped.

For the moment, suffice to say that the evolving industrial structure of Newcastle has never been more important. I don’t detect a strategy for it, but if vibrancy is going to be restored to our city, then we need one.

Making Newcastle attractive to business:  the cost

As a business resident in Newcastle, I am not wholly familiar with the parties to all of this.  I think my comments take in the City itself, NE1 (the Business Improvement District for central Newcastle), The Freemen of Newcastle (who own the Town Moor), bus operators and so on.

This is important for us. We’d be prepared to increase our NE1 levy to contribute.  I recognise this is a team effort – we want to be in the team …..