The Vic, MediaCityUK, Salford Quays

Peel L&P

The coronavirus pandemic will not kill the office; however, we are likely to see some fundamental changes when we return to work, some post-pandemic offices will be reduced to as low as 20% occupancy, shared spaces will have to be rethought and some workspaces may introduce a “pandemic mode”. At the very least, your office will be significantly different to when you left it 3 months ago. Although mass working from home has proved to be viable for some organisations and individuals, after the pandemic eases, it is likely that the office will once again become many people’s primary place of work. The modern office space is a great leveller; everyone has more or less equal amounts of space, more or less the same seat to sit on, similar facilities and similar technology. The general view that is coming across is that the majority of people want to get back into the office but with a greater degree of flexibility than before and occupiers need to rethink what the office is really all about. The offices people will be returning to have to be adapted for the short and long term, with circulation and shared spaces being the most challenging to address. Space planning the space where people are going to sit and do their work is pretty straight forward; it’s the shared spaces such as entrances, lifts and amenities that will present more of a challenge.

There are 172 members of staff across the Peel Group and Land & Property to be accommodated with the space. The basic requirements are:

• All staff on single-floor plate

• Private offices – say 17 no.

• Workstations – say 155 no.

• Main Board room

• Break out space, rest, collaboration, quiet working

• Hot desk facility

• Meeting rooms – say 10 no.

This occupancy might well reduce to 70% based on part-time and flexi-workers and from a Work From Home survey many are saying they would like a balance of WFH and it is suggested that occupancy level might drop to 120 using hot desk facilities.