The Effect of Pandemics on the Use and Design of Real Estate
Master builders, planners and real estate investors worldwide are currently working on making buildings safer for their occupants. In many cases, it is the lifts which turn out to be a real sticking point.
With 500 million infected and over 20 million dead, the global outbreak of the Spanish flu in 1918 was one of the worst pandemics in recent history. Nevertheless, it also pushed scientists to develop antiseptic medicines – and had a significant effect on architecture. The Bauhaus movement initiated by Walter Gropius in 1919 led to the creation of entirely new buildings. Their cubic shape provided ample space for light and big windows, which in turn allowed for the rapid exchange of ambient air and the swift removal of virus-containing aerosols. Bright and clinically white rooms promoted cleanliness and hygiene. Several centuries before, a rampant cholera outbreak finally prompted many cities to build a sewage system and make it compulsory for all houses to be connected.
Our challenge today is the coronavirus. Again, we are seeing tremendous medical progress. For the first time in history, vaccines are being developed within a period of a few months. Master builders, planners and real estate investors are once again called upon to come up with construction measures that protect people in offices, shopping centres and hotels against infection.
Working from home is not a long-term solution
While at the beginning of the pandemic, companies encouraged large numbers of office workers to work from home, this is not a long-term solution. Due to a lack of secure data channels, numerous back-office operations cannot be performed from home. On top of this, employees must, and prefer to be in direct contact with each other to maintain internal communication and exploit crucial creative potential.
Internationally renowned architects and real estate associations, among them the British Council for Offices, are therefore working on a corona design response. Mixed use is becoming a priority, office floor plans are changing, routing and ventilation systems are being adapted, air recirculation systems are coming under scrutiny and opening windows are playing an increasingly important role.
Taking inspiration from hospitals’ hygiene concepts
AFIAA Investment Foundation is currently renovating properties on several different continents, e.g. in Hamburg, London, Austin and Melbourne. The multinational nature of our activities allows us to compare different measures and transfer proven concepts to other locations, giving us a subsequent marketing advantage.
A large number of the measures we implement have been inspired by hospitals’ hygiene concepts, for instance antimicrobial coating which protects door handles and handrails against germs, or air purifiers with HEPA filters which trap viruses. Preventing bottlenecks in office towers is a more elaborate task: If we want to prevent infections, the number of passengers in lifts must be limited and lift queues must be avoided.
Requesting lifts by smartphone
To resolve these conflicting goals, we are installing more powerful engines and state-of-the-art control systems in the lifts at our London, Austin and Melbourne construction projects. The control systems can be optimised to meet hygiene requirements. They are capable of recognising the number of people in the cabin. On top of this, they assign people who wish to go to the same floor to the same lift, which then goes directly to the chosen floor. Safety is thus guaranteed and more people can be transported in a shorter period of time. Thanks to touchless access systems, people can request lifts via a smartphone app without touching any buttons at the terminal. In a number of properties, we have also expanded the lifts shafts and installed additional lifts.
Our investment in hygiene improvement measures amounts to several million Swiss francs. We consider this money well spent which will make the properties even more attractive to prospective occupants, thereby creating additional long-term rental income and added value potential. After all, virologists are already predicting further pandemics once SARS-CoV-2 has been brought under control.
