The impact of Covid-19 on the office sector

“Most Dutch employers do not force people to come to the office. It wasn’t like that before Covid, and it certainly won’t be after” stated @Bas Jochims during the PERE workplace roundtable discussion. Together with @Frank Roccogrande (DFI), @Jeb Belford (Clarion Partners) and @Nick Deacon (Nuveen Real Estate) he elaborated on the impact of the Covid pandemic on the office sector, and specifically on the Dutch situation. Some locations like Amsterdam will have to do less adapting to the new paradigm than others, Bas stated. “In the Netherlands it was already quite common to work from home. Most people worked from home one or two days a week, which is very different to some other office markets like Paris, London and New York. The culture here is already quite flexible.”

Overall, Covid definitely accelerated the appetite for accessible, flexible, smart and sustainable offices. We also see a change in the need for specialist office space like life sciences. “The pandemic has made it clear that the trend towards operational intensity that is unfolding across much of the real estate investment class, now unarguably applies to offices too.”

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