The Evolution of Internal Workplace and External Space

Ada Fung
Workplace design and architecture have been evolving over time to reflect the users’ needs and specific purposes. We are seeing exponential changes, and that's even before the impact of COVID. Traditional offices used to be just a space with meeting rooms, furniture, with people clocking in 9 to 5. These days, we’re often hearing terms like “Flexible”, “Hybrid”, “ABW – Activity-based working”, all of which begs the question: what will post-COVID workplace look like?

Taking a step back, expectations around the purpose of buildings have also changed. Buildings no longer just provide a physical space, but are also seen as a way to connect, something that has a knock-on impact on the physical and mental health.

Today, we are honoured to be joined by two experts who are going to chat about how the internal workplace and external space and buildings, and how this is affecting people's wellbeing.

First, we have Dr. Isabelle Chan joining us from the University of Hong Kong. She is an assistant professor and program director of BSC Surveying in the Department of Real Estate and Construction. Her research specializes in particular area within construction, namely health and safety, stress management and innovation. Welcome, Isabelle.

We are also joined by our CBRE Head of Workplace Strategy, Jennifer So. Jennifer is an expert in advising corporate clients on how to align their workplace experience and environment to meet their organizational objectives.

So, Jennifer, would you mind starting us off with an explanation of some of these expressions we have been hearing, such as “Flexible”, “Hybrid”, “ABW”? Aren’t we just talking about an office? How has workplace changed over time?


Jennifer So
Absolutely. I mean, that's a great question. So flexible, hybrid and ABW are all terms we hear a lot these days. So, they are similar in a way where they all give the users choice and flexibility, but they do differ slightly in terms of their meaning. And you can think of it by separating them into two larger buckets, the where and the when.

So let me start with the when first. Flexible working refers to the when. It predominantly refers to the flexibility in working hours and how the traditional 9 to 5 can be adjusted to fit your schedule or your work patterns better. Now moving on to the where. Both ABW and hybrid are subsets of the where. So let me start with a ABW first, which is short for Activity-based Working. It refers to the actual design and composition of the physical space itself. So ABW is a work style that recognizes how people need different settings and tools to perform different tasks and this might change from day to day, or hour to hour.

Now lastly, Ada, you mentioned hybrid. Hybrid also is an extension of the where. Now, ABW refers to the more dynamic use of the in-office experience, hybrid goes a step beyond that. It incorporates a combination of working in the office and an alternative space outside the office. For example, say your home, a cafe, a shared co-working space.


Ada Fung
Interesting. That's a lot of new terms to be learned. What are the other functions of today's workplace offering to employees and how does it affect their well-being as such?


Jennifer So
I think the best way to approach this is by understanding the environment pre and post COVID. So pre-COVID, we've already seen companies paying a lot of attention to employees mental and physical wellbeing by incorporating, for example, green walls, mother rooms, wellness rooms for their employees in the office. We've also seen an increase in adoption towards ergonomic furniture such as the height adjustable desks. Now, some companies have even gone an extra step further to install individualized controls for their employees, where once the user swipes their work badge or key in their unique employee code, for example, the desk automatically adjusts to the user's settings in terms of height, their desired temperature and preferred lighting.

So, post COVID now, especially with a more blurred distinction, I'd say, between the home and the office, and additionally with the uptake of online meetings leading to digital overload or what we known as the zoom fatigue. There are many research that suggests the negative impact of that on our health. And to counter that, we are seeing more HR policies encouraging more for technology downtime with, say, tech free meetings or even no meeting Fridays.


Ada Fung
Indeed. I heard a lot from the clients as well. So, with the lockdown restrictions over, I think organizations are now planning their post-pandemic workplace strategy. How do you think, specifically after COVID, that it will change or perhaps continue to change in the next 5 to 10 years?


Jennifer So
I see in the near term, employees and companies will put a much larger emphasis on hygiene and safety, particularly in a post-COVID environment. In a way, this is also a method to encourage employees to come back into the office by showing them that the office is indeed a safe place to be in. We're also seeing a higher adoption of touchless access controls in, say, lift banks, door access, enhanced sanitary measures and also the implementation of seamless visitor management software to automate wellness or safety procedures.

If we look into the future now, the workplace would heavily embrace data. Data will inform decisions towards questions that relate to occupancy, real estate costs, operating costs, and even the overall environment of the office. So, data collected by sensors can measure air quality, temperature, the humidity around you, occupancy and even ambient light in different work zones within the workplace. And very smartly, they can make adjustments to them, minimize power consumption, maximize energy production and maintain a perfect environment for the user's health and wellbeing. The data will also better inform our facilities management team on any potential problems within the workplace by informing conditions of light bulbs, water pipes, water outlets, etc.. So, I'd say in sum, data would be used to make more efficient decisions, both on a commercial perspective, but also on an employee wellbeing perspective.


Ada Fung
This is insightful, Jennifer. Thank you. Let's turn to Isabelle now to ask her about her recent study on underground urban development and human health. Isabelle, can you tell us a bit more about your study?

Dr. Isabelle Chan
Thanks, Ada. Well, like many high-density cities around the world, urban expansion in Hong Kong has long been largely limited. As such, the Hong Kong government has formulated plans for underground space developments. So, this means more and more citizens will have to work or stay underground for longer periods of time.

However, some previous studies have already indicated that there are different health risks facing underground users, such as sleep disorders due to the lack of natural light exposure. That’s the physical health impact. Or the anxiety or sense of isolation caused by insufficient connectivity with the aboveground environment. This is the psychological health impact.

So, this may explain the reasons why social acceptance towards underground developments has long been low.

In fact, the cost of underground developments can be 1.3 times or sometimes even six times higher than that of the aboveground developments. The economic burden can be even higher if the environment is built with inadequate consideration of health, if we look at it from the public health perspective. So, if we wish to utilize our underground land resources, it's imperative for us to look into how to minimize health risks facing underground development users.

And as such, this study, funded by the Research Ground Council in Hong Kong, aims to enhance underground users’ health through facilities management (FM). And the concept of FM actually first emerged in the 1970s. At that time, the primary concern of FM was just to manage building assets, especially workplace, with the main focus on maintenance measures. So, over the decades, definition of FM has expanded to cover not just the brick and mortar of a building, but also the needs of the end users that it is accommodating.

So, nowadays the IFMA has defined FM as the integration of people, place, process and technology for ensuring functionality, comfort, safety and efficiency of the built environment. And the role of FM is becoming even more significant after the unprecedented COVID-19 outbreak, which has brought changes to not just people's lifestyles or workstyle, but also people's concerns on public space, especially underground space, due to its particularities such as lack of natural ventilation or sunlight.


Ada Fung
Interesting. So, I hear you. There is an association between space and people's mental health and physical health. Can you elaborate a little bit more on that?

Dr. Isabelle Chan
We have conducted case studies of 11 underground developments in Hong Kong before and after COVID-19 outbreak. So, through the measurements and questionnaire survey, the empirical study provided three key findings. First of all, we found that underground development users self-reported health level, both physical and psychological ones, is significantly improved in the post outbreak period. So, the enhanced physical health results actually echoed the findings of some previous academic studies conducted in foreign countries. To certain extent, the lockdown in those countries or the social distancing arrangements in Hong Kong have allowed citizens to take better care of their physical health, such as doing more exercise.

But on the other hand, different from some previous studies which generally found that psychological health of their citizens was worsened by the pandemic. This study found that the psychological health of our Hong Kong participants is improved after the pandemic. So, this can be explained by the difference pandemic situations and the control policies adopted in different areas. While most of the previous studies were conducted in areas impacted seriously by the pandemic, even being lockdown, the pandemic level in Hong Kong during and before the data collection was comparatively less serious. Instead of lockdown, the Hong Kong government adopted social distancing measures and work from home arrangements for public sector. So as such, the change from a fast-paced lifestyle to a slower one may have brought positive impacts to participants psychological health.

Secondly, it is also surprising to find that underground developments user satisfactions towards most of the FM factors including ventilation, indoor air quality, thermal comfort, acoustic comfort, lighting, greenery, etc. have significantly increased in the post outbreak period.

So, the significant change can be explained by three forces facing the FM professionals, including governance, market push and technology push after the pandemic. For instance, after the COVID-19 outbreak, the Hong Kong government has tightened the requirements on air change rate in eateries. The policy does not only lead to immediate actions of FM professionals who were managing premises with dining areas, but also drove leading firms in the sector to reveal and enhance the indoor environment, quality and facilities inside their premises as a whole, so as to boost tenant’s and visitor’s confidence.

In the review process, firms also inquired different innovative technologies like cleaning robots, automated face mask detection system or social distancing monitoring system and so on, which are helpful in enhancing the performance of underground FM. To a certain extent, the study provides empirical supports that the pandemic has brought positive impacts to the performance of underground FM in Hong Kong.

And thirdly, the research results also found that while connectivity with aboveground is a significant factor predicting physical and psychological health of underground users in both pre and post pandemic periods, lighting becomes a critical health predicting FM factor for both physical and psychological health in underground developments after the COVID-19 outbreak.

Ada Fung
Interesting. So, what do you think would be the implications for developers in terms of placemaking or how would you advise our landlords and developers based on what you have discovered from your study?


Dr. Isabelle Chan
After the pandemic, different research found that people's feeling of safety and security in public area have dropped, and our regression analysis found that enhancing connectivity to the aboveground environment and better light management could increase underground development users’ self-perceived health level.

The most direct way to enhance underground and aboveground connectivity is of course to include more hardware facilities such as escalators, lifts, staircase, and so on. However, once a development is completed, it’s difficult or it’s often costly to change its hardware, facilities or design. In fact, in addition to these physical facilities, the connectivity can also be fostered implicitly, such as embedding natural elements in the underground interior design, such as having the wood elements, greenery, water; or it can also be done virtually such as displaying of the aboveground environments using virtual windows or virtual sky ceilings.

On the other hand, to enhance individuals’ confidence on underground environment hygiene and adequate light level is also essential. There were empirical supports that with adequate light level, one could have a good quality of overview of the entire environment. It's not just about the general activity areas, but it's also about the waste management area and also the garbage areas. These can help enhance one's feeling of safety and perception of good hygiene in an environment.

And thirdly, respondents in the study also shared their special concerns on different FM elements such as hygiene management, with special focus on toilet related hygiene, AC system, crowd management, etc. in underground space after the pandemic.

As what Jen has shared, technologies are developing rapidly in our field, and data is the way to go. To get the most out of it, an Integrative Information Management platform is the key. Perhaps firms can consider adopting an integrated building management system in which BIM can be part of the solutions for integrating and automating different FM functions such as real time monitoring and management of IEQ (Indoor Environmental Quality), facility vacancy, personal hygiene such as face mask detection or the robotics for cleaning, for air purifying, for customer services, or the real time crowd management, etc.

Lastly, amongst different findings in my study, I'm so impressed by a respondent’s sharing, that is “underground users’ health should be a concern regardless of the pandemic”. Due to the inherent nature of the underground developments, users are indeed in higher needs of different FM strategies and innovative property technologies. So enhanced FM performance will not only improve users’ health, but also help the developers or asset management firms to rebuild the confidence of their tenants and also the public to the underground space.


Ada Fung
That's a lot to learn from an external space management perspective. Jen, does this resonate with you from a workplace design perspective?


Jennifer So
Absolutely. From what I'm hearing, I hear a common factor between Isabelle's underground development research and the current office designs, where we see a shift from valuing pure efficiency in a space to one that embraces a more human centric environment.

I will add, however, in terms of wellness in a workplace, we also need to supplement the hardware. And by that I'm talking about more of the amenities and design part with complementary software. And in this case, I mean policies and more specifically, policies that focus on preventative measures. There's greater benefit to see that comes from prevention instead of offering employees wellness benefits for when it's too late. Prevention is the starting point for wellness and wellbeing, and I urge us all to think a bit more holistically and offer different ways to encourage employees to be more active during the day or even provide trainings to managers to identify mental or health challenges within their team from an early stage.


Ada Fung
Thank you both of you today for sharing these valuable insights whilst we are all trying to recover from this unprecedented post COVID era. There are a lot of lessons to be learned. I believe this presents a perfect opportunity to assess what our evolving needs are and look into adapting changes of our workplace and building design by reimagining the role of internal and external space and look closely at the people element in the design and management of space. I'm sure Isabelle and Jennifer have given you plenty of fruitful thought. Thank you for listening.