As Boris Johnson, the prime minister, urges a return to work, could the smart office be the coronavirus-proof solution the UK government has been looking for?
Thanks to social distancing sensors, air quality monitors and fever detection lanes, the new normal can operate as efficiently as the old, advocates argue.
But does the latest approach to master-systems integration really offer the chance to make the post-pandemic workplace hum with life, or is it just another big upfront risk for landlords?
Manchester is about to get its first seriously smart office, and like so many other landlords, developer Ask Real Estate wants to know if smart technology can help shape the post-pandemic new normal.
Ask has drafted in Smart Spaces, which runs a building operating system and customer-experience app, to rethink 261K SF of offices and 21K SF of retail at the latest nine-storey phase of its First Street development.
“Technology offers a solution to a number of these concerns in addition to helping maintain a sense of community,” Smart Spaces Chief Executive Dan Drogman told Bisnow. “This includes how people enter and exit the building, lift control, control over meeting room spaces and access into areas like washrooms."
Drogman insists that such systems can alleviate the anxiety of workers returning to the office. His list of wins includes using sensors to judge room capacity and therefore keep control of social distancing, and smart indoor air quality sensors, so property managers can analyse and monitor the levels of airborne particulate concentration. All useful if you want to put employee concerns to rest.
Fever detection lanes could be even more significant, Drogman said.