The onset of the coronavirus pandemic in late 2019 heralded a standstill for much of the corporate world, with office hours either eliminated or reduced significantly to allow workers to socially distance themselves to limit the spread of the virus.
Ericsson's office in Bucharest has become the first office in the world to achieve a five-star "IMMUNE Resilient" rating, being fully equipped to deal with health crises. Credit: Genesis Property
During the height of the pandemic, the Brussels-based Healthy by Design Building Institute (HdBI) designed an evidence-based third-party certification - the "IMMUNE Building Standard" (IBD) - a ratings-based system, which has recently awarded its maximum 5-star rating to an "office of the future" equipped to deal with health crises in Bucharest, Romania.
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The building, operated by Swedish telecoms provider Ericsson, is designed to monitor potential health threats and has been specially designed to minimise viral spread, was the brainchild of Genesis Property founder and President of the European Property Federation, Liviu Tudor.
Liviu Tudor, the founder of Genesis Property and President of the European Property Federation.
The systems in place can use a series of specialised sensors that measure the indoor environment parameters such as air, humidity, temperature or CO2 levels. Data on the building's performance is collected in real-time offering simple yet effective solutions and allowing operators to adjust the conditions of the building to a healthy performance level.
"Every building should be equipped to deal with a pandemic or health crisis in the same way it should be prepared to deal with a fire hazard," Liviu Tudor revealed in an interview with Industry Europe. "It is essential for workers and businesses to not have operations reduced to a standstill like those we faced in early 2020 following the first string of lockdowns."
The "Resilient" certification follows a nine-month implementation period initiated by Liviu's company Genesis Property. 119 of the 135 "measures," as he calls them - criteria laid out in the "IMMUNE Assessment Scoring Index" - were successfully implemented into the building at a total cost of around €375,000.
The scoring system for the certification is based on a voluntary submission for either a three, four, or five-star rating. The Bucharest space is the fourth project certified "Immune" since Liviu developed the rating, following on from two office spaces in the UK, one of which is operated by Buckinghamshire-based lighting control systems manufacturer Prolojik as well as the Maze building in the City of London.
"We have to ensure office spaces have the right environment for safety and trust to encourage people to come back and work," Tudor said, adding that the IMMUNE rating was created to create a safe space for workers who may otherwise work from home, citing issues with proper teamwork, creativity and forming bonds with everyone isolated.
He added: "Current technology does not permit proper teamwork from remote working and there is more to teamwork than communication. We must encourage employees to work together to maximise productivity. Interaction is very important for a healthy workplace."
Tudor is interested in pursuing a hybrid model of work coming out of the pandemic, letting employees work from home one-or-two days a week, which he claims was relatively common in the corporate sphere even before the pandemic propelled remote working in many applicable sectors.
IMMUNE rated building have touchless entry and exit to minise the spread of contagions. Credit: Genesis Property
A May 2020 survey suggests that as many as 55% of workers would prefer a mix of office and home working. During the same period, as many as 42% of US-based workers were doing so from a remote location.
This may also facilitate far higher broadband speeds to deal with the increased bandwidth of remote working following years of stagnation.
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Some staff working from home on different days could also have significant impacts not only on the spread of future pandemics but also on a number of other viruses and diseases which could lead to fewer sick days on average per person.
While currently completely speculatory, with necessary data having not been collected yet, but one Harvard survey suggests the increased measures taken to prevent the spread of the coronavirus lead to a sharp decline in rates of flu worldwide.
Tudor said: "We have been importing measures from hospitals and clean rooms inside our commercial buildings and offices, with the idea that we will be 100% prepared for the next health crisis - as well as other kinds of threats, such as biological threats or chemical attacks - to prevent the kind of disruptions that were present during the early onset of the Covid pandemic.
Isolation Rooms can be used to treat sick workers until health professionals arrive or to keep them from infecting other workers. Credit: Genesis Property
"We have no interest in creating a completely sterile environment, the likes of which you would see in hospital offices. We simply want to create an environment that is safe to work in during an outbreak and is prepared to deal with it in earnest.
"Going too much the other way, so to speak, could also cause severe disruptions. We want to create as much of a normal working environment with added contingencies as possible."
Entry and exit for IMMUNE certified buildings are carried out through touchless access controls owing to the company seeing common access points such as doors and lifts being perfect environments for the spread of diseases. However, in high-density areas such as cafeterias, office doors and vending machines, surfaces are coated with "self-cleaning technology" to minimise the transmission of harmful pathogens.
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The most important aspect in ensuring the office environment is prepared to deal with health crises is the so-called "Immune Stewards" - trained professionals specialising in dealing with health risks that can monitor and attend to anyone picked up by sensors to contain an illness and ensure they can work away from workers in a way that prevents spread but does not "impact synergy."
The IMMUNE Stewards are individuals trained to deal with a number of health concerns. Credit: Genesis Property
"It is good enough to send anyone ill home, but there are concerns they will end up spreading whatever they're carrying to the general population," Tudor said. "We are anxious they could end up causing more harm by using public transport and the like, which could have further consequences."
He reports these stewards are found and in charge of so-called "quarantine rooms" and can offer specialised help. They are also the only members of staff who have access to a warehouse used to store emergency supplies such as sanitiser and PPE to prevent the kinds of shortages experienced throughout the coronavirus pandemic.
Tudor clarifies on the term "measures," which he splits into two categories: investments, referring to the technology needed to create his idea for the "offices of the future"; and rules for facility management for proper medical procedure to allow for trained individuals to look after anyone facing a medical issue until emergency services arrive on the scene.
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He added: "We have UV lighting inside of air conditioning ducts and hydrogen peroxide ions produced by special equipment mounted on every floor. Many of the measures you will not see, but transparency is key.
"We want employees to know what services are available to them. To this end, we created the 'IMMUNE Digital Twin Display' - a virtual tour of the building and the kind of technology that makes it possible - much of which is hidden inside the walls."
The Digital Twin Display gives workers a virtual tour of all of the technologies that form the IMMUNE certification. Credit: Genesis Property
The real estate and development environment is constantly shifting and Genesis firmly believes that equipping office spaces to deal with potential crises will forever shape the market.
"The 'old ways' of building something, leasing it out to tenants and waiting for rent is over, in my opinion. I think we, as landlords, have to develop a building to cover every need - we need to give it a soul.
"We are currently in the concept phase for a plan known as "Unity Park," or "Unity City," effectively a business park. We are designing this to cover all basic amenities, including living space, conference centres, marker's spaces and the ability to provide training or 'experiences'.
"The main concept for the future of work is experience. Younger people, in particular, look beyond salary and look for the opportunities the employer is offering. We currently do not know how this will be properly implemented owing to it still being early in development, but we can speculate it may be the future of property development.
He described a "content factory" - likely the main building for the majority of production - which would serve as the centre of the hub and would also offer training and newer employment opportunities.
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"New threats do not have to grind the world to a halt, and we should develop methods to deal with them.
"We expect the pandemic to be over during 2022, and by then, we should have a better idea on how to deal with any potential disruptions."
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