The 31-storey office tower (left) at Samyan Mitrtown, scheduled to be completed in October 2019, is expected to make good use of placemaking strategy.

Today we are seeing a growing trend towards placemaking in the office sector. CBRE defines placemaking as “integrating design, amenities, and community to create a unique space where people want to be”.

Placemaking has been discussed in the context of retail space over the past two years, but CBRE is now tracking that same paradigm shift in offices as well. 

The change has been set in motion based on two fundamental needs. First is that developers are shifting from a single-use to a mixed-use building concept. This helps to reduce risk by offering multiple types of space in the same building, which mostly includes office plus retail and food and beverage. Some buildings have included residential or hotels as well.

The second need is the shift towards creating modern offices that offer more to tenants as occupiers, who are now looking for much more than a desk, computer, copy machine, and anaemic food and conveniences selections. This is driving the push towards placemaking in office design.

Office tenants are increasingly demanding more creatively presented spaces as the lines between work, life and play continue to blur in the lives of modern workers. Developers and commercial property owners must compete on accommodating occupier demands to retain tenants just as the tenant companies must find and create these types of workplaces to retain talent.

The shift towards placemaking is being driven by the competition for talent as workers today are increasingly viewing their office and surrounding amenities as a key part of how they manage their work/life balance.

New offices that are to be launched in Bangkok have an advantage in that concepts can be developed around the principles of modern placemaking and the millennial worker. New offices such as Mitrtown Office Tower in the mixed-use Samyan Mitrtown project, at Rama IV and Phayathai roads, is a good example of this new placemaking strategy in the office market.

Developers today can answer the needs of workers by creating efficient building design to allow for highly efficient office layouts with modern specifications in building construction and infrastructure, while also allocating spaces such as retail, F&B, and co-working facilities right into the building. 

Developers of new projects can add amenities such as concierge services and short-distance transport services as part of the development plan. Their modern layouts and building technologies will allow tenants to be much more creative in the way they utilise their fixed office spaces.

A 2018 CBRE Research survey for office landlords and occupiers revealed that the top technologies tenants are looking for in the modern office include applications for desk booking and wayfinding, sensors to monitor workspace occupancy, applications for meeting room booking, and predictive space analytics tools.

Some of the top-of-mind technologies for landlords include biometric authentication for building security and next-generation air purification systems for healthier buildings. 

In the medium term, the proliferation of smart sensors for every building application such as CO2, lighting, air control, head counting, water management, as well as security systems, automated with the progress of AI capabilities will enable buildings to be exponentially more adaptive in maximising specific building load situations without the need for human manipulation at any given moment.

Hazardous situation response will be almost instantaneous to reduce dangerous situations such as fire, and even more subtle issues such fresh air ventilation to reduce carbon dioxide buildup within a building based on real-time reporting. 

All these factors are part of placemaking strategy and will put pressure on the office market for older landlords to improve specifications, space allocation strategies, facilities, and amenities to remain competitive.

Modern workplace strategies are putting emphasis on improving the quality, but reducing the size of core office space, while providing employees the flexibility to work offsite in co-working space; however, the core offices are also shifting towards creating a much more welcoming and productive environment that workers will enjoy coming to. 

Proximity to mass transit is still a leading requirement for most companies looking for new offices, but proximity to mass transit alone is no longer enough. Occupiers are increasingly looking at the whole package and becoming more demanding in terms of what kind of facilities, amenities, and services the office provides to increase work/life balance for their talented employees.

Talent retention is a primary driving force behind the efforts of the modern office. Healthfulness, efficiency, convenience, and quality in the building facilities and amenities is top of mind as many tenants look for new space. This enables companies to create workplace strategies that encourages employees to collaborate, communicate, and create supported by high quality facilities and amenities in the building.

We have observed that companies are looking for less space but increasing the quality of the space that allows them to accommodate more staff per square metre thanks to highly efficient workplace strategies.

The next step in placemaking is building software, and smart systems driven by AI that will further strengthen the connection between office occupiers and employees.

Some of the new tools for landlords to consider in the emerging real estate technology arena include online systems that increase the convenience of using shared facilities and advanced data collection analysis to both monitor building health, detect bottlenecks in efficiencies, and provide meaningful data that will assist the landlord in leasing challenges. 

Placemaking is design methodology that is growing around the world, and landlords and occupiers should use it to their advantage by creating spaces that attract the most talented people and valuable tenants, and make them want to stay.

Nithipat Tongpun is Head of Advisory & Transaction Services (Offices) with CBRE Thailand. He can be reached at bangkok@cbre.co.th; Facebook: CBRE.Thailand; Twitter: @CBREThailand; LinkedIn: CBRE Thailand; Website: www.cbre.co.th