More than 10 months since the first coronavirus cases were reported in Wuhan, China, COVID-19's global spread continues to plague commercial construction.

Since the pandemic hit the U.S.,contractors across the country have faced a range of obstacles including layoffs, project shutdowns and increased construction costs.

As 2020 comes to a close, economists and industry experts predict many of these issues will continue to challenge contractors. Here are the top seven factors to watch:

Labor shortage. Pre-pandemic, the industry faced a historic shortage of skilled labor and the issue isn't going away just because COVID-19 has shut down projects and slowed others. Although firms have been calling back workers who were laid off in the spring,some have refused to return to work, citing a preference for unemployment benefits, virus concerns or family responsibilities.

Looking ahead to once a recovery begins, labor gaps might get even larger,especially in states like California, Texas and New York, according to Daniel Pomfrett, vice president of Los Angeles-based project management and cost consulting firm Cumming Corp.Lack of worker migration especially to expensive markets with greater job opportunities like California and New York also aggravates the labor shortage,Pomfrett said.

Shrinking backlog.Associated Builders and Contractors'Construction Backlog Indicator fell to 7.5 months in September, a decline of 0.5 months from Augusts reading and 1.5 months lower than last year at this time.In addition, the association's Construction Confidence Index readings for sales and profit margins also decreased.

The months ahead don't look hopeful for contractors looking to add to their backlog of work, said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basuin a release about the indicator.

ABCs survey data indicate that we are in the early stages of a nonresidential construction spending downturn, he said. With few exceptions, declines in backlog have begun to accelerate across all markets and regions.

Falling construction costs.A variety of pandemic-related forces have caused construction costs to decline slightly for the first time in a decade, which could lead contractors to feel a pinch in profits.

The Turner Building Cost Index, which measures costs in the U.S. nonresidential building construction market, fell to a value of 1171 in the third quarter of 2020,a 1.5% quarterly reduction from the beginning of the year. This year marked the first time the index from Turner Construction has reduced in value since 2010.

Trade contractor competition has increased in many areas as they work to secure backlog due to uncertainty they have about future opportunities,"said Attilio Rivetti, the Turner vice president responsible for compiling the Cost Index in a press statement.

Less work.Various sectors of commercial construction will continue to experience a decline even after the rest of the economy begins to recover from COVID-19, economists say. For instance, experts predict people will continue to work from home more often then they go into a central office, so construction of office buildings remains a gray area in terms of future growth.

The construction of new healthcare facilities also could drop significantly because of changes in lifestyles post-COVID-19, according to Ken Simonson, chief economist for the Associated General Contractors of America.

Hospital use dropped off drastically in the spring and its not certain if visits for elective surgery and other non-essential procedures will come back, Simonson said.Or will we see growth of alternative medical care through urgent care or surgery centers?"

He also questioned if nursing home construction would fall because people might be more hesitant to check themselves or family members into the facilities.

Travel and hospitality sectors, along with sports or performance venues, also look grim according to Simonson. That's primarily because their revenue sources sales taxes, convention income and tolls are taking a big hit and arent expected to get replenished anytime soon as the pandemic begins a third wave of intensity.

Price increases. This year has seen fluctuations in the prices of construction materials, most recently with the skyrocketing cost of lumber. Prices have been rising on most materials since May, according to ABC.

Its September look at prices found that among 11 subcategories, eight experienced monthly increases. As construction comes back online around the world, increasing demand for products could keep prices on the rise, Basu said.

"Despite the lingering pandemic, the global economy has been recovering, increasing demand for key commodities," he said. "Rapid viral spread, including in Europe and parts of North America, render materials shortages more likely during the winter months."

Some contractors are taking proactive steps to expand their supplier network as well as buying hedges on some materials to protect from upward price swings, according to Joe Natarelli, leader of the national construction industry practice at accounting firm Marcum.

Supply chain issues."Production is getting back to where it was internationally, Pomfrett said, but the strain on supply chains and how to get materials and equipment delivered remains."

Natarelli said his clients are building resiliency into their supply chains so that theyre not beholden to a single supplier for any one material.

The days of having one material supplier are gone, he said. Were seeing clients setting up three separate suppliers, in different geographic locations, where in the past they may have had just one or two. Some are even getting as many as five in place.

Plus, the pandemic caused a decline in shipping as well as air travel, which means less air freight gets moved so even the reduction in moving materials across state lines has caused issues, he said.

Diminished state and local government revenues. Basu said this is one of the top challenges facing contractors right now. A report from the Brookings Institution projectsthat state and local government revenues will decline $155 billion in 2020, $167 billion in 2021 and $145 billion in 2022 about 5.5%, 5.7%and 4.7%, respectively excluding the declines in fees to hospitals and higher education.

This means that state agencies such as departments of transportation have less money to fund infrastructure initiatives like roads, bridges and transit projects. Many will look to the federal government for additional revenue.

At the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority, some upcoming projects are in limbo as the authority awaits word on whether it will receive federal funding in addition to the $3.8 billionit received in April under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act.Industry estimates show that even with the CARE Act funds, the MTA faces at least an $8.5 billion shortfall for 2020 and 2021.

MTAs financial position has eroded dramatically since the outbreak began,Janno Lieber, MTA chief development officer said this summer,noting that the authority is losing about $800 million a month in revenue due to the crisis.

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7 coronavirus-related construction challenges that will continue in 2021 - Construction Dive

Sterling Bay CEO Andy Gloor and 1515 West Webster Avenue (Google Maps)

Sterling Bay has an agreement to sell an office building on the north-end of its Lincoln Yards megadevelopment for $111 million, a positive sign for Chicagos sluggish office market.

Apex Capital agreed to buy the 207,000-square-foot property at 1515 West Webster Avenue on behalf of a Middle Eastern capital partner, according to Crains. The partner was not named.

The four-story building sits along the Chicago River and is home to the logistics firm C.H. Robinson, which recently signed a 15-year lease at the building.

Sterling Bay tapped Cushman & Wakefield to list the site in early March, just before the coronavirus outbreak, with a projected price of $120 million, according to reports at the time.

Sterling Bay broke ground on the Webster Avenue building before it revealed its plans for Lincoln Yards. The Chicago-based development group paid $21.3 million in 2015 to buy the 4-acre site. It secured an $82.5 million construction loan for the project in 2016, according to Crains.

The Webster Avenue sale is the second high profile sale for Sterling Bay in recent weeks. The company also has an agreement to sell its Fulton Market office building that houses the McDonalds headquarters for about $430 million. The buyer is a family office in Pittsburgh.

Sterling Bay received approval from the city in March 2019 to build the $6 billion mixed-use Lincoln Yards. Plans for the megaproject call for 14.5 million square feet of office, retail and residential space on former industrial land along the North Branch of the Chicago River.

Chicagos office market has languished since the onset of the pandemic as many office workers continue to operate from home. Available office sublease space in the city reached a record 4.6 million square feet in the third quarter, according to MB Real Estate. The total office vacancy rate climbed to just under 16.6 percent, the highest its been in a decade. [Crains] Keith Larsen

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Sterling Bay will sell Lincoln Yards office building for over $100M - The Real Deal

Extell Development Company will begin construction of its Class A office building in New Yorks East Harlem. Dubbed Harlem Headquarters, the new structure will have nine floors and its construction is expected to commence early next year with its completion scheduled for late 2022.

The new office block will have offer 441,600 sf of Class A office space and will also include a 7,500-sf roofdeck terrace and a 40,851-sf community center. Designed by Gensler, Harlem Headquarters will have 56,000-sf floor plates that can be portioned into three sections.

According to Rose Disarno, Associate and Design Lead at Genslers New York office, the building will have layouts that can be customized for tenants. In addition, each space will be allocated its own terrace outside.

Disarno further indicated that Harlem Headquarters has a smart design, which includes MIRV-14 filters installed throughout the building and a solar array installed on the roof.

Cushman & Wakefield has been appointed to serve as the buildings marketing agent with its leasing expected to start late this year. Disarno noted that the buildings roofdeck will be a very important amenity even as more workers return to office time office life following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Harlem Headquarters is in a strategic location with several subway stops and is also expected to have access to the Metro Line rail line that serves several suburbs. The full cost of the buildings construction has not been disclosed but its construction team will include JM Zoning (zoning), Longman Lindsey (acoustics), Matthews Nielsen Landscape Architects (landscaping), Bright Power (renewable energy), IBA Consultants (faade), Philip Habib + Associates (CE), AKF (MEP and lighting), GMS (SE), and Monadnock (GC).

According to Gary Barnett, the chairman and founder of Extell, the company has been exploring several options of having property in East Harlem. The land where Harlem Headquarters will stand was acquired in 2014 at a cost of $39 million.

Read more here:
Extell to start construction of its Harlem Headquarters in New York - Construction Review

Construction of public restrooms in Damariscottas municipal parking lot will begin in early November, according to the contractor.

Charlie Frattini, of Rockport-based Phi Builders + Architects, hopes to start setting up a chain-link fence around the project area Monday, Oct. 26, he said during a Zoom meeting Monday, Oct. 19.

The contractor will limit disruption as much as possible, Frattini said. The contractor has been communicating with abutters to the site.

The Zoom meeting included Damariscotta Town Manager Matt Lutkus; Robin Mayer, chair of the board of selectmen; Jan Wiegman, of the engineering firm Wright-Pierce; representatives from Phi Builders + Architects; and downtown business and property owners.

The restrooms will be behind Cupacity, where a barbershop previously stood. The building will face the water and will sit about 3 feet above the existing grade of the lot on wooden piles.

Rob Mattes, of Phi Builders + Architects, said driving in the wooden piles will be the loudest part of the project and all abutters will be notified ahead of time.

The construction crew will work from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday and will use a small number of parking spots adjacent to the site as a staging area.

Frattini said the crew will not take up any spots Nov. 7, the day of Damariscottas annual Early Bird Sale.

The contractor aims to complete enough of the masonry and roof work to allow its workers to move inside during the coldest part of the winter.

Frattini said that with a possible break in the winter, the latest completion date would be July 4, although he does not expect to do any heavy work past the end of May.

Phi Builders plans to rent office space in the downtown area to serve as a base of operations.

Chase Excavating Inc., of Falmouth, will begin work on replacing the sewer lines in the parking lot around the same time, Lutkus said. He said that work should be complete by Thanksgiving.

Lutkus has said that Chase Excavating will work on no more than 200 feet of the project at one time and will cover its work each evening, so the parking lot will remain accessible for the duration of the work.

The replacement of the sewer lines and the construction of the restrooms are part of a $4 million-plus waterfront improvement project.

The project will also include raising and rebuilding the parking lot, drainage improvements, and construction of a seawall.

The U.S. Economic Development Administration awarded the town a $3 million grant in April to cover the majority of the cost. The town is contributing $1,127,000, largely from donations.

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Construction of Damariscotta Restrooms to Start in Early November - The Lincoln County News

Construction of the PGA of America headquarters building in Frisco has commenced. The companys new 106,622-sf headquarters sits on a 6.2 acres piece of land within the 660-acre PGA Frisco campus. Adolfson & Peterson Construction (AP), a leading national construction management company and general contractor, and Cushman & Wakefield and Page have been contracted to construct the new headquarters.

With the construction of the new building, the campus will now have a 500-room Omni Resort, two new championship golf courses, and a golf entertainment district. PGA says the building is part of its mission to integrate state of state-of-the-art education facilities and world-class workplace.

The four-story PGA of America headquarters building is mainly covered in glass and limestone and will accommodate around 150 employees. The new structure will comprise of outdoor terrace lounge space overlooking the golf course and driving range, a top-floor conference room, and three floors of office space.

In addition, the new building will have a space for golf education as well as indoor training equipment like a putting green, a chipping area, driving range simulators with three bays that open into the actual driving range. The building will also have a trophy gallery adjacent to the video studio.

The ground floor will be dedicated to PGA members, staff, and guests and will also serve as a center for future golf. It will be fitted with an education center and a video studio. In addition, the lobby has will also be designed with elegant wood, curved to resemble the contours of a golf course. The lobby also has an open social stair and is covered in terrazzo flooring.

The PGA of America headquarters will be complete with a garden planted with native plants to give a natural feel to visitors. Page designed the new headquarters whose construction is expected to be complete in the first quarter of 2022.

Excerpt from:
Construction of PGA of America headquarters building begins in Frisco - Construction Review

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The "Greece Construction Industry Databook Series - Market Size & Forecast (2015 - 2024) by Value and Volume (area and units) across 40+ Market Segments, Opportunities in Top 10 Cities, and Risk Assessment - COVID-19 Update Q2 2020" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The construction industry in Greece has been severely impacted by the Covid-19 outbreak. The pandemic is expected to impact the growth across key sectors over the short to medium term and recovery is expected to be slow. Residential and commercial construction sectors are going to be worst affected though infrastructure construction sector is expected to maintain growth momentum, supported by public spending.

The construction industry in Greece is expected to record a CAGR of 6.1% to reach EUR 22.8 billion by 2024. The residential construction industry in value terms increased at a CAGR of 5.0% during 2015-2019. The commercial building construction market in value terms is expected to record a CAGR of 6.1% over the forecast period. The infrastructure construction was estimated to be EUR 5.5 billion in 2019, posting a CAGR of 3.5% during review period.

This report provides a data and trend analyses on the construction industry in Greece, with over 100 KPIs. This is a data-centric report and it provides trend analyses with over 140+ charts and 110+ tables. It details market size & forecast, emerging trends, market opportunities, and investment risks in over 40 segments in residential, commercial, industrial, institutional, and infrastructure construction sectors.

It provides a comprehensive understanding of construction industry sectors in both value and volume (both by activity and units) terms. The report focuses on combining industry dynamics with macro-economic scenario and changing consumer behavior to offer a 360-degree view of the opportunities and risks.

In addition to country level analysis, this report offers a detailed market opportunity assessment across key cities, helping clients assess key regions to target within the city.

This report provides market size and forecast across 40+ construction segments for a period of 10 years from 2015-2024 in Greece.

KPIs covered include the following:

Key Topics Covered:

1 About this Report

2 Greece Construction Industry Dynamics and Growth Prospects

3 Greece Residential Construction Industry Market Size and Forecast

4 Analysis by Residential Construction Markets Outlook by Construction type

5 Analysis by Residential Construction Markets Outlook by Key Cities

6 Analysis by Residential Construction Markets Outlook by Price Point

7 Residential Building Construction Growth Trend Analysis by Development Stage

8 Greece Commercial Construction Industry Market Size and Forecast

9 Office Building Construction Outlook

10 Retail Building Construction Outlook

11 Hospitality and Luxury Building Construction Outlook

12 Restaurant Building Construction Outlook

13 Sports Facility Building Construction Outlook

14 Entertainment Building Construction Outlook

15 Commercial Building Construction Growth Trend Analysis by Development Stage

16 Greece Industrial Construction Industry Market Size and Forecast

17 Outlook and Growth Dynamics by Industrial Building Construction Sectors

18 Industrial Building Construction Growth Trend Analysis by Development Stage

19 Greece Institutional Construction Industry Market Size and Forecast

20 Outlook and Growth Dynamics by Institutional Building Construction Sectors

21 Institutional Building Construction Growth Trend Analysis by Development Stage

22 Greece Building Construction Analysis by Key Cities

23 Greece Utility System Infrastructure Construction Industry Market Size and Forecast

24 Greece Transport Infrastructure Construction Industry Market Size and Forecast

25 Greece Marine and Inland Water Infrastructure Construction Industry Market Size and Forecast

26 Infrastructure Construction Growth Trend Analysis by Development Stage

Companies Mentioned

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/aqqsk

About ResearchAndMarkets.com

ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.

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Greece Construction Industry Market Size & Forecast to 2024 Across 40+ Market Segments with COVID-19 Industry Impacts Analysis -...

Chase Center, home to the Golden State Warriors professional basketball team, exemplifies the centrality of technology, sustainability, community involvement, and building team coordination in the design, engineering, and construction of a modern-day sports venue.

The centerpiece of this 2-million-sf complex, located on 11 acres in San Franciscos Mission Bay district, is an arena with a flexible seating bowl that can accommodate 18,000 Warriors fans or scale down to a 5,000-seat theater. The complex also includes two office buildings, publicly accessible plazas, a broadcast studio, over 20 retail locations, and a 925-slot below-grade parking structure. The complex is programmed to host over 200 entertainment events per year. A hotel is under construction on the arenas north side.

This project required 18 months of preconstruction planning, and more than 100 community meetings. Its construction posed logistical challenges, as the site was hemmed in by the San Francisco Bay to the east, UCSF Medical Centers academic housing to the west, and active construction sites to the north and south. Some 300,000 cubic yards of soil were excavated from the site, and because the site sits so close to Bay, the Building Team held back groundwater intrusion with the installation of H-pile and CDSM cutoff walls, and 1,700 tiebacks.

The construction of the buildings four structural cores was sequenced. The Building Team used a 4D Synchro model that transformed the projects 36,000-activity P6 schedule into a visual tool that provided a platform to develop, test, and resolve schedule outcomes throughout the lifecycle of the construction process.

Mortenson Clark, the joint venture construction manager on this project, deployed a 4D Synchro model that transformed the 36,000-activity schedule into a visual tool that helped the Building Team communicate its intentions with stakeholders.

Model coordination meetings involved more than 40 people, and the projects 31-month schedule was guided by a 200-page playbook that detailed every facet of construction. The Building Team also leveraged Virtual Reality to conduct virtual walkthroughs to identify any discrepancies between design coordination and the clients expectations.

(This project earned a Bentley Systems YII 2019 Award for Advancements in 4D Construction Modeling, and an Autodesk 2019 AEC Excellence Award.)

One of the signature features of Chase Center is its rainscreen enclosure, a massive puzzle of 5,500 aluminum panels that encircle the arena in 14 drumsindividual bands that ring the venue at different planes. These 3x8-ft panels are affixed to 950 24x8-ft mega panels that are secured to a secondary steel framework.

The Building Team harnessed advanced modeling tools, including Rhino and Catia, to improve constructability, coordination, and ensure each panel was precisely designed, fabricated, and installed. (The panels tolerances were only one-eighth of an inch.)

Offsite prefabrication of the mega panels allowed for greater quality control and speedier installation.

The Building Team and client went to great lengths to ensure worker safety on what was a long and complicated construction effort. Some 9,800 workers from 260 firms put in 5.3 million hours on this project, including the 1,500 workers on site during peak construction periods.

Chase Centers faade consists of a rainscreen enclosure of 5,500 aluminum panels whose installation allowed for only 1/8-inch tolerance.

The project entailed five crane towers, two crawler cranes, and dozens of boom lifts. Concrete subcontractors placed as much as 3,000 cubic yards per week, and ironworkers set 17,000 tons of steel over nine months.

All told, Chase Center put in place nearly $600 million in work per year of construction, and its recordable accident incident rate of 0.53 was six times lower than the industrys average.

To help track its safety performance, the team relied on a Safety Dashboard that focused on safety observations from the prior day, near misses, violations, and outstanding pre-task plans and worker headcounts. There were 700-plus daily Plan of the Day meetings between project field leads and foremen.

Mortenson|Clark and our partners worked together to build a culture on site that fostered productivity and collaboration, recalls Trevor DeLong, the joint ventures senior superintendent. It was an extraordinary team effort.

This complex is expected to contribute significantly to San Franciscos economy. The Building Team worked in close partnership with the Warriors and representatives with San Franciscos Office of Economic and Workforce Development and Bay Area labor unions. The team made a point to ensure that local entities played a meaningful role in the building process. To that end, $245 million in construction contracts for Chase Center were awarded to small businesses.

Additionally, the Building Team secured 574 San Francisco resident job placements.

The Building Team also helped 77 San Franciscans begin new construction careers through Chase Center Training Program; this was the first public-private partnership for the areas construction sector workforce training agency. Forty eight graduates of that program were placed in job opportunities on the arena project.

The real measure of success is the lasting positive impact we have on our communities, and we couldnt be more proud of the outcome and legacy we are leaving behind, says Viki Bamba Chennault, Community Affairs Director for Clark Construction Group.

Nearly 10,000 men and women worked on this project overall. Yet, its 0.53 incident rate was six times lower than the industrys average.

Chase Centers Building Team also looked to advance the clients sustainability goals. For example, repurposing waste was a top priority. The team recycled 87% of the projects construction waste locally, diverting it from landfills. To protect migratory fowl, the team installed fritted glass in the upper locations of the arena. It also installed noise, crack, and vibration monitoring systems to scrutinize the impact of the construction on the surrounding built environment, as well as dust monitoring and controls for air quality during construction.

The building itself features premium finishes, luxury suites whose leases start at $1.5 million, area clubs, a scalable rigging system, and cutting-edge audio-visual technology that is highlighted by a 10,000-sf center-court scoreboard that amasses of more than 25 million LED lights.

The Warriors organizationwhich funded this project privatelyhas $2 billion under contract from the sale of tickets, suites and corporate sponsorships from a cluster of founding partners such as tech giants Adobe, Oracle, Google Cloud, Accenture. JPMorgan Chase alone shelled out a reported $300 million to snag the naming rights to the stadium for 20 years. Essential revenue is also being generated by the office towers whose primary tenant is Uber.

Submitting firm: Clark Construction GroupGC/CM: Mortenson|Clark, a Joint VentureOwner/developer: Golden State WarriorsArchitect: MANICAAOR: Kendall HeatonInterior Architect: GenslerStructural Engineer: Magnusson Klemencic AssociatesMEP Engineer Smith Seckman ReidME: ACCO Engineered SystemsEE: Rosendin ElectricPE: Pan PacificSize: 2 million sfConstruction time January 2017 to August 2019Cost $1.4 billionDelivery method CM at RiskPhoto credit: Jason ORear/Chase Center

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Winning with teamwork - Building Design + Construction

So far, the office of the future looks a lot like the office you left seven months ago though you probably havent seen it. Most of those who have been able to work at home during the pandemic havent gone back to the office and dont want to go back until theres a vaccine.

Its not clear when, if ever, offices will return to their previous level of activity. As of mid-October, less than 15 percent of office workers have returned in New York City, the largest office market in the United States, according to Partnership for New York City. In big cities nationwide, office building occupancy rates are hovering around 25 percent on average as many of the countrys workers remain stuck in limbo. Its not yet safe to return to full capacity, and its not clear if offices operating at partial capacity are a better solution than people working from home.

Real estate leasing has also slowed to a crawl as the office class has taken more permanently to working in their living rooms and bedrooms. Tech juggernauts like Facebook and Microsoft are offering employees the opportunity to work remotely forever. Meanwhile, even less digitally savvy companies are weighing the future of their real estate and the location of their workers.

The entire landscape of office work has shifted, but the physical workspaces themselves have yet to change much. The open floor plan still predominates the office landscape, and germ-killing robots are still mostly the stuff of science reporters dreams. Instead, to goad workers back into offices, employers have enacted a raft of minor precautions to make their offices safer or to give the appearance of safety but most have put off major, expensive alterations to their office space until theres more certainty about a coronavirus vaccine, and, in turn, more certainty about the future of the office.

Those who have returned to their offices have only been able to do so because so many others havent. Most businesses are adopting a hybrid work model, which lets people work at home and in the office. And since the majority of people are choosing to work from home most of the time, that frees up space in the offices for those who want or need to come in to have adequate social distancing.

In a way, this hybrid model represents the situation overall. Offices and office workers are in a holding pattern, not ready to commit to working from home or the office. And the future of the office, if its going to be substantially different, has yet to be realized for many reasons that have nothing to do with the office itself. A whole spate of other issues transportation, child care, trust in society and coworkers is informing employees decisions not to go back just yet.

Of those who responded to our recent survey about returning to work in an office, about half said they feel safe there and think their employers have done a good job. But for the most part, employers arent forcing employees back, perhaps as a nod to the difficulty of those issues or as an acknowledgment that they cant guarantee their safety.

Still, many employers want workers back in the office, and many employees want to be back. Both employers and employees, however, say the availability of a vaccine is a main consideration before returning to the office. A widely available vaccine may not be a reality until the middle of next year.

In the meantime, employers are doing what they can without expending excess cash in a recession to make the space feel safer for their workers.

If youre one of the few returning to the office soon, heres what you might expect.

Back in the early days of the coronavirus, when legions of office workers were sent to work from home for the first time, many were making ambitious predictions about the future of work. (I declared the end of the office as we know it.) They thought the future of the office would bring touchless entry, completely remodeled office spaces, state-of-the-art filtration systems, and, of course, those germ-killing robots.

The reality has been more mundane. So far, the changes to offices have largely been superficial and temporary.

To reconfigure a space takes money, Julie Whelan, head of occupier research for the Americas at CBRE, told Recode. Not a lot of organizations are willing to deploy capital right now because of the uncertainty of what the future of office space is.

Juliana Beauvais, research manager in IDCs enterprise applications practice, put it another way.

Its still hard for companies to make the ROI argument for a lot of these more sophisticated technologies, especially if they involve hardware or equipment investments, Beauvais said. Do companies really need to spend money right now, when people dont feel safe or comfortable coming back to the office anyway?

In their existing spaces, many employers have mostly forgone major construction in exchange for simpler, less expensive, and more temporary fixes that capitalize on the fact that fewer people are coming in.

These are table stakes to manage a building in the Covid environment, according to Kevin Smith, executive managing director of asset services at Cushman & Wakefield.

Instead of building more walled-in private offices, for instance, desks have been taped off or chairs removed in order to ensure at least 6 feet of space between employees. Common areas are off-limits and bulk bins of office snacks have gone by the wayside.

Most offices dont have sophisticated hospital-grade HVAC systems that can handle filtering viruses out of the air, though Smith says some of the wealthier landlords are looking into it. Rather than complete overhauls of air conditioning systems, building managers are opting to upgrade their filters and change them more regularly. Many have also placed smaller air filtration devices around the office.

Plexiglass dividers have popped up to create physical divisions between workspaces and colleagues, though its not clear how effective these shields actually are. Indeed, many post-coronavirus measures amount to little more than hygiene theater, an effort to make people feel safe rather than actually making them so.

Nonetheless, plexiglass dividers and other types of lightweight barriers are seeing a spike in demand, according to office furniture company Steelcase, which has also seen a growth in demand for mobile office equipment like tables and carts with wheels. Such requests represent employees wanting to be able to construct the space around them and respond to the changing situation.

All the things we thought in March and April changed in May and June and seem to be shifting again right now, Steelcases VP of workplace innovation Gale Moutrey told Recode, referring to the ways in which our understanding of the virus and how it spreads have changed drastically since this spring.

Many of the changes to offices have manifested less in the physical space than they have in how we behave in that space. Signage is everywhere, cautioning people to stay 6 feet apart, instructing them in which direction to walk, and reminding them to wear masks.

Mask-wearing, which is often required by law these days, is ubiquitous in many offices, but the degree to which individuals comply with the law varies from job to job. Other less visible changes to office space include cleaning, health checks, and scheduling protocols.

Offices are being cleaned much more frequently than they used to be. (This includes notifying people that the space has been cleaned.) Hand sanitizer once an impossible-to-find item is being placed everywhere.

While welcome, many of these changes probably wont do much to stop the spread of the coronavirus, which scientists believe travels primarily through airborne particles, not so much on surfaces. Rather, they convey the idea that employers are thinking of their employees safety.

Health screenings are also common. Thanks to local government mandates, many offices have implemented employee questionnaires Do you have symptoms? Were you exposed to someone with the coronavirus? Have you traveled recently? and temperature checks to avoid letting obviously sick employees in the building. This, too, can be a bit of theater. The CDC has said such screenings have limited effectiveness, since people transmitting the diseases dont necessarily have a fever or symptoms.

That hasnt stopped a whole cottage industry from popping up around these sorts of checks, with badge-in company Kastle, airport biometric ID company Clear, and health care concierge Eden Health all pivoting to include coronavirus screenings in their offerings. Kastle only allows an employee ID card access to a building once their questionnaire has been completed. Clear uses kiosks equipped with biometric technology, allowing employees to complete their questionnaire and temperature screening on the same device that checks their identity. Eden Health offers not only health screenings on their app but also coronavirus testing on site or at home. Rent the Runway, for example, instituted coronavirus tests monthly for its employees, while a financial services client is getting weekly at-home tests.

Many employers use scheduling tools or more simply public calendars to limit how many people can be in the office at once and to book space within the office. Employees can see who else will be in the office and decide when or whether theyre going in based on that information. To a lesser extent, different groups or teams alternate coming into the office by the day of the week.

Like offices themselves, the office market at large is also a bit stuck. Companies have stopped expanding their real estate footprints, deferring non-essential leasing until theres more certainty about the trajectory of the coronavirus pandemic. As a result, more office space is coming on the market than is being leased, and many are choosing to sublease space they already have, according to data from CBRE.

In some markets, this has led to rising vacancy rates and declining rents. However, its not yet clear whether these changes are stem from work-from-home policies or are simply reflective of being in a recession, which always results in a real estate contraction, according to Whelan from CBRE.

Those companies that are shopping for new space are also asking questions about safety parameters, HVAC systems, and cleaning protocols, according to Michael Colacino, president of office leasing platform SquareFoot.

We havent had anybody reject a building because they didnt like the answers, Colacino said, but theres no question people are putting it in a metric of things to consider that they didnt a year ago.

Companies are also looking for more space per person than before, despite the added cost, he said. In the past, businesses had typically asked for around 250 square feet per person; now they want more like 300-400 square feet, according to Colacino, who attributes the increase to a need for more collaboration space and a desire to add social distancing.

When you actually sit down and do the logistics of half-baked plans of rotating through offices, the easiest solution is to take a little more space, Colacino said.

Nina Broadhurst, a principal and leader of the work studio at Cuningham Group Architecture, thinks when everything shakes out, offices will take up less space. Thanks to working from home and desk-sharing in the office, shes operating on the assumption that offices will require about 70 percent of their existing footprints.

While the wide variety of solutions to improving the office space in a pandemic may seem slipshod, CBREs Whelan thinks of them as all part of a larger effort to build up multiple lines of defense. She added, No one solution we know is going to be perfect.

As for any big changes either in the vein of what we thought about this spring or something entirely new they arent off the table yet.

Real estate is historically an industry that takes a long time to change, Whelan said. We can talk about all the great things that are coming, but its going to take time to really unfold and show itself in the physical portfolio.

And those changes might not have much to do with the coronavirus at all; they could represent jumps forward in trends that were already underway.

When people thought it was going to be tamer when we thought we could go back in June and September with precautions we saw more 6-foot gaps and one-way traffic and plexiglass, Cuningham Groups Broadhurst said. The more they havent made that leap, the more theyre starting to look forward rather than make adjustments for a temporary situation.

Broadhurst and others see the future of the office as a place of collaboration, where people come in to work together and to maintain an office culture. They see a future in which fewer people go into the office all of the time, while the vast majority still want office space they can go to some of the time. When they do, they want to be able to work with others. The coronavirus made working from home more widely acceptable, but it also made being together more important than ever.

In the office of the future, the decades-long push toward fitting as many people into the office as possible may finally reverse. But also expect more flexible seating as well as larger and more robust and more numerous conference and other group spaces.

Whelan estimates that offices of the future will have more common space than personal space. Traditional offices are approximately 80 percent cubicles and offices and 20 percent common space; she expects that ratio could flip.

Its notable that some of these trends feel antithetical to coronavirus precautions. Instead, they could represent what offices will look like after a coronavirus vaccine. The pandemic could effectively be, as Broadhurst put it, an opportunity to maybe reset how we go about working when we start again.

Some of these trends were already underway. Coronavirus has just accelerated them and made people start to really consider them, Broadhurst said. People always say, dont waste a good crisis.

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Working from home and the future of the office in the pandemic - Vox.com

One of the biggest questions on everyones mind these days is, What will the workplace look like once employees start returning to the office? Apparently, more Dallas-Fort Worth employees are easing their way back than in any other top 10 metro area nationwide.

According to a Sept. 9 study from Kastle Systems, more than 38 percent have returned to the office in North Texas, compared to a national average of 24 percent. While this trend underscores the importance of taking immediate steps to create safe workplaces, the pandemic is raising greater awareness about the impact that workplaces have on our overall health and wellness.

Bill Brokaw, Hillwood Urban

Regardless of whether there is a COVID-19 vaccine at the end of this year or early next year, we expect to see various office design adjustments that prioritize more distance between employees and stricter hygiene measures.

High-tech, low-touch enhancements and designs that focus on health and productivity are already being integrated into new office construction in North Texas, such as Victory Commons One, a new office project located in Uptown/Victory Park developed by Hillwood Urban in partnership with USAA Real Estate.

Victory Commons One is the first of three potential office buildings totaling more than 1.5 million square feet on 8.5-acres in Uptown. To be completed in November 2021, the building is on track to be one of the first buildings in Uptown completed since the onset of COVID-19. The building features an upgraded HVAC system that includes an ultraviolet air purification solution to improve air quality by reducing indoor pollutants such as mold, bacteria, and viruses. This modernized feature will be included in the main building HVAC system and each individual passenger elevator unit.

Across the region, developers are incorporating numerous other amenities intended to eliminate public touchpoints, such as automated doors for entries, bathrooms, and vestibules. Touch-free faucets, motion- or voice-recognition tech, and individual stylus pens for shared devices are also being adopted more frequently. One of the more innovative touchless technology solutions is in Victory Commons One that enables the elevators to be operated by a smartphone app, eliminating the need to push buttons.

In addition to hygienic amenities, I foresee changes in how companies lay out their office spaces to create a healthier workplace.

The floorplate at Victory Commons provides an off-set core design where the typical center core of the building is located at the south end and thus freeing up the balance of the 33,000 square foot floorplate any number of wide-open designs with maximum access to natural daylight.

Before the pandemic, the trend in office layout was centered-around higher-density use of space. With the adoption of social distancing, companies are rethinking this design approach. The office layouts are moving to allow for maximum flexibility in planning a socially distant workspace while still promoting collaboration. The floorplate at Victory Commons provides an off-set core design where the typical center core of the building is located at the south end and thus freeing up the balance of the 33,000 square foot floorplate any number of wide-open designs with maximum access to natural daylight.

While it is easier to integrate features that promote health and productivity into the design of new buildings, developers are also finding innovative ways to adopt solutions for existing buildings, starting with air quality. MERV-13 (minimum efficiency reporting value) air filters are installed at Las Colinas iconic Williams Square office towers to combat airborne pollutants. MERV-13 is rated by the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air Conditioning Engineers as one of the most effective filters available.

Healthier environments are also being created through electrostatic disinfecting, a process that uses an electrostatic-charged mist to adhere to building and furniture surfaces to reduce the risk of infection and spread of viruses.

Filtration systems and enhanced sanitation protocols are key together with other safety measures such as the use of hand sanitizing stations at all entrances, a designated one-side entrance and exit, a limit of four passengers per elevator, encouragement for tenants to wear face masks, and the addition of floor decals to direct traffic flow and assist with social distancing in the commons areas.

Despite the continuation of remote working due to the pandemic, there is still interest in office leasing in North Texas. Over the past 60 days, weve seen an increased number of people getting back into the office and an uptick of interest from tenants both inside and outside the state. There has been particular interest from companies located in the east and west coast cities who are interested in moving to North Texas business-friendly environment and central geographic location.

Several customers have indicated to us that their workforce is seeing major work-from-home fatigue with multiple distractions. Productivity has declined, and the need for company culture is critical to the success of the business.

Employees are making it clear that they want to have a place where they can connect and collaborate. Even though many enjoy the benefits of working from home, remote technology does not replace our need for personal interaction. There are simply some situations and work projects that are best accomplished through interpersonal communication that cannot be replaced with virtual meetings. The key is to ensure that buildings, whether new or existing, are prepared to accommodate those who want to return and be in a safe, healthy environment.

Bill Brokaw is Senior Vice President at Hillwood Urban.

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Pandemic Shifts Office Design to Focus on Health, Safety - D Magazine

Rendering of the 180 Building, set for The Banks along Cincinnati's riverfront.(Photo: Provided)

Last year amid fighting between the city and county, county officials pledged an office tower would be built at 180 Walnut at The Banks on Cincinnati's riverfront.

There was no official announcement though. And then the coronavirus pandemic hit Ohio and there was little news related to the project -- other than more fighting between the county and city.

Officials on Tuesday unveiled renderings of the office tower at Tuesday's Board of Commissioners' regular work session.

The building, which will be developed by Lincoln Property Company, is a $92.5 million, 17-story office building, just east of the Freedom Center on the existing development podium next to Planet Fitness. At 361,285 square feet, the tower is twice the minimum build requirement on the site, according to a report on the project reviewed by The Enquirer.

Project employment is 1,400-1,600 employees, though no tenants will be revealed yet. County officials say there are pledged tenants for at least 50 percent of the space.

Renderings show a top floor lounge and outdoor roof terrace, along with an in-building gym.

Construction is set to begin in the spring or summer of 2021, with completion by winter 2021.

"It's very exciting to bring all those jobs down to the riverfront," said Board of Commissioners President Denise Driehaus.

Commissioners are expected to officially sign off on the construction at their meeting on Thursday. The deal then goes to the city, where the city manager is expected to sign off on the deal, said County Administrator Jeff Aluotto.

The deal does not need Cincinnati City Council approval, Aluotto said.

Rendering of the 180 Walnut Building lobby at The Banks.(Photo: Provided)

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The Banks: See new renderings of planned office tower at Cincinnati riverfront - The Cincinnati Enquirer