The open office floor plan has to change — at least during the coronavirus pandemic

6/18/2020

by Katie Park, Updated: June 17, 2020

Before the coronavirus pandemic struck in the United States, employees at the commercial real estate firm Binswanger sat with clients who wanted to remodel their office work spaces and mulled everything from floor plans to fabric swatches for new furniture.

The evergreen favorites: open floor plans; large conference rooms; sprawling auditoriums. Ideally, employers said, they would bring dozens to hundreds of employees together in a physically uninhibited office to foster creativity, productivity, and collegiality.

Then came the antithesis of those very designs: social distancing.

“Everyone has taken a pause to say, ‘What is this going to look like on the other side, and does that mean I still want the same thing?’” said David Binswanger, chief executive of the Philadelphia-based firm. “… The issues of parking, conference rooms, public meeting spaces, the big auditoriums, the cafeterias, are all being rethought.”

Common new protocol mandates that employees maintain six feet of distance from one another, wash their hands often, avoid close contact in narrow corridors, and stay home if they experience possible coronavirus symptoms.

Clients nearly finished with their redesigns now have to adapt to social-distancing guidelines the best they can. Those who had only begun to redesign before the pandemic have time to rethink plans entirely, Binswanger said, referencing a client who “thought they could never not work together.”

“Now they’re rethinking that whole model,” he said. “They’re worried if they put everyone together, it could cost them their business because they don’t want everyone to get sick at once.”

Companies midway through an overhaul, he said, are in the most difficult situation. “If you’re in the middle, you’re in no man’s land,” Binswanger said. “They might be able to rethink it, but they’ll spend a lot of money.”

Read the rest of the article.

Press

12/19/2023 What's next for vacant warehouse space in Evesham after new owner takes over?
11/15/2023 Marcus Partners buys Boonton warehouse with outdoor storage
10/31/2023 LevLane relocates and downsizes Center City offices, continuing tenant exodus from Wanamaker building
5/25/2023 Solar Panel Maker Plans $66 Million South Carolina Development
5/18/2023 Getting Into the Heads of Life Science Clients
4/7/2023 Former Sikorsky helicopter plant in Coatesville acquired by storied aviation firm
1/27/2023 UArts Sells 103-Year-old Center City Building to Philadelphia Developer
8/16/2022 Bart Blatstein buys Piers 38 and 40 along the Delaware River
7/28/2022 Frank G. Binswanger Jr., corporate real estate executive, chairman emeritus, and civic leader, has died at 94
1/18/2022 Velocity expands footprint in Pennsauken with purchase of 560,000 sq. ft. industrial property
10/28/2021 History for Sale: Piers 38 and 40 Hit the Market
10/22/2021 PhilaPort Puts Piers 38 And 40 On Delaware Waterfront Up For As-Is Sale
10/21/2021 PhilaPort puts two Delaware River piers up for sale, creating 'generational opportunity' for developers
9/2/2021 Former NBC10 studio on City Avenue sells to secretive investment firm
6/25/2021 Philadelphia storage portfolio sells for $32.65M
«
»