To what extent will our pandemic lifestyles stick? With ‘work from home’ guidance in place for the best part of a year now, it’s has been assumed that trends towards flexible working are accelerating. Until the guidance formally shifts and employees have complete freedom to return to work, no one is quite sure what the demand to return — or stay home — will be.
But the City of London is already preparing, as today the caretakers of the Square Mile announced their plans to convert empty offices into residences with the aim of creating an additional 1,500 homes by 2030. This is a sizable increase given there are only estimated to be roughly 7,850 in the City. The move comes as part of a wider objective to expand past the work-dominated culture of the area, with the Financial Times reporting that traffic-free weekends and ‘all-night cultural celebrations’ to encourage activity outside office hours’ are also being considered.
Is the City of London jumping the gun? The decision of big companies and banks — including BP, JPMorgan, and HSBC — to preemptively announce their continuation of certain working from home trends suggests other businesses may soon follow suit.
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