Office

Face masks will have to be worn in some public venues including cinemas and theatres from Friday as part of the new measures.Also from Friday, Covid passes proving vaccination or a negative test will also be introduced for unseated indoor venues with more than 500 people, unseated outdoor venues with more than 5,000 people and any venue with more than 10,000 people.
Speaking at a Covid news conference at Downing Street, the Prime Minister said it was now “proportionate and responsible” to move to Plan B measures in England following the rapid spread of the Omicron variant.
As of Monday, guidance to work from home will be introduced.
“Go to work if you must, but work from home if you can,” said Johnson.
Also speaking at the conference, England’s chief medical officer Prof Chris Whitty said the data “is now clear that Omicron is going up very fast,” with the Plan B measures aiming to “slow things down”.
Melanie Leech, chief executive of British Property Federation, said: “Public health is paramount, but we’d hope that guidance on working from home would be kept under review against a rigorous risk assessment and take into account the crucial role that office workers play in city centre economies. “A vast number of jobs across the retail, leisure, hospitality and culture sectors that have been protected by the furlough scheme now depend on footfall from nearby offices. Huge investment has gone into making sure that offices are safe environments and we are widely seeing the undoubted mental health and productivity benefits of work colleagues being able to meet together again.”
Jace Tyrrell, chief executive of New West End Company, said: “While our top priority remains the safety and wellbeing of our customers and colleagues, and we fully support mandatory mask-wearing in shops, a renewed ‘work from home’ order during the most important trading period of the year would be a hammer blow for our retail and leisure tenants. Many businesses have committed time and money in their Christmas plans in a bid to make up for last year’s losses – vital investment that they won’t be able to recoup. 
“In the event of further restrictions, the Government must provide immediate clarity on the implications of Plan B for the retail and hospitality industry, and whether additional financial support will be offered to struggling businesses. Our hope is that a balance can be struck between keeping everyone safe and supporting the high street in its time of need. Otherwise, we risk yet another miserable Christmas for struggling businesses and their staff.” More

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The debate is generally centred on what added value an office place can bring to a business and how thoughtful space can support collaboration between colleagues and foster a positive work culture.
But what about the leases themselves? How are they likely to change?
The merging of the ‘traditional’ and ‘flexi’ market is very apparent in the marketplace. Some obvious consequential changes are (even) shorter lease terms and more frequent break clauses. Fewer businesses see the need to secure long-term commitments, as they recognise that there is greater value in being able to adjust their demand for space as their business evolves.
Tenants rarely have the in-house skill set (or time) to deal with managing the fit-out process. We are seeing many more landlords offering a furnished turnkey/plug and play solution, which complements the desire for design-led space that is fit for the modern world. This is at the heart of the movement, which is seeing an increasing number of landlords recognising the need to change their traditional business models and move towards the principle of seeing ‘space as a service’.
This approach impacts upon the repairing obligations within the lease where you will now often see reduced obligations as against traditional leases and, in particular, less open-ended terminal dilapidation claims. Instead, expect to see either fixed payments or inclusive rents that build in what was previously a dilapidation liability. This reflects the trend of offering certainty to tenants as to what their occupation costs will be.
The environmental credentials of a building are becoming a significant factor for occupiers. It is not only the larger organisations with their global environmental targets (and reputations) to manage but also smaller occupiers who want to be able to show to their staff and customers that they are doing their bit.
For some time now, we have seen within leases vague references to the landlord and tenant working together to improve environmental performance. The expectation is that this will start to change as tenants demand ‘greener’ leases and want more than just a good EPC rating. This change can be seen by the approach of larger landlords who look to use environmental performance as a key tool in the promotion of new space. We are likely to see more specific obligations in term of energy efficiency, waste management and water efficiency as tenants’ demands become more specific.
Green issues are not just about new (or newly refurbished) buildings. The minimum EPC ratings for commercial buildings look set to become far more onerous in the not too distant future, so expect to see landlords wanting to reserve the rights to upgrade the buildings (and tenants being careful to avoid footing the bill via the service charge).
Dominic Whelan is a partner in the property team at law firm Goodman Derrick More

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