Issues With Outdated Office Space Planning

Over the past year I’ve written about culture, design, RTO, leadership behavior, and the ROI of workplace strategy. But there is a foundational question many organizations still skip:  “How much office space do we actually need?” It is one of the most expensive and consequential decisions a leadership team will make. Some companies carry far too much space. Others have far too little. Both conditions damage performance and waste capital. Hybrid work has permanently changed spatial demand and  yet many organizations still plan using pre-pandemic assumptions. Planning by headcount no longer works. Workstyles differ, attendance patterns differ, team rhythms differ. When companies skip proper evaluation, they end up with: Ø too many seats or too few Ø overcrowded teams or underutilized floors Ø rooms no one uses Ø collaboration friction Ø declining morale Ø wasted lease costs Design fails when the footprint is wrong. A Better Approach is Workstyle-Based Footprinting   The right question is not “How many people do we have?” but “How do our people work, and what space supports that?” Mapping workstyles (focus, collaboration, mobile, hybrid, creative, process-driven) allows leaders to determine: Ø actual seat demand Ø functional spatial ratios Ø hybrid patterns Ø consolidation opportunities Ø the true size an office should be This replaces guesswork with precision. This is why Pre-Design Consultancy matters. Before committing to a lease, a redesign, a  RTO rollout, or an office consolidation project,  leading organizations now conduct workplace utilization and hybrid pattern assessments to determine: Ø The space they truly need Ø The layout that will perform Ø The behaviors the office must support Ø The financial implications of each model This isn’t design. It’s risk mitigation and strategic planning. Paperspace Asia performs this consultancy across the region. If your organization is reassessing space, we’re always open to discussing how this process works. When space is overestimated: Ø Capital is wasted Ø OPEX increases Ø Engagement drops in empty environments. When space is underestimated: Ø Culture suffers. Ø Collaboration weakens Ø RTO collapses Ø Retention drops. The Leadership question now Is: “What behaviors do we want to enable and what space supports those behaviors?” The companies that address this question early will: Ø reduce unnecessary leasing costs Ø improve performance Ø strengthen culture Ø support hybrid work Ø increase retention Ø accelerate decision-making This is no longer a facilities discussion. It is a strategic enterprise decision. #Leadership #WorkplaceStrategy #CRE #CHRO #HybridWork #ReturnToOffice #OfficeDesign #WorkplaceUtilisation #Productivity #Philippines #FutureOfWork #PaperspaceAsia #BeyondTheBlueprint #PaperspacePhilippines

Designing the Future of Work. Offices Are Falling Short!   80% of employers are mandating either a full or partial return to the office, with a staggering 78% projecting this arrangement to become the norm within the next two years – those are the findings from a recent Cisco survey. While this shift may seem inevitable, it presents significant challenges that cannot be overlooked. Two main problems emerge: Workforce Resistance: There exists a palpable resistance among the workforce towards returning 4-5 days to the office. This resistance is rooted in the newfound appreciation for flexibility cultivated during the pandemic. Office Preparedness: Many offices are ill-prepared for the impending return of employees, lacking the necessary adaptations to support modern work dynamics. Here are my recommendations to tackle these issues: Task Assessment and Allocation: Collaboratively define with employees which tasks are better suited for remote work and which ones necessitate in-office collaboration. For instance, tasks requiring intense teamwork, brainstorming sessions, or client meetings benefit from a physical office presence, while quick daily check-ins or individual-focused tasks can be efficiently managed remotely. Office Redesign: It is imperative to re-envision office spaces to align with the evolving needs of the workforce. Simply mandating a return to traditional office environments (single or double rooms) fails to address the demand for collaborative, innovative spaces. A critical assessment of office layouts is essential, with a focus on creating environments conducive to collaboration, ideation, and a heightened sense of belonging. Current office infrastructures often fall short in meeting these demands, with a staggering 85% of employers admitting that a significant portion of office space is dedicated to individual working environments, perpetuating solitary working habits. Moreover, the efficacy of meeting rooms in facilitating in-office productivity is questioned, with deficiencies in audio and video endpoints cited by employers. Companies must adopt an approach to office design that best suits the needs of their people. For me, the message is clear. If companies want people back to the office, they have to make the office somewhere worth being and suited to new needs. What is your view on this? #WorkplaceReentry #HybridWork #FutureOfWork #Collaboration #Innovation #AIIntegration https://lnkd.in/es28x7pr

My LinkedIn feed is full of acquisition announcements. Developers and property groups acquiring older buildings at attractive prices. That part is easy. What follows is where most assets struggle. The interiors are outdated. Vacancy is high or unstable. Foot traffic is inconsistent. And the building no longer reflects how people work, gather, or spend time today. I am seeing this firsthand in the inquiries coming in. Owners asking whether floor plates should be reworked into hybrid wellness spaces. Gyms combined with recovery or clinic models. Office floors converted into open, flexible third spaces. Community houses designed for pop-ups, programming, and rotating concepts. There is no shortage of ideas. The issue is not lack of concepts. The issue is lack of positioning. Too often, revitalization is approached as a cosmetic upgrade or a leasing exercise. New finishes. New tenants. Faster absorption. Short-term wins that do not address long-term performance. Underutilized buildings do not fail because they are old. They fail because they no longer align with the market they sit in. If I were acquiring one of these buildings, I would not start with leasing or space planning. I would start with defining the building’s role in its community. What does this neighborhood actually need. What behaviors already exist here. What is missing, and what would people return for. Only then do decisions around hybrid wellness, flexible office, community-driven spaces, or pop-up models make sense. From there, the building is designed as a system. Floor plates that support movement and overlap. Tenant mixes that drive shared foot traffic. Spaces that can evolve without requiring constant reinvestment. Repositioning is not about chasing trends. It is about aligning an asset with its market so it can perform. That is where design becomes strategic. And where underutilized buildings become revenue-generating ones again. If you are holding an underutilized asset and struggling with vacancy, foot traffic, or tenant performance, this is the work I do. Let’s talk :) https://lnkd.in/gtaWQBhj #repositioningstrategy #brandidenity #interiordesign

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐂𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐏𝐨𝐨𝐫 𝐒𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠   (And Why It’s More Expensive Than You Think) 𝟏. 𝐖𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐒𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐅𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐞 (𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐛𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐞) Every square foot of underutilized space is money wasted. → Poor layouts = paying for areas that don’t add value. → Inefficient design drains both function and finances. Good space planning isn’t just about filling rooms; it’s about creating flow, purpose, and function. Ask yourself: 1. Does your office feel cramped despite being large? 2. Are corners sitting unused, collecting dust? 3. Is there enough collaborative space? If any of these are true → It’s a planning issue. 𝟐. 𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐲 (𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐛𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞) A chaotic layout doesn’t just frustrate employees; it drains productivity. When your team struggles with: → Constant distractions from poor acoustics, → Inefficient workstation arrangements, → Or lack of access to natural light... The performance takes a hit. A well-designed space isn’t just beautiful—it’s functional, efficient, and helps your team thrive. 𝟑. 𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐑𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐂𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐬 (𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐧𝐨 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭) Fixing poor planning later is far more expensive than getting it right the first time. Renovating after occupancy? ↳ Disruptive and costly. Overhauling layouts later? ↳ A major headache. Investing in strategic design from the start saves you time, money, and stress. The ROI of Great Space Planning: 1. Happier employees = Higher productivity. 2. Optimized layouts = Lower operational costs. 3. Thoughtful design = A stronger brand image. Good design isn’t just an expense—it’s an investment in growth. Are you ready to transform your space into a tool for success? Let’s talk! #ArchitecturalSolutions #OfficeDesign #SpacePlanning #InteriorDesign

🔍 Systemversagen → Systems fail when they stop to adapt to new reality: -Gabor Steingard - What Gabor Steingard describes in his new book for Germany mirrors what we see in the office industry today. For decades, the traditional office model worked. Long leases, static layouts, predictable demand. But the world has moved on — and large parts of the industry haven’t. Here are the parallels: 🔹 Rigidity vs. agility Germany struggles with an outdated “operating system.” The office market struggles with outdated buildings, outdated leases and outdated service models. 🔹 Slow decisions vs. fast expectations Administration in Germany moves in years. Many landlords still move in quarters. Tenants now move in days. 🔹 Wrong incentives Systems break when people are rewarded for the wrong things. In offices: – PMs rewarded for low costs instead of building performance – Brokers rewarded for deals, not retention – Landlords rewarded for sqm, not tenant experience 🔹 Missed innovation cycles Germany ignored digitalisation and energy transition for too long. The office market ignored IoT, AI, smart metering and flexible service models — and now pays the price in vacancies, brown discounts and value write-downs. What we can learn from the coworking industry ? 👉 That the office can reinvent itself. 👉 That flexibility, data and service outperform static models. 👉 That operational excellence is the new leasing strategy. 👉 And that the winners will be those who treat buildings as products, not as passive assets. As we meet in Berlin for Coworking Europe, the message is clear: The traditional system is failing — not because the office is dead, but because the old operating system is. The future belongs to those who build a new one. Let’s rethink it together. #CoworkingEurope #FutureOfWork #OperationalExcellence #FlexibleWorkspaces #PropTech #ESG #Systemversagen #NewWorkOffices New Work

Encouraging tenants to take less space could be the smartest move a landlord makes. In a hybrid-working world, the commercial property industry is still clinging to outdated tactics: encourage tenants to take as much space as possible, on the longest possible lease term, for the highest rent and lowest incentive/TI. Sell them what they dont need. But the reality for the customer has changed, and whilst the landlord may believe that these outmoded tactics are in the best interest of the investors, they may actually be completely counter productive. ➡️ Density drives energy. Whether it’s a buzzing café, a packed stadium, or a vibrant coworking space — the majority of people thrive in environments with life and activity. Offices are no different. A floor with 40 people scattered across 2,000sqm feels empty. Put them in 400sqm and suddenly there’s atmosphere, energy, connection. Less is more. ❓ Yet the system pushes the opposite. Financiers rely on valuation techniques that have not changed for decades, based on sqm leased x rent, with a smattering of covenant strength and leasing risk. Landlords are forced to comply with this 'system' - pump up the sqm and the rent. Agents are rewarded for leasing scale, not customer utilisation or satisfaction. Tenants over-lease out of fear - what is there's not enough space for everyone....? The typical result? Vast, under utilised spaces that drain energy and create occupier discontent, and which ultimately leads to downsizing or disposal of their leased space. This cycle undermines the very value that the 'system' was supposedly set up to create. ✅ Creative landlords are seeing this reality. By creating & curating shared amenities, designing for hospitality & providing hospitality-led workspace services, and offering flexible workspace options with real-time scalability, forward-thinking landlords are giving tenants the confidence to right-size — and creating significantly better-performing buildings as a result. - Higher utilisation - More vibrant workspace communities - An enhanced customer experience - Future-proofed assets that reflect how people actually work The future of commercial real estate isn’t about bigger occupier footprints. It’s about better-designed, more human, more flexible space that works harder for everyone. What got us here will not get us there. This is a brief snapshot of an article I wrote on this topic. You can read the full version here if you have 5-10 mins to invest: https://lnkd.in/gPhTpaNq #futureofwork

𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐲: “𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐠𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐧.ˮ 𝐓𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲: “𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞ʼ𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐦 𝐚𝐯𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞.ˮ Sound familiar? Itʼs not just anecdotal. The data backs it up. 🔹 70% of companies report <40% occupancy on Mondays and Fridays; 🔹 82% experience overcrowding issues midweek. This isn't a space problem. Itʼs a 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦. What effective organizations are doing differently: --> Using real-time occupancy data to guide policies; --> Giving employees digital tools to see and book availability; --> Redesigning spaces based on actual usage, not assumptions. The future workplace isn't about adding more desks or rooms. Itʼs about building 𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐫, 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐬 that adapt to how people actually work. Are you seeing this paradox in your offices? Curious what worked (or hasn't) in your space strategy. #Workplace #SpacePlanning #RTO