The Prague office market has undergone a number of significant changes during the covid pandemic and the associated restrictions. People have become accustomed to working from home, and even after security measures have receded, employees often return to the office only in a hybrid mode, i.e. working in the office a few days out of the week and from home the remaining days. Office space providers and the design of the offices themselves need to adapt to this, which can be helped by the use of artificial intelligence and computer vision.
According to data from Cushman & Wakefield, office vacancy in Prague fell to 7.3% during the second quarter of 2023, the lowest level since the relaxation of pandemic restrictions. Demand for office space in the Czech capital is still growing, albeit at a lower rate than in previous years. Developers, especially in the last quarter, have not been able to respond to this demand. No new offices were completed during the last quarter and no new office project has been launched in the last twelve months. Although construction of over 143,000 sqm of office space is still underway, we can expect a significant shortage of office space across Prague over the next two years.
Office managers and owners will have to find new ways to meet the growing demand for workplaces with existing space. Most companies in the post-college era have begun to make extensive use of home office options, allowing their employees to work from home at least part of the week if possible. According to Savills research, the most used form of working today is the hybrid mode, where employees work from home for two days and from the office for three days, or three days from home and two days from the office.
This trend is also due to the fact that the home office has become not just a requirement that employees demand, but “the new normal”, according to Jan Mechl, head of office leasing at WOOD & Company. Companies are therefore trying to accommodate their employees, although they are still struggling to return at least partially to the office. “From an HR perspective, maintaining the company atmosphere and living the company’s shared values is important for the company’s prosperity and maintaining employee loyalty. And it is difficult to do that from the home office through virtual contact,” comments Mechl on the possible effects of home office on work morale.
Offices therefore become a place to meet colleagues rather than a place to work in closed cells. This is also changing the requirements for what workspaces should look like – for example, the expansion of common areas, conference rooms, kitchens and breakout spaces is required. In order to meet as many tenant requirements as possible, such offices must also operate with sufficient flexibility. Transforming the shape of offices can be helped, for example, by AI-enabled sensors that enable smart people counting, detect the occupancy of specific spaces in buildings, or identify which areas are not being used by employees at all. “Based on accurate data from smart sensors, owners can predict the possible departure of a tenant, know the current and average occupancy of an office or canteen. Thanks to this, they also help reduce energy consumption,” explains Kateřina Máchová, Sales Manager of IC Systems.ai, which supplies smart sensors to office buildings, shopping centres or industrial complexes.
Thus, companies could look for new offices not only in new premises, which in 2023 in Prague will be 22% less than in the previous year, but also in buildings whose interior would be modified based on data on the movement of employees around the workplace obtained by computer vision.
