1 JUNE, 2020 – ATLANTA, GA – More than 1,000 corporate real estate professionals from 35 countries have created a vision of the return to work through the CoreNet Global COVID-19 Hackathon, a Virtual Ideation Experience.

When and how would workers return to the offices and the manufacturing plants? What would those places look like when they got there? How would employers ensure safety as we all collectively tried to restart the global economy?

And what would be permanently changed? Has the image of hundreds of people charging down subway tunnels and streets in Manhattan, London and Tokyo on their way to work, from nine to five, become an anachronism practically overnight? And what images would replace it? Temperature screenings, social distance, touchless elevators and one-way directional traffic patterns in the office?

Would the new normal ever feel normal?

With a stunning amount of insight, knowledge and forethought, the teams provided written plans and presented a series of webinars illustrating their views of the short and long-term futures of the core components of corporate real estate:

• Space utilization and metrics
• Distributed work
• The autonomous workplace
• Environment and climate change
• Manufacturing and industrial
• Workplace wellbeing
• Executive Summary

“The end result of all this work is a collective imagining of the workplace and a road map for corporate real estate professionals as they navigate their own paths forward,” said Angela Cain, CEO of CoreNet Global. “We are so grateful to the teams, for their collaborative spirit, depth of knowledge and willingness to share their views. We think this will be an indispensable tool.”

In addition to the Hackathon, during the course of the pandemic CoreNet Global surveyed our more than 11,000 members world wide to track expectations and predictions. We have highlighted those findings:

• Ninety-four percent of end-users think that expanded use of remote working will last beyond the current crisis (up from 89 percent in the previous survey)
• Ninety-four percent of end users surveyed think that expanded use of virtual meetings (e.g., vs. face-to-face meetings) will last beyond the current crisis (unchanged from the previous survey)
• Sixty-nine percent of end users surveyed say that their company’s real estate footprint will shrink as a result of increased work from home (up from 51 percent in the previous survey)
• Seventy percent of respondents say that real estate projects have been put on hold (up from 67 percent in the previous survey)
• Eighty-four percent of survey respondents indicated that they plan to bring employees back in waves; only 16 percent reported plans to bring all employees back at the same time.

Thought Leadership Sponsors of the Hackathon include leading industry service providers and supporters:

• BHDP (Workplace Wellbeing, Environment & Climate Change)
• Cognitive Corp (Autonomous Workplace)
• Colliers (Distributed Work, Manufacturing & Industrial)
• Comfy (Space Utilization & Metrics)
• FM: Systems (Space Utilization & Metrics)
• Freespace (Space Utilization & Metrics)
• HNI Global (Space Utilization & Metrics, Workplace Wellbeing)
• HOK (Space Utilization & Metrics, Autonomous Workplace, Workplace Wellbeing)
• Interior Architects (Workplace Wellbeing, The Autonomous Workplace, Environment & Climate Change)
• RefineRE/BenchCore (Distributed Work)
• Stantec (Workplace Wellbeing)
• Teknion (Workplace Wellbeing)
• VergeSense (Space Utilization & Metrics)
• WeWork (Distributed Work)
• Whitney (Space Utilization and Metrics)

Contributing sponsors include:

• Cushman & Wakefield
• Edge
• Fischer
• HLW

The CoreNet Global Hackathon is supported by several related industry associations:

• ABC, Associated Builders & Contractors
• ASID, American Society of Interior Designers
• BOMA International, Building Owners and Managers Association International
• CCIM Institute
• CRE, Counselors of Real Estate
• IIDA, The Commercial Interior Design Association
• IREM, Institute of Real Estate Management
• SIOR, Society of Industrial and Office Realtors

About CoreNet Global
CoreNet Global is a non-profit association, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia (US), representing more than 11,000 executives in 50 countries with strategic responsibility for the real estate assets of large corporations. The organization’s mission is to advance the practice of corporate real estate through professional development opportunities, publications, research, conferences, designations and networking in 45 local chapters and networking groups globally. For more information, please visit www.corenetglobal.org or follow @CoreNetGlobal on Twitter.