Reconnecting: emerging from lockdown
We asked the team what it’s been like working from home with kids in lockdown…
Surveying: is this how you thought 2020 would look?
Well 2020 is certainly a year we will never forget ...
I think we can probably all agree 2020 has been a strange year - both in respect of our personal lives (I am very much missing family, holidays and weekend brunch!) and also in our professional lives.
I chose property management as a career because every day is a new adventure and you never know what the next day will bring. Since the arrival of COVID-19 my work life at least has been non-stop!
I thought it would be interesting to pull together a list of some of the new and interesting things that have landed on my desk over the past nine weeks:
1. Designing and implementing one-way routes around buildings; I have spent countless hours working out the safest way to get our occupiers in (and out!) of our office properties. I always knew having a Geography degree would come into its own…
2. Becoming an expert on hand sanitiser - forget the price of a pint of milk; it’s all about the price of 5l of sanitiser which for a while was the equivalent of liquid gold; thankfully stock levels now seem to be levelling out.
3. Working out what the correct level of PPE is for each building - how do you ensure your building is safe for its occupiers without turning it into a cold, clinical environment? This has been a key question and, working closely with colleagues and occupiers across the country, I am really pleased with the decisions we have made - but these certainly were not discussions I ever envisaged having.
4. Working with our Shopping Centre team to actively encourage the general public to stay away and only travel to the schemes if the visit is essential ... pretty much the exact opposite of our aims pre-COVID-19.
5. Setting the weekly work quiz… Did I think I would be asking my colleagues to name Formula 1 circuits or identify Disney Princesses pre- lockdown? That would be a no, but our weekly Zoom calls are now one of the highlights of my week!
We are certainly uncharted waters at the moment, but it’s been an adventure working though the ever-changing guidance and watching the whole team pull together to provide the best level of client and occupier service has been amazing.
What are the things you have been doing in 2020 which you certainly did not envisage at the start?
