JLL’s 2022 Office Fit Out Guide report provides benchmark costs to build out a range of office types across major markets in the United States and Canada. The cost benchmarks are built on the data from thousands of real-world projects, supported by detailed cost estimating models, and confirmed by local experts working across the country.
Additional variants of the COVID-19 virus delayed a mass return to the office in 2021, frustrating expectations for a timely return to normal. At the end the first quarter of 2022, hybrid work remains prevalent and the role of the office remains in flux, with firms navigating increased scrutiny around employee work-life balance in a tight labor market. The office must evolve in response to the lessons learned in the pandemic.
Where Are We Now?
The guide offers high-level guidance on what offices ready for the post-pandemic world might entail and cost.
- Supporting mobility and changing work cadences: With an estimated 64% of workers stating that they would or have considered quitting if asked to return to the office full time and no marked decline in productivity noted due to work-from-home, hybrid schedules remain a part of office worker life and a critical evaluation of how the office can best support work is underway. As a result, future office designs will place a greater emphasis on custom collaboration and community spaces, enhancing in person communication.
- Technology-centric design to support new ways of working: A workplace designed for a mobility-focused and partly remote workforce will include a greater share of conference rooms, huddle rooms, and flexibility collaboration spaces that allow for video calls and presentations designed for a virtual-first environment. Audio visual and other supportive tech infrastructure once limited to higher-end build outs is now a baseline requirement for a post-pandemic office.
- Sustainable design and new measures of costs: As almost 90 percent of the global economy is attached to a net-zero carbon goal, sustainability in the built environment has become a first-class measure of value. In order for both occupiers and landlords to achieve science based target initiatives for emissions, fit outs must support long-term sustainability goals.
- Employee wellness supported by the built environment: Part of redefining the office in a post-pandemic work is navigating the impact the built environment has on employee health. From preventing the spread of viral transmission to increasing cognitive function in the office by up to 26 percent, wellness focused design is critical to facilitating return to office at any scale and supporting productivity.
Related Stories
| Jul 28, 2014
Reconstruction Sector Construction Firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Structure Tone, Turner, and Gilbane top Building Design+Construction's 2014 ranking of the largest reconstruction contractor and construction management firms in the U.S.
| Jul 28, 2014
Reconstruction Sector Engineering Firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Jacobs, URS, and Wiss, Janney, Elstner top Building Design+Construction's 2014 ranking of the largest reconstruction engineering and engineering/architecture firms in the U.S.
| Jul 28, 2014
Reconstruction Sector Architecture Firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Stantec, HDR, and HOK top Building Design+Construction's 2014 ranking of the largest reconstruction architecture and architecture/engineering firms in the U.S.
| Jul 23, 2014
Tallest skyscraper in South Korea now open
The Northeast Asia Trade Tower stands at 308 meters and is the focal point of the Songdo International Business District, a new 310-hectare city built on reclaimed land.
| Jul 23, 2014
Architecture Billings Index up nearly a point in June
AIA reported the June ABI score was 53.5, up from a mark of 52.6 in May.
| Jul 22, 2014
L.A.'s tallest tower to get observation deck
U.S. Bank Tower, as part of a series of improvements, will be getting an observation deck and restaurant at its top.
| Jul 21, 2014
Economists ponder uneven recovery, weigh benefits of big infrastructure [2014 Giants 300 Report]
According to expert forecasters, multifamily projects, the Panama Canal expansion, and the petroleum industry’s “shale gale” could be saving graces for commercial AEC firms seeking growth opportunities in an economy that’s provided its share of recent disappointments.
| Jul 21, 2014
Workplace trends survey reveals generational patterns in office use
Data analysis from Mancini•Duffy indicates significant variations among age cohorts in the workplace.
| Jul 20, 2014
Why every major U.S. city should be nurturing ‘Innovation Hubs’
Today, more than ever, tech districts are the key to economic growth for metro markets. A new report from the Brookings Institution calls tech hubs the superchargers of innovation economies and creators of highly coveted tech jobs.
| Jul 18, 2014
Contractors warm up to new technologies, invent new management schemes [2014 Giants 300 Report]
“UAV.” “LATISTA.” “CMST.” If BD+C Giants 300 contractors have anything to say about it, these new terms may someday be as well known as “BIM” or “LEED.” Here’s a sampling of what Giant GCs and CMs are doing by way of technological and managerial innovation.
