I'm not the first to tell you that technology has fundamentally changed the way we work. It's also changing the spaces we work in and how we work not to mention the impact it's having on our day to day lives. Personally, the way I work has changed hugely over the past 10 years, even a lot in the last five years. So have our JLL offices, and those of our clients', which have adapted to meet the changing needs of their people.
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Earlier this year we partnered with TEDxSydney as their official property partner. We surveyed more than 260 people from both communities, asking what the "Urban Canvas" will look like in 2030. Urban Canvas was our term for the future built environment.
Through the survey we wanted to identify how investors, developers and corporate tenants can support the health and wellbeing of their employees - spanning from productivity to mental health - through their workspaces. As we've just released the whitepaper on the topic, I wanted to share some of the findings I found most interesting. These include the importance on human interaction. We hear a lot about robots and AI entering the workplace, but 43 percent of respondents strongly agreed working alongside humans inspired them to think differently??? while only 6 percent said working alongside robots would do the same.
But interestingly, the survey also found that 75 percent of respondents believe corporate Australia is too slow in adopting new technology, and that this will have a negative impact on growth.Wellness is very topical and definitely not going anywhere for the real estate industry. It's having a big impact on how tenants and developers choose and design spaces. Almost one third of all respondents strongly agree that access to mental health and wellbeing programs and support allow them to take less time off and be more productive.
Probably what I found most interesting though was the impact that driverless cars are expected to have by 2030. Only 16 percent of respondents expect to drive themselves to work in their own car by then - a huge drop on the 66 percent currently. 62 percent of respondents agree that by 2030, car-parking facilities will be repurposed to provide space to communities and people. It'll be really interesting to see carparks repurposed for alternative public space use.
The report has a lot more detail in it including recommendations on how to best plan for the future with these factors in mind. If you'd like to know more there is a link to the paper here or feel free to contact me.
Michael Fenton is the managing director of JLL for NSW and head of industrial for Australia.
