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<\/a><\/p>\nI WAS\u00a0fortunate to attend a series of\u00a0lectures in conjunction with the\u00a0\u201cBusiness of Innovation 2015\u201d\u00a0Conference organised by the London\u00a0Speaker Bureau earlier this month which\u00a0featured Sir Bob Geldof of \u201cLive Aid\u201d\u00a0fame.<\/p>\n
During his speech, he asked the\u00a0audience what would be the most disruptive\u00a0technology this century will witness. Lacking\u00a0an answer, he removed his smartphone from\u00a0his pocket and reminded everyone there that\u00a0we all should pay attention to the power of\u00a0what we hold in our hands and how it will\u00a0reshape our collective future.<\/p>\n
The digital economy has\u00a0arrived \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n It started with the Internet back in the 1990s\u00a0and as bandwidth expanded to allow the\u00a0streaming of movies and music coupled with\u00a0the birth of social network and the rapid digitalisation of our business, a revolution\u00a0was created in the online world.<\/p>\n Its impact on the way we do business\u00a0is beginning to be felt in many industries\u00a0that did not see it coming, and have had to\u00a0scramble to change their business models or\u00a0face collapse.<\/p>\n We are witnessing the great\u00a0transformation of the digital age. Among\u00a0its victims are the following industries\u00a0– newspaper print edition, brokerage,\u00a0insurance, publishing, travel and now,\u00a0the big box retail industry. All have had\u00a0to make rapid changes to their business\u00a0models, resulting in broad changes to\u00a0their real estate requirements.<\/p>\n Professor Douglas McWilliams, one of\u00a0UK\u2019s leading economists, just launched a\u00a0book called The Flat White Economy: How\u00a0the Digital Economy is Transforming London\u00a0and the Other Cities of the Future. In it, he\u00a0describes the cultural shift over the past\u00a0decade from the champagne-soaked city to\u00a0the coffee drinking technophiles. The flat\u00a0white economy -technology, creativity and\u00a0marketing made up 7.6% of the UK\u2019s GDP\u00a0(gross domestic product) and is expected to\u00a0rise to 15.8% by 2525.<\/p>\n The next wave of demand For companies today, staff retention\u00a0is high up on the agenda. Losing starfee\u00a0earners, whether they be from the\u00a0capital markets or technology companies,\u00a0is damaging for businesses, and many are\u00a0realising that even the cost of replacing\u00a0support staff can be higher than the rent\u00a0paid on their workstations.<\/p>\n In order to accommodate economic\u00a0and population growth, a city can either\u00a0move outwards or upwards. Moving\u00a0outwards was a trend that was popular in\u00a0the 80s and 90s that led to the birth of\u00a0\u201cBedroom Townships\u201d, such as Subang\u00a0Jaya, Bandar Utama, Sri Hartamas, Mont\u2019\u00a0Kiara, Bandar Sunway and Puchong, to\u00a0name a few.<\/p>\n However, such decisions break up\u00a0business clusters and create the traffic chaos\u00a0that we witness today as more and more\u00a0people live away from the city and have to\u00a0find their way to work every day.<\/p>\n A skyscraper boom? Meanwhile, New York has added four new towers last year alone. The new enthusiasm for vertical buildings in cities is the change in the perception of companies in relation to their \u00a0workers. In the 70s and 80s, it was always a\u00a0question of cost that companies wanted to\u00a0minimise but with little thought on how to boost productivity.<\/p>\n However today, firms are viewing real\u00a0estate as a means of controlling a much\u00a0bigger cost due to staff retention. This has\u00a0coincided with a move back to the city\u00a0centres to live. In short, they are wanting\u00a0to create a work\/life balance for the new\u00a0generation of employees.<\/p>\n Companies are now approaching space\u00a0from the perspective of:<\/p>\n We have seen an unprecedented\u00a0building boom of new skyscrapers, with\u00a0much more to come. Will every developer\u00a0get it right? Probably not, but there are\u00a0some very attractive new developments\u00a0with integrated F&B (food and beverage)\u00a0outlets and accommodation blended into a\u00a0single offering.<\/p>\n I believe that the next wave of workers in\u00a0the cities will be looking at city living with all\u00a0the amenities close at hand and to their place \u00a0of work. Demand for knowledge workers\u00a0is increasing so is the need to accommodate\u00a0them in buildings that they find attractive.<\/p>\n The future success of these new\u00a0skyscrapers may take many of us by surprise.\u00a0If we had any imagination, we would have\u00a0seen it coming.<\/p>\n >>\u00a0Datuk Stewart LaBrooy is the chief executive officer of Axis REIT Managers Bhd.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cWhen we imagine the future, we only see today.\u201d In order to accommodate economic and population growth, a city can either move outwards or upwards. Moving outwards was a trend that was popular in the 80s and 90s that led to the birth of \u201cBedroom Townships\u201d, such as Subang Jaya, Bandar Utama, Sri Hartamas, Mont\u2019 …<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>So, how do we look into the future and see\u00a0how our economic demand for real estate\u00a0will evolve? The key is to see if we too will\u00a0follow the path of technological innovation\u00a0and predict how those companies and\u00a0their employees will view their office\u00a0accommodation choices. This revolution\u00a0will also affect the entire civil service as we\u00a0are witnessing an unprecedented move by\u00a0governments to adopt online solutions for\u00a0dealing with the public\/government services\u00a0interfaces. Counter services could be a thing\u00a0of the past.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Today, world cities are in the midst of the\u00a0skyscraper boom (defined as a building\u00a0exceeding 350 ft in height). This is seen as a\u00a0means of resolving the major economic and\u00a0geographic changes facing cities. London\u00a0has added 23 new skyscrapers since 2000\u00a0compared to 17 in the preceding 40 years.<\/p>\n\n