Re: getting schools open : Mon Aug 17, 2020 12:51 pm  

Dally wrote:

Seems we have a government that could not though.

I think the government thought release lockdown and the normality will return - sadly not. Towns are still empty people have got used to shopping on line and they don't want the commute either. Plus if the schools don't go back their parents cant go to work - what happens if the schools haven't gone back by the end of furlough?

Re: getting schools open : Mon Aug 17, 2020 1:20 pm  

Sal Paradise wrote:

I think the government thought release lockdown and the normality will return - sadly not. Towns are still empty people have got used to shopping on line and they don't want the commute either. Plus if the schools don't go back their parents cant go to work - what happens if the schools haven't gone back by the end of furlough?

If it hasn't sunk in yet, we're not going back to how it was in 2019. As desperate as our great leaders are to get back to the good old days, it just isn't going to happen. People's priorities have changed. No longer will they want to waste money on retail trinkets and sit for hours on trains and buses, in cars for hours on their way to jobs which they can just so easily do at home, and save themselves a massive percentage of their earnings while doing it.

Re: getting schools open : Mon Aug 17, 2020 1:49 pm  

King Street Cat wrote:

If it hasn't sunk in yet, we're not going back to how it was in 2019. As desperate as our great leaders are to get back to the good old days, it just isn't going to happen. People's priorities have changed. No longer will they want to waste money on retail trinkets and sit for hours on trains and buses, in cars for hours on their way to jobs which they can just so easily do at home, and save themselves a massive percentage of their earnings while doing it.

and what do you know about work? freeloading and shirking all your life? all you care about is the supply of werthers originals.

[Wanderer]

Re: getting schools open : Mon Aug 17, 2020 1:52 pm  

IR80 wrote:

and what do you know about work? freeloading and shirking all your life? all you care about is the supply of werthers originals.

Please read your PM.

Re: getting schools open : Tue Aug 18, 2020 11:32 am  

King Street Cat wrote:

If it hasn't sunk in yet, we're not going back to how it was in 2019. As desperate as our great leaders are to get back to the good old days, it just isn't going to happen. People's priorities have changed. No longer will they want to waste money on retail trinkets and sit for hours on trains and buses, in cars for hours on their way to jobs which they can just so easily do at home, and save themselves a massive percentage of their earnings while doing it.

I completely agree with you - the world has moved on - this has significant implications as commercial property underpins much in the finance of this country - if that sector had a crash things could get very interesting.

We already see the reduction of demand for retail space will we see the same for commercial and office space?

Re: getting schools open : Tue Aug 18, 2020 11:58 am  

Sal Paradise wrote:

I completely agree with you - the world has moved on - this has significant implications as commercial property underpins much in the finance of this country - if that sector had a crash things could get very interesting.

We already see the reduction of demand for retail space will we see the same for commercial and office space?

The potential threat of commercial and office spaces being empty is driving the return to the office, in my opinion. If that market collapses it will be carnage. But I just can't see companies carrying on paying for tens of thousands of square metres of office space when they can just rent a small 'hub' office, and have employees come and go as they please while doing the majority of their work from home. A mate of mine has already terminated the contract of his office in favour of paying an hourly rate for meeting rooms, as and when required, for his staff who are now working from home. It'll save him a fortune.

On a personal level, I haven't been in my work office since late March. I may only get in in single figures for the remainder of the year. There is nothing of any note I haven't been able to do from home. Even my biggest yearly projects have been completed and ordered while sat at my kitchen table. My home and work Macs are almost identically specced and fully synched up. It's the same working interface whether I'm at home or in the office.

I suppose the big test will come in the Winter when people working from home are having to heat and light their own houses for the majority of the working day. If companies downsize their offices, saving them fortunes, will they subsidise home workers' utility bills in the Winter?

Re: getting schools open : Tue Aug 18, 2020 12:06 pm  

King Street Cat wrote:

The potential threat of commercial and office spaces being empty is driving the return to the office, in my opinion. If that market collapses it will be carnage. But I just can't see companies carrying on paying for tens of thousands of square metres of office space when they can just rent a small 'hub' office, and have employees come and go as they please while doing the majority of their work from home. A mate of mine has already terminated the contract of his office in favour of paying an hourly rate for meeting rooms, as and when required, for his staff who are now working from home. It'll save him a fortune.

On a personal level, I haven't been in my work office since late March. I may only get in in single figures for the remainder of the year. There is nothing of any note I haven't been able to do from home. Even my biggest yearly projects have been completed and ordered while sat at my kitchen table. My home and work Macs are almost identically specced and fully synched up. It's the same working interface whether I'm at home or in the office.

I suppose the big test will come in the Winter when people working from home are having to heat and light their own houses for the majority of the working day. If companies downsize their offices, saving them fortunes, will they subsidise home workers' utility bills in the Winter?

My thoughts exactly - my wife has been at home since February - it hasn't impacted her ability to deliver on her role - in fact quite the opposite.

Re: getting schools open : Tue Aug 18, 2020 12:11 pm  

King Street Cat wrote:

The potential threat of commercial and office spaces being empty is driving the return to the office, in my opinion. If that market collapses it will be carnage. But I just can't see companies carrying on paying for tens of thousands of square metres of office space when they can just rent a small 'hub' office, and have employees come and go as they please while doing the majority of their work from home. A mate of mine has already terminated the contract of his office in favour of paying an hourly rate for meeting rooms, as and when required, for his staff who are now working from home. It'll save him a fortune.

On a personal level, I haven't been in my work office since late March. I may only get in in single figures for the remainder of the year. There is nothing of any note I haven't been able to do from home. Even my biggest yearly projects have been completed and ordered while sat at my kitchen table. My home and work Macs are almost identically specced and fully synched up. It's the same working interface whether I'm at home or in the office.

I suppose the big test will come in the Winter when people working from home are having to heat and light their own houses for the majority of the working day. If companies downsize their offices, saving them fortunes, will they subsidise home workers' utility bills in the Winter?

I agree, I can't see business keep on on spending on office space which they quite simply don't need.Another thing I have noticed is meetings (on Zoom or Teams) are a lot shorter and achieve more, people are actually doing more when they work from home. They tend to log on early and be around until later, no more 2 hour commutes, buffet lunches etc. The biggest concern is the lack of human interaction, society is changing, even dating etc. is completely different now, no more eyes meeting across a crowded room.

Re: getting schools open : Tue Aug 18, 2020 12:26 pm  

IR80 wrote:

:idea: I agree, I can't see business keep on on spending on office space which they quite simply don't need.Another thing I have noticed is meetings (on Zoom or Teams) are a lot shorter and achieve more, people are actually doing more when they work from home. They tend to log on early and be around until later, no more 2 hour commutes, buffet lunches etc. The biggest concern is the lack of human interaction, society is changing, even dating etc. is completely different now, no more eyes meeting across a crowded room.

We're finding out that we can do so much with so little. We no longer need long commutes, skyscrapers and Michelin starred restaurants in city centres to have a productive workforce. I hope this pandemic, and change in working culture, sees a steady flow of hospitality business out of the cities and into the surrounding villages and towns. If people are going to be working from home more, they will need these businesses for the after-work social element. The tea room/cafe round the corner from us is doing a roaring trade with takeaways now they've reopened.

Re: getting schools open : Tue Aug 18, 2020 12:50 pm  

King Street Cat wrote:

We're finding out that we can do so much with so little. We no longer need long commutes, skyscrapers and Michelin starred restaurants in city centres to have a productive workforce. I hope this pandemic, and change in working culture, sees a steady flow of hospitality business out of the cities and into the surrounding villages and towns. If people are going to be working from home more, they will need these businesses for the after-work social element. The tea room/cafe round the corner from us is doing a roaring trade with takeaways now they've reopened.

We are certainly in for a good few years of change, the high street and towns were already struggling because of online shopping, and that has only increased, we have been incredibly lucky with the weather during the pandemic (well, the early stages, I think it is far from over). Will be interesting to see what Autumn/Winter brings and how behaviour changes even more one it's cold and wet (and windy and snowy).

I've noticed a significant hange in how people are spending, and what they are spending it on, people are now used to 4 cans for £5 instead of £3 a pint, they are drinking more, but they are doing it at home in the garden.

If commercial property collapses, which I believe it will, there will become pension funds and hedge funds that struggle, it seems strange that Apple has exceeded $1tn in value and will only get stronger, crazy times in an increasingly crazy world!