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This article first appeared in DIGIT News, 5 September 2023. In this contributed piece for DIGIT, Aidan Campbell, partner; and Jamie Marshall, senior associate at CMS break down the cascading effects...

The pervasive nature of plastics has attracted significant consumer, media and le­gis­lat­ive in­terest over recent years. Present negotiations at UN level supplement more loc­al de­vel­op­ments on packaging...

There is a growing consensus that the next generation of real estate technology will bring unprecedented change to the industry, with the key trends predicted by industry commentators as follows:As the new hybrid world dawns it is seen as increasingly important that access to the office (in particular) be as convenient and stress-free as possible. Living and lifestyle are also now considered a fertile world for technology – but only in new developments. COVID-19 has accelerated e-commerce across Europe, with e-commerce in the United Kingdom rocketing. Big data is set to underpin the whole revolution. Technology is also seen as key to facilitating greater sustainability, with sensors, data and the best measurement crucial to enhancing ESG credentials, particularly in the challenging arena of retrofitting. However, it is also recognised that barriers remain to the widespread adoption of technology, with big data in particular eyed with suspicion by tenants and customers. Three in four of those we polled said they were wary of the Return on Investment on smart tech­no­logy. Com­pan­ies harvesting this data are viewed with distrust – with the Daily Telegraph among the first organisations to reconsider and then withdraw devices to monitor whether people are at their desk. Our research across a range of fields, from the real estate industry, among office occupiers, renters and potential renters, retail experts and life sciences professionals, drew a striking response.

Recovery of the real estate market is well under way, with optimism rising and a vaccine-prompted bounce propelled further by two powerful forces driving the sector’s future: technology and ESG.

We asked the real estate sector office occupiers, renters, retailers and life sciences businesses what impact COVID-19 is having on demand for real estate in their area, and also on adoption of innovative technology. The sweet spot for innovation and demand driven by COVID-19 is life sciences, where both the occupiers and the real estate professionals see equally positive op­por­tun­it­ies. Driv­en by spectacular technological breakthroughs like COVID vaccine development, and with public and private sector funding pouring into the sector, life sciences is an asset class in the upper right quadrant, very much embracing the opportunity. By contrast, in-store retail is `stuck in the headlights’ according to our polling – beset by falling demand caused by lockdowns and less likely to have ad­op­ted in­nov­at­ive technology as a result of COVID. Interestingly, real estate professionals are significantly more pessimistic about real estate demand from the sector, than retailers themselves. This may be a reflection of increased demand for logistics space as a result of the accelerated shift to online shopping. While real estate professionals see offices as the most actively innovating in response to the pandemic, occupiers are less convinced, although they also seem less pessimistic about demand for office space. This perhaps reflects the reality of a blended working approach which looks here to stay in the immediate future. The build to rent sector, by contrast, is seen as `lucky’ by renters who see that demand is strong but do not believe they are seeing enough innovation in the light of COVID-19 rather than redeveloping tired properties.