Does your development work 24/7?
At a time when lifestyles are becoming more flexible with home-working, technology, ease of travel and connectivity, do residential areas and developments, really work for a 24/7 demographic?
Research from the Local Government Association has revealed that 1 in 3 of London’s population work during the night, and 1 in 5 of the UK’s population are night-time workers.
According to the data in an article from Completely Retail News, there is currently 150 million square feet of unused retail space in the UK, with an average annual price of £24.48 per square foot (November 2022), this leaves £3.7b of unused space.
This may not be relevant to all developments, however, understanding your resident’s demographic and how they live and use your building should be considered when managing the property.
Asking your residents what they want and scratching underneath this, will help you understand how you can help your residents live well at 6am, 6pm or at 4am or if they want maintenance visits during the day, evening or weekends.
There are many ways a development isn’t designed with the 24/7 lifestyle in mind:
- Social events for residents within the building, often occur during lunchtimes and evenings, however for those residents who work alternative hours this isn’t always an option.
- Maintenance checks or repairs for buildings are often taken care of during the day which, which can be difficult for night-time workers.
- Lack of adequate lighting which usually goes to energy saving mode at night-time or has spots around the development which aren’t lit up at night means that there is a safety concern for residents who operate at night. Also, does your lighting flex throughout daylight, evening and night-time?
- Areas for socialising in a development are often closed at certain hours making them unavailable for residents who require them at more ‘unconventional’ times.
- The unused commercial unit space has the possibility to boost the economy in the UK and relieve the pressure of empty units on operators by reimagining a use for them in a 24/7 perspective. This action could also develop a night time community through having spaces open for local residents to enjoy.
- Parcel collection – utilising technology with 24/7 storage facilities will take this pressure away, Apudos supply lockers for parcels to be delivered and collected whatever time of day which relieves both employees collecting parcels and residents who would otherwise have to wait until the reception area is open to collect a parcel that has been delivered out of hours.
- Moving in or out of a managed property works around the typical ‘office hours’ of the operational management, this is usually between 9am and 5pm. Consideration of your residents demographic and how they live shouldn’t be restricted to office hours.
- Speaking to management/customer service? Do they work 24/7 or do you have maintenance and security overnight who may not be able to action certain tasks?
If you want to read more about the UK’s night time economy, read our other blog on the subject here.
Comments are closed.