Looking for positives in a crisis, home-working has some unexpected benefits

philip watson

Writing today from my kitchen table, looking out on a sunny garden showing the budding signs of spring it feels surreal to think that we are currently facing the biggest global crisis since the second world war. Even writing that sentence is surreal, I can barely type the words. With the spread of covid-19 still in its early stages in the UK, it is hard to grasp or accept the scale of the impact that this virus could have.

>> The coronavirus crisis: What does it all mean?

The short-term effect on our industry has been to move to home-working. No sweat. The majority of our staff have seamlessly transitioned to this and in truth many of us have been part-time working from home for many years now. Remote desktop technology means everything works as if you鈥檙e sat at your desk in the office, with all the computing power that this brings.

The video links that give us an insight into each other鈥檚 homes are only serving to bring us closer together

We鈥檙e encouraging activities that ensure our people feel connected and motivated, we鈥檙e even having a virtual tea break 鈥� and the video links that give us an insight into each other鈥檚 homes are only serving to bring us closer together. One wag has instigated a 鈥楾hrough the Keyhole鈥� type game where we guess, 鈥淲ho works in a house like this?鈥�. More seriously, one colleague found the solitude of self-isolation gave him focused thinking time and his 鈥榯houghtful design鈥� output is the better for it.

There are inevitably a few teething problems but this week we have successfully held client meetings, design forums, and CPDs in a web environment. We鈥檙e using the power of technology to ensure that projects keep moving. Modelling software is proving to be vital as we rely on the digital experience to communicate and engage with building users. So far it really has been 鈥漛usiness as usual鈥�. In fact, I鈥檇 go as far to say that I鈥檝e had one of my most productive weeks ever. Clients and colleagues have reached out, reconnecting and planning more collaboration. There鈥檚 a sense that we鈥檙e all in this together and that the show will go on.

The longer term economic effect of covid-19 will play out and let鈥檚 hope world governments collaborate in their efforts to combat this as far as possible, but there鈥檚 no doubt in my mind that it will create a huge and positive cultural change in the way we work and interact with one another.

Philip Watson is a director at HLM Architects

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