Mid-Week Motivation : Making The Most of your Commercial Property in 2022.

2022 is a year of cautious optimism for the property sector. The latest changes to the Adjusted Alert Level 1 COVID-19 regulations will have some positive impacts on the commercial property industry, which has borne the brunt during the worst of the pandemic.

Although some adjustments may need to be made to our approach to office space to improve vacancies, the industrial property market will continue to see improved rentals with the rise in online shopping trends, and supporting warehousing space, as well as large corporations such as Amazon establishing

A flexible approach to commercial property can stimulate prominent investment opportunities this year, alongside market shifts and subsequent requirements from commercial space as the country's economy recovers from the pandemic.

Wesgro announced late last year that there are twenty-two new development projects now approved, with the Western Cape and Cape Town viewed as lucrative investment destinations, especially within the Information Communication Technology (ICT), manufacturing, real estate, green economy, energy, and tourism sectors.

In light of this, find below some suggestions to make the most of your commercial property in these particular sectors which could also add to your property's ROI down the line.

Multi-Use Space Motivation: Flexible workspaces attract multiple income 3600 streams

The work from home shift made a huge impact on office vacancies, however, employees have begun to return to the office or shared workspaces with the further easing of Covid-19 regulations as of 1 February, 2022.

To harness the trend towards the "hotelling" of desks, create office spaces that are multi-functional, spacious, with plenty of fresh air factored into the interior layout.

View some of Giant Leap's work in interior design for commercial property and get expert advice from the team to create an attractive investment or rental space for a multi-functional commercial office space that will generate more income streams from a variety of clients.

Green Initiative Motivation: Improved eco-friendly facilities in your property boosts international recognition and investment

Promoting green energy is one of the most effective ways to increase or maintain the value of your property - it saves money for the tenant, reduces overall maintenance costs for the landlord or property manager, and earns merit amongst international investors who still deem the Western Cape to be an attractive investment hub.

Aside from replacing your warehousing lighting to LED technology with accompanying solar,  mentioned in our previous article, there are myriad ways in which to incorporate green initiatives within your property,  whether adding to existing infrastructure or designing into new development.

South African companies such as Urban Harvest have installed beautiful and functional vegetable gardens (https://www.businessinsider.co.za/these-joburg-offices-now-have-farms-inside-them-and-workers-get-to-harvest-lunch-2018-7) on the rooftops of office blocks in Johannesburg, reducing stress for staff and promoting a healthy lifestyle with fresh lunch or snack options picked directly from the office garden.

Abroad, vertical gardens are seeing a notable impact on overall costs of building development and maintenance - these gardens installed on the exteriors of buildings boost a building's positive environmental impact as well as cleaner air, by providing insulation and reducing the necessity for currently complex HVAC systems which contribute to the lion's share of materials required for building development, renovation, and maintenance.

Eco-friendly projects have become increasingly prevalent across the world including within Africa, in efforts to combat the effects of climate change regarding the increasing CO2 levels in our atmosphere, and promoting locally-owned and managed vegetable gardens to galvanize our unemployed communities  who don't always have access to job training for city-based job vacancies.

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We are motivated and excited to see what's to come this year in the commercial property sector. Further amendments to the Adjusted Alert Level 1 COVID-19 regulations have broadened freedom of movement for the general public and we are cautiously optimistic life is beginning to return to normal, which bodes well for the South African property industry.