SONA 2022: Key Factors for Commercial Property Transformation

The key takeaways from the 2022 State of the Nation Address (SONA) placed significant onus on the private sector, which employs approximately 80% of South Africans. Creating further employment greatly depends on the government's plans to improve and secure the country's electricity, transport, and water infrastructures, but it's clear South Africans are ready to forge ahead and reignite foriegn confidence to invest in the demonstrated potential of South Africa.

Providing the conditions required to reinvigorate our economy will play a powerful role in bolstering historically declining investment, resulting in record-high unemployment numbers last year. The political and socio-economic conditions of the country need to rise to the capacities the private sector requires to continue on a positive trajectory.

The government will make an initial investment of R1.8bn towards infrastructure development this year. In addition, there are pivotal investment and development projects in play inspiring a variety of opportunities for the greater property industry and within the commercial property sector.

Cater For Flexible Commercial Spaces

The pandemic changed the property game in a major way with the shift to living life online over the nation's lockdowns and with isolation periods in play. Now that the worst is over, returning to the office full-time is a realistic goal for some companies.

However, there's been a rise in the need for commercial office spaces that cater to staff who have proven to be more productive on a flexible work schedule and have experienced an increase in overall happiness working remotely, or partially in-office.

Landlords and property managers would do well to consider changing their rental leasing processes to factor in the needs of remote staff, and promote co-working spaces with multifunctional areas to host individuals or groups for portions of the day, or a full working day, depending on client property demands. Providing in-house amenities such as printing facilities, self-catering kitchens and coffee stations could boost job creation in these supporting industries, and with SMEs ripe for collaboration, it will be interesting to see how this space develops and establishes itself in the greater South African property market.

Redesign For Energy-Efficient Buildings

Historically, the architectural design of a commercial building greatly relies on its Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning (HVAC) system. With the country's continuing energy crisis this is not sustainable, and developers who consider passive design are pioneering greener buildings with far fewer demands on electricity provision.

Passive design entails utilising existing solar and wind conditions, landscaping and orientation to create commercial spaces that are warm or cool, tapping into the structure's natural ventilation and sun exposure.

Innovations to upgrade buildings that incorporate passive design provide opportunities for brokers, landlords and tenants in the commercial property industry to collaborate with interior fit-out companies, developers and property managers towards this collective goal of a greener future for South Africa. Passive design, coupled with utilising green energy such as solar power and green hydrogen, has great promise. The policies and investment frameworks that are needed to support these initiatives are imminent, with the global demand from developed countries for green energy nearing its peak under strict net-zero targets. Current projects touch on these concepts, but there is much work still to be done in this rapidly growing sector.

The South African commercial property industry is positioned well to take advantage of the established trends in flexible staff and shared commercial office space to revolutionise the way we live and work. The country is also set to become a major provider of green hydrogen energy, a global industry that is projected to grow ten-fold in the next five years - it's just a case of how the private, public and government sectors will collaborate towards attaining these goals in 2022.