Hotels creates 'third space' for residents working from home

Friday, 29 May 2020

Central Wellington was like a ghost town as civil servants stayed home during the first Covid lockdown. It has since bounced back, but not to pre-pandemic levels. (Video first published in May 2020)

Hotels are opening up dedicated work spaces for residents and shared business spaces are on the rise as more and more workers shun the city office building.

Wellington's CBD has resembled a ghost town in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, with many government workers staying home and the private sector following suit. But some areas are recovering and adapting to new ways of working.

In March, three hotels turned 95 of its rooms into apartments to help people socially distance themselves and also ease the rental situation in Wellington.

Park Hotel, alongside two other hotels, had offered apartments starting from $250 per week.

Now, the hotel is creating a “third space” where people can interact with others and work.

Park Hotel owner Alex Cassels says the hotel will be setting up a third space for people living there to use for work or to be around other residents.

Park Hotel owner Alex Cassels said home was becoming a greater part of people's lives but for people who worked from home, it could be an isolating experience.

The hotel is setting up a third space for people living there to use as a place to work or relax.

There would be free Wi-fi and printing, a kitchen, books and music, furniture and free coffee, he said.

“It's a place where residents can work from for a change of pace or scenery from their own apartments in the building and know they can run into a fellow resident of the building there, and have a little bit more of that much-needed social contact.”

Construction on the “third place” would begin next week.

Credenza, a co-working space in Wellington, has been opened during level 2.

Co-working spaces are also rebounding, faster than many of the traditional office blocks around them.

Credenza, a co-working space on Taranaki St in Wellington, has had about 25 people return.

Although it's not at its usual capacity of around 60 to 80 people, its centre manager Marti Du Plessis said there had been increased interest in people wanting to give co-sharing work spaces a go.

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Credenza's centre manager Marti Du Plessis says she has had three to four queries a day about working in the space.

“I've gotten three to four queries a day,” she said.

She believed lockdown had changed how people looked at working from an office.

“People want to be with other people, but they don't want to be in a binding contract,” she said.

“They're looking at flexible options, so they can spend a few days working from home and a few days in an office.”

Desks had been moved 2 metres apart and people in the work space had been separated into groups depending on whether they worked permanently in the space or occasionally.

Hand sanitiser was placed around the area and people had been asked to use disposable cutlery and plates for the time being.

Outside of Wellington's CBD, The Settlement's co-working spaces in Petone and Porirua are almost back to being a full house.

Spark spokeswoman Samantha Smith says a mix of its staff have been working from home, the office and its retail stores.

Co-founder Meredith Walshe said some groups who worked from the spaces had been staggering shifts and one team based in the Porirua office was still working from home.

But overall, the return rate was really high – something they weren't sure about when lockdown first began, she said.

Before returning to the shared working spaces, people had been briefed on the latest health and safety rules, she said.

Many public servants have yet to return to work in Wellington CBD

Wellington's Park Hotel has several sustainable features in their rooms

“People are really happy to be back,” Walshe said.

“Some people were banging the door down desperate to come back.”

While old faces had returned, there were also people taking part in trials and asking about working in the co-sharing space, she said.

“It's just dependent on people's situations.”

Meanwhile, big employers such as Spark have a mix of people working from home and in the office or at its retail stores.

Spark spokeswoman Samantha Smith said creating that mix helped maintained appropriate physical distancing and catered to its staff during lockdown.

“We have also ensured our team members working in essential services teams – for example, those running our network operations centres or 111 operations – are separated from the broader business,” Smith said.

“As the country moves into Alert Level 1, we expect more of our people will be keen to return to the office, however we will also explore how we can continue to embrace some of the benefits our people experienced from working remotely.

“As a technology company we are well positioned to support our people to do this.”

Wellington City Council has 618 of its 1008 staff working across two locations and planned to bring most back in on Level 1.

Greater Wellington Regional Council has about half its 450 staff working from home with no plans for a full return during any stages of Covid-19 alert levels.