After the initial shock of lockdown in Dubai due to the Covid-19 pandemic, corporate tenants and agency teams were quick to adjust to the ‘new normal’. One client, based in the Emirates Islamic Building (EIB) in the Dubai Media City (DMC), had no staff at all in the country when lockdown was introduced as the team was travelling abroad.

Having already decided to relocate to another building when the current lease came to an end in April 2020, the challenge was how to go about viewing new potential properties when no representative was able to attend site visits in person. Our corporate services tenant advisory team came up with a multifaceted approach to support the client that may well be the future for taking out office space once the pandemic eases:

• Visiting each office unit on the options list and conducting virtual viewings by recording the space and providing relevant commentary with internal images
• Conducting all discussions regarding options and suitability of buildings through virtual platforms such as Skype. There were no face-to-face meetings throughout the process
• Working together with the building & project consultancy team to discuss the space and making sure preferred options would fully accommodate furniture and IT requirements, via photos, videos and floor plans
• Arranging and managing the furniture removal from the old office and installing it at the new office
• Discussing the reinstatement obligations with the current landlord and providing the client with final quotes to exit their current space in the absence of a company representative

The result was a successful contract conclusion leading to the acquisition of a unit in Shatha Tower, DMC.

This and other similar cases lead us to believe that there is great potential to continue to make use of video calling platforms to conduct meetings to discuss real estate needs even as restrictions ease, particularly when some of the decision makers are out of the country. From an environmental and cost perspective, we may see a reduction in the number and frequency of international clients making travel arrangements for office requirements. On the landlord-side, we expect they will provide more videos of units to streamline the process, leading to quicker initial decisions on shortlisting and moving to the negotiation stage. Additionally, we expect to see the quality of maps, images and other material provided by landlords improve.

That’s not to say that in-person viewings will be a thing of the past. Most tenants will still want to physically see the space they are looking to occupy and will still want to conduct a physical viewing of shortlisted options where possible. The main changes to physical viewings are likely to come from social distancing requirements and individual buildings’ health and safety measures. Reducing the number of physical interactions throughout the leasing process may actually be a blessing in disguise for tenants and landlords alike as it will help to streamline the process and increase the speed of concluding an office lease.

For more information CLICK HERE