In the handful of years since working from home suddenly became the ‘new normal’, the Flight to Quality has defined the ongoing battle to entice employees back to the office – increasing the demand for, and build of, premium buildings.

Occupying the most in-demand parts of our CBDs, these buildings were expected to lure reluctant WFH employees back through the office doors with the promise of accessibility, aesthetics, and amenity.

The flight to quality approach has been successful in most major global cities, with premium vacancy in inner city CBD’s registering sub 10% whilst the remaining market languishes. However, the prospects for future development remain slim – owing to the reduced availability of capital, increased building cost, and an aversion to risk and exposure stemming from development opportunities.

As a result, a movement – or flight – towards character has become evident. This movement isn’t just about saving money or finding purpose in places outside of CBDs – though it can do both – it’s about a yearning to find meaning and purpose. The flight to character is about the need for spaces that are engaging and authentic instead of perfect and premium, addressing the ever-present need to sustainably re-life existing building stock in the process.

The case for character

In architecture, character is shaped through design, materials, history, and culture – it is a combination of elements that reflects the values and heritage of a buildings’ creators, as well as contributing to its aesthetic appeal and significance.

Globalization has led to a shortage of character via the homogenization of design – spreading standardized practices worldwide and dulling cultural nuance and storytelling. Since the 20th century, the popularity of slick, monolithic corporate architecture has seen modern metropolises across the world become more homogenised in scale, function, and potential – a decline that British designer Thomas Heatherwick has dubbed the ‘blandemic ’.

M & C Saatchi reinvented a 100-year heritage listed space into a diverse, character filled home for their diverse set of advertising companies.

As we move toward the mid-2020s with new challenges around economics, occupation, and utilisation of space, the attractiveness of the corporate workplace finds itself under immense scrutiny. This focus means that, for architecture and place to break free from their homogenous rut and reconnect with unique identity, organisations have to align character with purpose – bringing storytelling to life and spatially connecting past and future.

Ultimately, designing spaces that reflect the values and stories of their inhabitants can create more engaging and authentic environments and enrich the built landscape with diversity and meaning.

On purpose: Character in the office

Premium and A grade office space has long been driven by programmatic and performance-based criteria like ceiling height, access to natural light, and services performance – making the result, or the base building, homogeneous and lacking in diversity.

In contrast, buildings with character tend to misalign with traditional performance requirements and provide unique spaces that do not neatly fit into a scoring matrix instead. A shift in priorities from performance-based space to space with a trinity of attractive location, amenity and meaning has moved the dial to provide opportunity for non-traditional spaces to retransform into next generation workplaces.

Goodman Hayesbery: A dilapidated hat factory, created for a very different type of work, has been transformed into a compelling, light filled, green and industrial chic workplace that provides Goodman’s employees with a unique and relaxed post pandemic workplace.

Currently, there is an effort to create workplaces that express the personality of a business in the context of its place (building, street, or suburb) and city. In total juxtaposition with workplace’s previous trend of taking unbranded space as a part of a co-working collective, we are leaving the behind ‘blank slate’ office behind – in its place is a connection to space, experience and company that is critical to the future of work and placemaking.

By Amanda Stanaway (pictured), Principal (at ERA-co, & Strategy Leader.