2020 May · Overseas Brokers Inc.

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e “walkie-talkie” office building at 20 Fenchurch St in London

Uncertainty Amid Covid-19 Dampens Demand For Office Space Worldwide

According to property consultant, DeVono Cresa, demand for office space in London dropped by 30% in the first quarter, fueled by virus and Brexit fears. Global financial institutions and serviced office proprietors are leasing less space worldwide in the wake of the pandemic. Although some businesses are cutting costs in the short term by migrating to the serviced office business model, many firms are reconfiguring their existing furniture layout and adding dividers or screens to adhere to social distancing guidelines in the medium term. In the long term, a major redesign of the workplace will be necessary to adapt to a new reality and changing business practices.

Woman in field with one of Flash Forest’s prototype drones

Startup Aims To Plant 1 Billion Trees By 2028 Using Drones That Transport And Plant Seed Pods

We are losing the oldest species on earth at the rate of 7 billion trees per year. Flash Forest came up with a drone technology that can transport and plant up to 20,000 seed pods per day and access sites that human planters cannot reach. The drones transport the pods and plant them faster and at a lower cost than humans with trucks and shovels. It won’t stop deforestation but it will slow climate change and narrow the gap in the race to restore the planet’s breathing mechanism.

NASA And Virgin Galactic Join Forces To Advance Supersonic Travel

NASA has signed a space act agreement with Virgin Galactic and its subsidiary, The Spaceship Company, to develop high-Mach aircraft for potential use in the commercial aviation industry. The team will apply their combined know-how and advances in sub-orbital and space travel to explore new solutions for supersonic flight. The potential for a paradigm shift in high speed passenger and cargo transport is enormous.

(Photo: Virgin Galactic’s VSS Unity performs its first glide flight over Spaceport America in New Mexico on May 1, 2020. Image: © Virgin Galactic)

Open Office Space with 2 Windowed Conference Rooms

Office Design Likely to Come Full Circle From Private to Open Space and Back To Private Space

The workplace has evolved from an emphasis on private office suites, to open-plan workstations, to free-flowing collaborative open spaces. In the post-pandemic universe, we are likely to see a return to private spaces with micro private offices, larger workstations with barriers to transmission, fewer large conference rooms, elimination of small huddle spaces and a new functional style integrating tech-based solutions with social distancing and enhanced digital interaction.

(Photo credit: Work Design)