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GLOBAL OCCUPIER SERVICES
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"Strategic foresight today builds resilient organizations for tomorrow."
Andrew Hallissey Chief Executive Officer Global Occupier Services
"Build adaptive organizations to navigate uncertainty at scale."
"Think beyond borders in a digitally driven innovation economy."
Chris Zlocki Global Head of Enterprise Clients Strategy and Solutions Global Occupier Services
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Building Resilience: 5 Megatrends Redefining Corporate Real Estate
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The Resilience Radar is a visual framework that spotlights the trends shaping our environment, illustrates their potential impact, and highlights where organizations may be exposed. It reflects the critical role resilience plays in helping businesses anticipate change and navigate uncertainty with confidence.
Curious what’s driving change? Select a megatrend to explore its transformative potential, business readiness, and priority actions.
"Asia Pacific drives centers of global growth and talent."
Mike Davis Managing Director Occupier Services | APAC
1. AI enabled workforces
2. Seismic demographic shifts
3. Energy scarcity and security
4. Climate risks
5. Shifting global order
Jodie Poirier President Occupier Services | Americas
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Experts are struggling to keep up Only 28% real estate professionals report their organization has an AI strategy in place, with those in North America and Europe lagging their counterparts in Asia Pacific. The AI skills gap is a chasm A recent survey of global CEOs found less than one-third are systematically integrating AI into workforces and employee skill sets. Dedicated AI talent is increasingly hard to come by - and expensive when it can be found. AI experiments frequently fail By some estimates just 25% of AI initiatives deliver the expected return on investment, while even fewer scale enterprise-wide.
Business readiness
Leaders are bracing for change AI is seen as the top driver of business transformation over the next five years - and a deciding factor in organizational survival. Workplaces won’t only orient around humans Workplaces will have to evolve to integrate design features and technology foundations that support human-AI collaboration. While there will be a learning curve, AI has strong potential to improve productivity and the way workplaces are managed. When it comes to headquarters, AI will call the shots The availability of AI infrastructure and skills is becoming a major consideration in location decisions, which in many cases, AI will be making. Real estate is being rewritten Three-quarters of real estate professionals polled by Colliers see AI revolutionizing their roles, mainly for the better.
Transformative potential
Priority actions
AI enabled workforces
Megatrend 1
Megatrend 1: AI enabled workforces insights
"Align with innovation hubs to unlock and scale top talent."
Bret Swango Senior Vice President Workforce Analytics & Location Strategy Occupier Services | Americas
"Prepare talent, and workplaces, for AI enablement."
Stuart McDonald Global Chief Information Officer
"Prioritize flexibility as AI challenges forecasting."
Amit Oberoi Head of Enterprise Clients | Asia Global Occupier Services
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Seismic demographic shifts
Megatrend 2
"Rethink footprint as talent prioritizes proximity and flexibility."
"Map and align the growth and talent trajectories."
Jan Jaap Boogaard Head of Workplace Advisory | EMEA Global Occupier Services
"Prioritize premium, tech‑enabled office environments"
Nick Dauphinee Executive Managing Director, Enterprise Clients | Canada Global Occupier Services
"Access to top tier talent drives success in shifting global economies."
Bret Swango Senior Vice President, Workforce Analytics & Location Strategy Occupier Services | America
Location strategies are still geared towards the demographics of yesterday. Colliers data indicates that most occupier activity and real estate investment remains heavily focused on or around longstanding Tier 1 and capital cities, despite the aging populations and shrinking talent pools in some of these locations. Firms have yet to acknowledge the ageing workforce, with research showing only a few have implemented or are committed to programs to support and help integrate older employees – even though 150 million jobs will shift to such workers by the end of the decade. Efforts to build presence in emerging markets and talent centers are piecemeal. Colliers has tracked a rush of investment into India’s office sector as multinationals move to expand their footprint in this increasingly vital market. Africa however remains heavily under-represented in real estate portfolios, despite many African nations posting impressive growth rates driven in part by their youthful populations.
Occupiers will need to reorient around new demographics, with workplaces needing to cater to a wider range of generations. With more people in their 60s and even 70s ready and incentivized to remain in their roles, a new era of ‘reskilling’ will be required to ensure they remain productive. Managing the multi-generational workplace will become a must. Balancing the needs of younger and older workers will require paying attention to cultural and political frictions, and at times competing preferences in working patterns, technology use and skills development. The importance and allure of key locations will change as governments race to combat demographic decline. Location strategies will be shaped by incentives to re-orient economic activity away from high-rent global cities and towards more affordable areas with development potential. Demographic changes and the rising cost of living will constrain the supply of talent in some once-dominant markets. Economic gravity will shift towards younger countries and regions like India, the Middle East, and Africa, as they take up an ever-larger share of the world’s talent base and hence its growth momentum.
Megatrend 2: Seismic demographic shifts
"India's workforce and growth fuel next-generation business expansion."
Arpit Mehrotra Managing Director, Office Services | India
Energy scarcity and security
Megatrend 3
Megatrend 3: Energy scarcity and security
"Recognize sustainability trends as potential drivers of value"
Jatin Shah Chief Operating Officer | India
"Starting early is critical in today’s data center landscape."
Raul Saavedra Vice Chair, Head of Data Center Advisory | Americas
"In energy-hungry verticals, map out access as well as availability."
Jose Maria Guilleuma Gil Data Center Advisory, Director Capital Markets | Spain & Portugal
Businesses face constraints in responding to energy crises Some companies can – and will – relocate operations in response to energy reliability or cost challenges. But for many businesses, substantially changing or shifting operations is not a viable option, even if these issues are threatening their ability to compete. Early days for energy efficiency While a healthy majority of real estate owners and investors are planning energy retrofits, few of those ambitions have so far become a reality. According to one study, ‘deep’ energy retrofits – which boost energy efficiency by at least 50% - currently target under 1% of buildings worldwide each year. Few firms are going off-grid Localized energy solutions such as solar-powered microgrids are starting to see adoption in commercial real estate, but these projects remain relative outliers – despite their potential to not only cut costs but also contribute to revenues.
The electricity gap will soon be global Markets like North America, UK and Europe are phasing out fossil-fuel based generation capacity, just as population growth and the accelerating rollout of data centers fuel a surge in electricity demand. While renewables will be a bigger part of the energy mix, studies show they’re unlikely to make up the shortfall. Formerly reliable locations may find it harder to provide consistent power supply. Uncertainty will drive ‘DIY’ Rising risks and instability in key energy-producing regions are reasons to brace for a prolonged period of volatile and generally higher energy prices. Costs and the strains on power infrastructure appearing even in wealthier markets will encourage more businesses to invest in retrofitting or energy-efficient buildings – and even to develop their own power sources. Energy limits will force hard location choices Particularly in sectors like manufacturing, organizations will need to seek out sites where energy supply is resilient to geopolitical and regulatory change. Some businesses will also have to consider whether primary energy sources align with sustainability or emissions reduction targets.
Climate risks
Megatrend 4
"Probe the real estate portfolio for climate-linked weak spots."
Gary Cui Senior Director, Sustainability Service Center | China
"Foster a ‘climate-proof’ workforce."
Tonya Lagrasta Global Head of Sustainability
"Seize the resilience and retrofitting opportunity."
Sam Addison Head of Project Management | EMEA Global Occupier Services
Enterprises are stuck in ‘wait and see mode’ Studies show only a minority of companies consider climate risks to be significant, and/or are actively reengineering their assets to better withstand extreme climate events. A race against time – and real estate investors are in danger of losing Though some three-quarters of buildings in Europe could face obsolescence by 2030, Colliers research shows just 45% of investors in European real estate have undertaken a full assessment of the ESG performance of their assets – and less than a third have graduated to CapEx-driven action. Even leaders are at a loss Over 75% of CEOs and CFOs see their organizations as unprepared for climate-related risks, despite roughly the same proportion acknowledging some level of exposure. Drought and wildfires are a particular concern.
Major commercial hubs face an uncertain future Strategically vital centers like Los Angeles, Tokyo and Sydney are vulnerable to extreme climate scenarios that could affect their appeal and resilience as business destinations. Extreme weather will feed into real estate costs Rising risk of climate-linked disasters will materially impact companies’ bottom lines, notably in the form of higher insurance premiums for commercial buildings – which in the US alone are forecast to nearly double by the next decade. Buildings must undergo mass sustainability-driven reinvention The push for net-zero will increase building retrofit rates from 1% to 2.5% per year in advanced economies – the equivalent of around 10 million buildings being retrofitted annually.
Megatrend 4: Climate risks
Shifting global order
Megatrend 5
Megatrend 5: Shifting global order
"Factoring openness to international talent increasingly important."
Luke Dawson Head of Global and EMEA Capital Markets
"Navigate complex change with data-driven, proactive decision-making."
Damian Harrington Head of Research | Global Capital Markets & EMEA
"Align real estate and supply chain strategy to increase resilience"
Brewster Smith Senior Vice President Supply Chain Solutions Occupier Services | Americas
"Strategic in growth markets flexible in others."
Richard Garing Managing Director, Occupier Services | Australia
Enterprises have yet to prepare locations for trade and commercial contingencies. Industrial and logistics firms are a notable exception, with more exploring options like custom bonded warehouses or relying on third-party providers to support a short-term approach to space that can quickly absorb trade policy shifts. Friendshoring and nearshoring are reshaping demand. Supply chains are reconfiguring around countries with similar political outlooks, and lower-cost-base markets close to major demand centres. Eastern Europe, Mexico and the Philippines are among the beneficiaries of these trends. Business is gravitating to ‘neutral’ territory, away from the trade war front lines. Markets perceived as relatively neutral or able to balance the interests of various regions, such as the UAE and even the UK, are attracting more strategic and headquarters functions, which will be reflected in occupancy rates and valuations.
Geopolitical concerns are back – for good. Mounting political and trade tensions are tightening borders and rules around everything from cybersecurity to the supply of critical materials. Regulatory and supply chain risks, and even the possibility of military conflict, will feed more directly into real estate strategies. Make way for the new global capitals of business. Fast-growing, strategically located and commercially open hubs such as Dubai, Singapore and Istanbul are fast becoming global ‘superconnectors’ that will prove core locations for more companies in the future. Emerging markets will be the world’s economic engines, accounting for nearly two-thirds of global growth by 2035. Countries like India and China will play a larger role in future-leading industries like AI, with recent Colliers research placing Bengaluru and Beijing among the world’s top cities for tech talent.
