How to prepare a real estate portfolio for a post COVID-19 reality?

I think we will all remember spring 2020. No one had prepared for COVID-19, and handling the closing and reopening of Danske Bank’s premises, while following local authorities’ different guidelines across borders has been challenging. I am proud to say that Group Real Estate in Danske Bank has, supported by our facility service provider ISS, changed the cleaning procedures, introduced new safety measures, adapted our services to a new reality, and developed guidelines and material to ensure that it is easier to follow local authorities’ guidelines. All this to ensure that employees and customers can feel safe being in Danske Bank buildings.

I also see that the real estate area will continue to serve as a more strategic function in the future, to ensure that Danske Bank is ready for the new normal. For instance, we currently rethink the way we design our workspaces and customer areas. It is evident that we will see working from home used much more in the future. This will influence how we strategically plan our future real estate portfolio footprint. This also means that the statement "work is not a place, it's an activity" becomes much more true.

I am looking forward to seeing how Group Real Estate together with our trusted partners can support our 20.000 colleagues in the time to come so that they all feel safe in their work environment, - when then they work from a Danske Bank premise.