Lockdown diaries: Fiera Real Estate’s Alex Price

Alex Price is chief executive for the UK at Fiera Real Estate. He shares his first day back in the office, adjusting to a new wardrobe and commuting etiquette, preparation for the next stage of the crisis, and a socially distant trip to the pub. It’s Wednesday 8 July, my wrist alarm buzzes to wake me and I am genuinely excited. After nearly four months of groundhog day, I am doing something novel – a trip to the office. It has taken two weeks of planning and risk assessing, multiple calls with HR and great work from our London operations team, and today marks the start of the next phase. We are coming back to the office, gradually, opening it up for a few days a week for a few people who want to make a return now.  To be honest, it’s been great spending more time with the family. We have started to exercise together and to talk more. We have got to know the online shopping delivery guy rather too well and I have taken up the piano.  I am fortunate to have a home office, giving me space to work while shortening my daily commute by about 59 minutes. The dress policy in my office is polo shirt and beach shorts, which is strictly adhered to (the trick being to not stand up during client video calls, as I learned to my embarrassment). However, I have noticed the separation between office and home life has blurred, a challenge I haven’t been able to answer yet. Back to the present, I find myself at 7am deciding whether one should wear a suit in lockdown London or stick to my familiar summer shorts? Racked by indecision, I opt for the safety of smart casual with comfy walking shoes. The train into London is deserted. Commuting etiquette today is changed and seats are plentiful, so instead of scrumming for somewhere to sit the focus in on disapproving looks at neighbouring travellers who aren’t masked up, which in hindsight is a wasted effort given our obscured faces. I arrive in the office at 9am and it feels like a holiday, like New Year’s Eve. There are only six of the 30-plus normally in, an intrepid band of brothers sharing a common admiration for attendance. The day flashes by with a range of meetings on quarter end process, a webinar on how we plan to add value in 2021, and budgeting for the year. Interacting with people both in and out of the office on the same calls is an unexpected challenge.  The last few months have been a daily succession of online meetings with team members, operating partners and clients. Initially, we were focused on business issues, such as how to value our assets and the corresponding ability to trade units in open-ended funds. We also talked to our tenant customers to understand how we could help them, while also trying to get rent paid. Team morale was key, as was communicating with clients who were concerned about what coronavirus meant for UK property.  At first the lockdown felt reminiscent of the financial crisis of 2008, with the buzz that comes from solving complex issues in tight timeframes, though with the added extra of the welfare of staff and families. In the last month or so the emphasis has shifted. Now we are discussing what we should do to address the emerging and long-term economic challenges of coronavirus. The discussion is increasingly about the shape of the future real estate market, how we efficiently position our current portfolios for this, and when to ramp up investment programmes through the expected downturn. In today’s “half in, half out” office, the noise pollution from multiple conference calls at desks is a problem. We are also trying to find the best way to have some participants together in the office with others joining virtually. Frankly, our ad hoc solution of spreading to the meeting rooms for calls as if they were home offices won’t work when we are all back, although headsets might. At 6.30pm we decide it’s time for a beer, socially distancing at The Burlington Arms. Sitting in an empty pub with colleagues, I realise I have missed professional interaction far more than I thought I would. The psychological impact of going to the office is as strong right now as the operational business gain from a few of us being there. If I stay at home then eventually I will lose that inspiration that comes from people I work with – and maybe never recover. Others might suffer loneliness from an isolated environment and all of us will miss the ability to innovate and collaborate. So, we have to get back in the saddle at some stage. Arriving home feels like the end of an epic journey, even though I have done it a thousand times before. The kids are keen to hear news of the outside world, which is ironic as they usually barely pause from their social media-saturated phones to even say hi.  I end the day reassured that as a business, Fiera Real Estate has started on the next phase. I suspect we have some further bumps to overcome in the months ahead, both economic and societal, but at least we have made an important first step.