Almost all local companies said in a recent survey that they intend to return to the workplace once the COVID-19 vaccine has been rolled out.

Aitchison Raffety asked business owners and occupiers in the South East to consider how their property requirements had changed since news of the vaccine rollout was announced.

Almost all – 98 per cent – said they plan to return to the workplace fully or party, while just 2 per cent said they weren’t expecting to return at all.

More than half (53 per cent) said their property needs remained the same, while 28 per cent said they were looking for smaller premises to factor in fewer staff and an increase in flexible/home working. Nearly one in five (19 per cent) are looking to increase their footprint, up from 17 per cent on Aitchison Raffety’s last survey.

Mark Bunting, director at Aitchison Raffety – who have an office in St Albans – said: “The results are broadly in line with what we are hearing from occupiers in the market.

“Flexible working will be the new norm to a greater or lesser degree for some companies, but very few can properly operate remotely – a particular challenge for growing companies employing new staff.

“We were encouraged to see that those anticipating the need for additional space had increased since our last survey in the late summer.”