European Valuer interviews Liviu Tudor, Chairman of Genesis Property, on the IMMUNE building standard and valuation of buildings’ immunity to pandemic threat. Page 15, Nov 2020 issue

Liviu Tudor, President of the European Property Federation, has studied infection control measures in hospitals and created an open source platform for assessing and improving a building’s operations in response to Covid-19.

Just as we have fire safety regulations in place when designing and operating a building, an IMMUNE™ standard would be mandated as part of the wider health and safety. This is not just a marketing label; it is a safety standard that will need compulsory investment.

"Just as we take care of our own immune system and constantly seek to boost it, there is a need for solutions to improve the immunity of the buildings in which we spend most of our time in and to prepare them for the new normality."

For owners and building managers, this is a manual for effectively integrating health precautions into building operations and facility oversight. By assigning an “IMMUNE Steward,” building owners ensure there is a dedicated  professional to implement and monitor activities.

As an inaugural version, the IMMUNE standard will remain under frequent review and constant evolution as the medical, scientific, architectural, and engineering bodies arrive at new conclusions to combat the pandemic. 

The world is currently facing a pandemic that has reshaped how people, businesses, and communities operate and interact. Leading organizations are boldly questioning long-held assumptions about the way we work and the role of the workplace as we reimagine the future of a post-COVID-19 era.

Liviu Tudor, a European property developer and President of lobby group European Property Federation, has invested more than Eur 1 million through his firm in creating a standard to certify buildings for their level of resilience to the pandemic.

In the future, Mr. Tudor says it should be up to building owners to invest to make offices safer. He estimates such upgrades would add 2% to the current cost of a building -- an investment, he says, that would increase the value of the property.

Rarely has a crisis caused multi-sectored, cross-continental turmoil to the magnitude of Covid-19. Socio-economic infrastructure has faced up to devastation beyond anyone’s wildest prediction prior to the emergence of the virus, and you must cast your mind back over a decade to the 2008 financial crash.

It’s intended to withstand other health emergencies, Tudor says, but because it’s in response to coronavirus in particular, among the most important components of the design will be preventing the airborne spread of the disease.

Liviu Tudor, Founder of Genesis Property and President of the European Property Federation, speaks on the importance of making buildings resilient to present and future pandemics and on the benefits of the IMMUNE Building Standard™.

“For us the total cost is similar to going green: 1 to 2 per cent of total initial investment. But it's about making the workplace trustable,” Liviu Tudor said. They estimate that for a building which cost €20m to build, landlords could expect to pay €400,000 to implement the full range of measures.

European Property Federation President Liviu Tudor discusses what post-coronavirus offices will look like and how they can safely reopen.

Working from home may have become the norm during the pandemic, but it is doubtful companies will drastically cut back on their property portfolios, though a focus on sustainability and employee wellness is likely to increase.

For example, the workplace of the future could include a quarantine room, a specially designed and equipped room where people can go if they feel ill. An emergency IMMUNE ‘warehouse’ manned by an IMMUNE ‘steward’ could be stocked with suitable PPE to distribute if necessary.

Quarantine rooms, antimicrobial paint on the walls, and rounded corners in toilet cubicles are among the recommendations in a proposed building standard for reshaping offices in order to beat the threat of coronavirus.

"With people spending up to 90% of their time indoors, there's an urgent need to re-engineer indoor spaces to create workplaces that are productive and safe," said Liviu Tudor, founder of Genesis Property, who is advising banks including Societe Generale on "immunising" their offices.

Implementing IMMUNE in offices could cost up to 2 per cent of a building's total construction cost, Tudor estimated. This could include installing quarantine rooms, disinfectant UV lighting, upgraded air filtering systems, thermal scanners and even repainting walls with anti-microbial paint.

"With people spending up to 90% of their time indoors, there's an urgent need to re-engineer indoor spaces to create workplaces that are productive and safe," said Liviu Tudor, founder of Genesis Property.

Implementing the standard in offices could cost up to 2% of a building’s total construction cost, Tudor estimated. This could include installing quarantine rooms, disinfectant UV lighting, upgraded air filtering systems, thermal scanners and even repainting walls with anti-microbial paint.

Mass remote-working has been largely successful for many financial firms, improving communications and sparing staff from long commutes during a near-global coronavirus lockdown. But some firms are keen to reunite teams after the hiatus.

“With people spending up to 90% of their time indoors, there’s an urgent need to re-engineer indoor spaces to create workplaces that are productive and safe," said Liviu Tudor, founder of Genesis Property, who is advising banks including Societe Generale on “immunising" their offices.

"With people spending up to 90% of their time indoors, there's an urgent need to re-engineer indoor spaces to create workplaces that are productive and safe," said Liviu Tudor, founder of Genesis Property, who is advising banks including Societe Generale on "immunising" their offices.

"With people spending up to 90% of their time indoors, there's an urgent need to re-engineer indoor spaces to create workplaces that are productive and safe," said Liviu Tudor, founder of Genesis Property, who is advising banks including Societe Generale on "immunising" their offices.

Implementing IMMUNE in offices could cost up to 2% of a building's total construction cost, Tudor estimated. This could include installing quarantine rooms, disinfectant UV lighting, upgraded air filtering systems, thermal scanners and even repainting walls with anti-microbial paint.

IMMUNE for offices could cost up to 2% of a building's total construction cost, Tudor estimated. This could include installing quarantine rooms, disinfectant UV lighting, upgraded air filtering systems, thermal scanners and even repainting walls with anti-microbial paint.

Liviu Tudor: “We hope that the Immune Building Standard, after all conclusions are drawn, will become a ‘mandatory by law’ standard in the same way the fire code is imperative for good functioning of any building.”

“We developed Immune to ensure that people and organisations, when returning to their offices, are provided with a building capable of withstanding present and future challenges, whether generated by a pandemic or any bacteriological or toxicological threat,” said Liviu Tudor.

As part of the Immune Building Standard being proposed by the president of Brussels-based European Property Federation (EPF), quarantine rooms should be set up close to the receptions of buildings to provide an isolated space for a person who might be infected; toilet cubicles should have floor-to-ceiling walls; rounded corners should become the norm to minimise bacterial deposits; and buildings should have hospital-grade air-filtration systems, among others.

As part of the Immune Building Standard being proposed by the president of Brussels-based European Property Federation (EPF), quarantine rooms should be set up close to the receptions of buildings to provide an isolated space for a person who might be infected.