POSITIVE IMPACT ISSUE 0.8

SPECIAL REPORT
THE POST-COVID
REVOLUTION
IN THE WORKPLACE
CLIVE WILKINSON
President/Design Director, Clive Wilkinson Architects, United States
RESPONSIBLE
INVESTMENT:
ENSURING A SUSTAINABLE
AND RESILIENT FUTURE
SPECIAL REPORT
What are your thoughts on developing a sustainable
roadmap from a built environment as well as an
urban and cities perspective?
CW: As we all know, things change very slowly in the
world unless there are external forces like Covid-19
pushing change. However, it begins with some small
voices crying out, and that gains momentum over time,
until the voices are everywhere. At that time, people
agree to change things. We still need voices to grow
as the world is not yet feeling the pressure of change,
but I believe that we are heading there – to a bright
green world – and it is just a matter of time.
What does regenerative design mean to you?
CW: I like the phrase regenerative design – it is
poetic and brings a kind of biological character to
design, which in essence is just the act of drawing.
Of course, it implies an ability to reconstruct itself
which begs the question of what internal capacity
drives the reconstruction. In my own home, I used a
self-healing zinc material on the exterior – which is a
kind of regenerative act.
What are the founding principles that you believe
each design should aspire to? Please use examples
of your work to illustrate this.
CW: Great design should touch the soul. It should also
be in service to its duration of use with an appropriate
use of resources. This is not to say that all design
should be durable, but simply that it should devote
an appropriate use of resources to its intended use.
This can occasionally be a very short duration, like the
structures or furnishings of an event. What touches the
soul is also something that touches the earth lightly.
What kind of resistance have you come up against
your design principles during your career, and how
have you overcome it?
CW: The resistance we have experienced has mostly
been a product of people undervaluing or not
understanding the design process, which is a longstanding
one. When we design, we need to have the
time to mentally live in our designs, in order to develop
and adjust them. We have had clients constantly change
the brief on us, which is like being thrown out of bed
every morning and sent to a different house. This
inevitably leads to a poor outcome. A wise client once
said to me, “you can’t take nine women and have a
baby in one month”. He understood.
What are the most significant changes have you seen
in attitudes towards transformation and sustainable
design over your career?
CW: It is awesome to see how sustainability has moved
from a marginal interest to a mainstream concern in
architecture and design, including urban design. It
is again the rise of small voices that propelled this. I
don’t believe it has come full circle in addressing what
we commission and construct in our cities, as there is
still insufficient attention paid to adaptive re-use of
the existing urban fabric. Innovative legislation could
pave the way for truly prioritising the re-use of existing
resources. Transformation is certainly where we are
at this moment in time, as a combination of massive
technological progress and a health crisis have made
it impossible to return to the “old world”.
How have behaviours and attitudes changed during
Covid-19? How do you think Covid-19 will mould
things going forward?
CW: Covid-19 has proved something that no one could
have proved before: that people can work productively
from remote locations. This will change the nature of
work irretrievably. The office will never be the same
again. What is great is that it can finally move into the
role of a community-shaped environment: a place for
collective endeavours that prioritises collective work,
while still accommodating private and focused needs.
Hence, Covid-19 has acted as an accelerator and I think
that is a good thing. I have always said that change does
not happen except in a condition of stress.
What do you think the office space of the future is
going to look like?
CW: Paradise. With a wealth of choice about how,
where and with whom you work.
How has technology influenced workplace design?
CW: Technology is the primary driver for all change
that has occurred in the workplace in the last two
centuries. Most recently, the computer took over human
routine work which led to the rise of the knowledge
worker, and then rapid e-communications has led to
true mobility in work. Since Covid-19 began, I have
had some employees working remotely for long periods
from Washington DC, Florida, Texas and Costa Rica!
SHAMEELA SOOBRAMONEY
Chief Sustainability Officer, Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE)
What are your thoughts on developing a sustainable
roadmap from a financial investment point of view?
SS: A sustainable roadmap for financial investment
is critically important. When you think about the
adage: “Money makes the world go round”, effectively
we’re talking about allocating capital in the right place
when we're looking at sustainable development from a
financial investment perspective. We need to allocate
capital deliberately in a manner that achieves the most
positive sustainability outcomes. We are referring to
outcomes such as a green economy, decent jobs, and
gender equality as examples. From a simplified peopleplanet-profit
perspective, it’s effectively saying that
businesses can’t survive in a society that is failing.
So a sustainable roadmap, from a financial investment
point of view, fits into a broader notion of responsible
investment and being able to be more responsible
stewards for what we actually spend money on and
invest in, and the impact that has on the environment
and society.
What significant changes have you observed in the
markets in relation to sustainability during your
time at the JSE?
SS: There’s certainly been a tangible uptick in
both awareness and the allocation of capital to
responsible investment and responsible investment
aims. Correspondingly, there has been an increase in
both the requirement for, and the interest in, credible
institutions who can perform an external verification
function – which is what the GBCSA does. This
function brings credibility into the space and helps
to mitigate the risk of greenwashing.
From a simplified people-planetprofit
perspective, it’s effectively
saying that businesses can’t survive
in a society that is failing.
I have also seen an uptick in general societal
awareness of sustainability-related matters – a
growing acceptance that sustainability thinking is
part of good governance – and increasing engagement
by the investment community about bringing those
considerations into investments.
What opposition have you come up against
responsible investing ideas, during your time
working at the JSE?
SS: In terms of sustainability, the past 15 years have seen
a lot of changes in people’s thought processes. Some
main oppositions have been that to be sustainable,
you need to sacrifice return, and that there is always
a significant upfront investment that doesn’t have an
immediate monetary benefit. Another opposition is
that there haven’t been regulations.
I have seen a common overarching narrative in
sustainability that says: “If it’s not regulated, or there's
no law or policy about it, then why should we do it?
If it was important enough, there would be a law or a
policy about it”. In the meanwhile, the shift to a more
conscious capitalism is happening and in fact, there is
mounting evidence that ESG funds and indices have
been outperforming traditional market benchmarks.
Using cost as the argument without real proper backing
is something that is changing.
Why should we care about climate change when
considering investing?
SS: The issues related to climate change are systemic in
nature and have serious economic consequences. There
is massive human impact in relation to exacerbating
the challenges that we already have around poverty
and inequality. The reality is that some of the world’s
most vulnerable will be the worst hit by the impacts of
climate change. Largely because their ability to adapt
to those changes is almost non-existent.
When we consider that how we steward our money
could either exacerbate or help mitigate some of the
potential issues, then investing responsibly becomes
more and more relevant. Investing in mitigation is
showing to be more cost effective than having to bear
the cost of the negative impacts of climate change in
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