Why Your Building Occupancy is Low: Your Organization Changed, But Your Facility Didn't
By Robert Kroon
Executive Summary
Low office occupancy is a clear symptom of a critical financial misalignment: your static building is failing your dynamic, modern tenant. Our deep research confirms that organizational change is not an anomaly but the norm, with the average organization undergoing five significant transformations every three years. Furthermore, the accelerating adoption of AI is predicted to amplify this need for rapid internal restructuring.
For commercial real estate owners, architects, and facility managers, this means the traditional, high-cost, and disruptive approach to reconfiguring space—estimated at $100 to over $200 per square foot for a full renovation —is financially obsolete. The solution is the Agile Workplace retrofit. By adopting deployable battery-powered furniture like Respond!, CampFire, Juce, and Wallies, coupled with smart power solutions, reconfigurations become a zero-cost, zero-downtime tenant amenity. This shift dramatically lowers a building's operating costs, eliminates expensive "stranded assets", and unlocks the premium rents commanded by truly flexible, Class A environments, directly addressing the core issue of low occupancy with a clear return on investment.
The Financial Pitfall of the Static Office
The market is delivering a harsh but undeniable truth: if your building occupancy is stagnating or declining, your facility is costing your tenants (and you) money. The fundamental financial failure of the modern commercial office tower is its inability to keep pace with the velocity of organizational change.
I. The Unavoidable Cost of Corporate Evolution
The assumption that an office layout will remain fixed for a 7-to-10-year lease term is a financial fantasy. Our deep research reveals that organizations are in a state of perpetual motion:
Change is the New Baseline: The average organization now undergoes five significant change initiatives every three years. These aren't just minor policy updates; they involve major restructurings, shifts in job roles, and adoption of new technologies.
Size Doesn't Mitigate Risk: While large enterprises may have more complex transformations, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) report experiencing substantial organizational changes with high frequency, often driven by market competition and the need for digital transformation. An inflexible building imposes disproportionate, burdensome costs on these dynamic tenants, making your space instantly less competitive.
The AI Acceleration Factor: The integration of AI tools, which is expected to boost employee productivity by up to 40%, is simultaneously forcing a rapid reimagination of workflows and organizational models. In the age of AI, the physical layout of a workplace must be able to adapt in days, not months. A static building structure becomes an anchor dragging down your tenant's productivity and profitability.
Workplaces should change at the same pace as organizations change.
II. The Direct Financial Drain of Inflexibility
For commercial real estate building owners and facility managers, the static office translates directly into lost value and excessive CapEx/OpEx:
The Stranded Asset Penalty: Traditional retrofits to move a single team or add a collaboration zone require expensive, hard-wired electrical and data work. A full renovation can cost $100 to over $200 per square foot. Every time a tenant changes their mind, downsizes, or moves out, the old wiring and infrastructure—the "sunk cost" —is rendered useless for the next occupant. These are stranded assets, and their financial write-off is absorbed by the building owner or the incoming tenant.
The Tenant Retention Crisis: Modern employees demand choice and flexibility. A rigid environment can lead to decreased employee satisfaction and higher turnover, and the cost of replacing a single employee can be tens of thousands of dollars. Rigid environments can also hinder performance by not supporting different work styles. The Agile Workplace becomes the key tenant amenity, directly boosting retention rates and allowing you to command Class A rental premiums.
The Zero-Downtime ROI: By retrofitting your building with solutions that eliminate fixed power, you fundamentally change the financial model of reconfiguration. Traditional reconfigurations involve multiple trades and are a massive undertaking , causing lost productivity due to office disruption. In contrast, a flexible layout enabled by specialized battery-powered Agile Furniture and intelligent power solutions helps clients solve this common roadblock. Reconfigurations become as simple as rearranging furniture—without the need for an electrician. The savings are not marginal; they eliminate the need for costly trade labor, extensive permits, and tenant downtime.
III. The Retrofit Solution: Agile Power for Profitable Spaces
The most financially prudent retrofit strategy focuses on mobilizing power. This is achieved by combining intelligent power infrastructure with untethered furniture solutions:
Respond! and CampFire: Our Respond! mobile, battery-powered desk and the CampFire multi-user collaboration desk liberate your tenants from the wall outlet. They enable instant rearrangement, turning a quiet focus area into a dynamic training center without involving an electrician.
Juce and Wallies: The Juce mobile monitor stand and Wallies configurable room dividers complete the environment, allowing your tenants to create privacy and technology zones on demand.
Intelligent Power Retrofitting: For permanent power distribution, deploying technologies such as fault-managed power (FMP) and battery-powered Agile Furniture significantly simplifies installation. Separately, our C-power (shown above) solution provides mobile DC power through USB-C receptacles for charging Agile Furniture, ensuring the entire system remains flexible and efficient. Crucially, C-power delivers DC power through two USB-C receptacles and does NOT deliver fault-managed power.
For Architects and Interior Designers: This is the language of a modern lease. Your designs are not just aesthetics; they are a financial hedge against market volatility. You are delivering a building that can financially adapt to any tenant, immediately increasing its marketability and long-term value.
About the author:
Bob Kroon is a recognized thought leader and innovator with over four decades of experience in the electro-mechanical and furniture industries. As the CEO and founder of August Berres, he envisions overcoming the limitations of traditional building power by enabling the Agile Workplace through a smart power ecosystem.
Bob passionately advocates for technologies such as building microgrids, fault-managed power (FMP), and battery-powered Agile Furniture, which are transforming the design and utilization of commercial spaces. Under his leadership, a suite of innovative solutions has been brought to market, including Respond!, Juce, CampFire, and Wallies. These products empower building owners, architects, and facility managers to retrofit buildings for today’s dynamic work environment.
