Q&A with JLL’s William Schuch on Building Safety and Tenant Health

The return to an office environment amid the pandemic has upended expectations and procedures, not least in property management. Here, William Schuch, Chicago-based regional engineering manager at JLL, discusses the changes he’s seeing.

Q: Property management has historically been a behind-the-scenes effort at buildings. How has that changed since the onset of COVID-19?

A: COVID-19 has highlighted the importance of building safety and tenant health. As a result of this, many traditional behind the scenes efforts such as cleaning and sanitizing have become much more front and center. It may sound simple, but by physically seeing the high touch areas and common areas cleaned and sanitized multiple times per day, employees feel more at ease in their work environment.

We’re also seeing tenants and employees take a heightened interest in developing policies and plans to address CDC compliance with cleaning procedures and indoor air quality. Revisions to office space plan layouts and mechanical system air distribution system operations are a few examples of something we may not have seen prior to the pandemic.

William Schuch

Q: What is top of mind for tenants and workers in relation to building health and safety as they return to the office?

A: Air quality concerns, re-entry procedures, occupancy sanitizing and cleaning of high-touch common areas are the primary concerns we are hearing from tenants. At JLL, we’ve addressed many of these concerns within re-entry plans that have been distributed to tenant occupiers and customized to their building square footage, space type and occupancy. We’ve also created a re-entry workbook for our property managers and engineering staff to train and educate them on updated procedures, health screening, janitorial practices, experience management and more.

Q: What changes have been implemented to ensure that tenants feel safe when returning to the workplace?

A: JLL property teams have implemented building operational protocols to ensure the health and safety of building occupants by providing good indoor air quality, which meets or exceeds CDC and ASHRAE guidelines. Some examples of this include introducing outside air (+20%) into distribution units, ensuring mechanical systems have the highest efficiency filters installed, continuous dilution of building air streams and continuous monitoring of air distribution building monitoring systems to ensure the proper levels of humidity (between 40-60%), temperatures and CO2 if applicable are present.

In addition, we have researched the latest technology and product offerings available in the marketplace to assist our clients in finding the best cost-effective solutions to mitigate the risk of airborne pathogens. Some of them include UV lighting applications, bio-polar ionization, cleaning products, and air monitoring sensors to effectively reduce the spread of virus particulate.

Building owners and tenants have also taken new approaches to the physical layout of the office, how employees move around the space, how many employees can be present in the office at one time as well as new rules surrounding the lunchroom, break rooms, conference rooms and elevators.

For comments, questions or concerns, please contact Paul Bubny