The new normal in the two CBDs couldn’t be more different.
Even though the epic Melbourne lockdowns are a grim distant memory workers are still choosing to hunker down at home, with a mere 47 per cent of office space taken up compared to pre-COVID levels, according to a study by the Property Council of Australia.
Melbourne (above) and Perth (below): two very different post-COVID CBDs during office hours.Credit: Getty Images and Jessica Wyld
Perth, on the other hand, is jumping. Workers have flooded back into the CBD, with 81 per cent of offices filled (a number that leaps up to 88 percent on particular days).
This makes Perth not just not the most occupied CBD in the country during business hours – it has one of the busiest business districts in the world (office occupancy in the US and Europe is still between 40 and 60 percent compared to pre-pandemic levels).
Anyone who says central Perth is a ghost town should try to find a parking space at a suburban train station after 8am, score a bay in the city on certain days or join one of the lines in the dozens of coffee shops at the bottom of the towers in St George’s Terrace.
However, when it comes to retail the situation is the exact reverse.
Shoppers are flocking back into the Melbourne CBD, with the CBRE (Commercial Real Estate Services) reporting the Victorian capital has bounced back, now boasting a retail vacancy rate of just 9.2 percent.
But is not just retail that has bounced back. According to The Age city editor Cara Walters, Melbourne in the aftermath of the epidemic is in the process of reinventing as an entertainment destination.
“Despite some employers and lobby groups resorting to both threats and bribery, the bustle of office workers five days a week has not returned, but instead the city is buzzing at night and weekends.”
Back to life: shoppers gather outside Myer on Bourke Street Mall for the Boxing Day salesCredit: Luis Ascui
In a breathtaking and depressing contrast the Perth CBD has a retail vacancy rate of a whopping 26.1 percent, with more than 30 per cent of shops empty in the Hay Street Mall.
While Perth is flushed with workers most of them prefer to save their retail therapy for one of the mega-malls spread through the metropolitan area.
Sandra Brewer, the executive director of the Western Australian division of the Property Council, says nobody is sure why Perth leaves Melbourne and Sydney in the dust when it comes to the post-pandemic return to working in traditional places of business.
“One of the most persuasive explanations is that Perth did not suffer the extended lockdowns of Melbourne, so the culture of working from home didn’t take root here. Our pattern of behaviour was not as disrupted,” Brewer says.
Another major reason why workers are happy to come into the city each day – or, more exactly, haven’t risen up in revolt against the requirement of sitting in an office for most days of the week – is that travel times in Perth are a lot shorter than in Melbourne or Sydney.
“People are more willing to take a 20-minute journey to work than a 45-minute journey work. This has important implications for Perth because as we grow we need to ensure it is easy to get in and out of the CBD or we risk becoming like Sydney or Melbourne.”
Ronak Bhimjiani, the WA research director for global property services giant JLL, suggests that one of reasons why Perth workers spend more time in offices is that the nature of what they do is different.
Iconic Melbourne laneway Centre Place: the city is reinventing itself as a destination for entertainment and a place to live.Credit: iStock
“Sydney and Melbourne are dominated by industries that don’t require their workers to be in offices, such as finance and insurance. We are a mining town. And workers in the resources sector are more productive when they are side by side than in the office,” Bhimjiani argues.
Brewer agrees that the way we do business in WA differs from the rest of the country.
“Perth has always been entrepreneurial, innovative and collaborative. That is part of our business culture. If you’re in a tech business and or a finance business you’re more likely to be in front of your computer and on a spreadsheet.”
Another factor drawing workers into the city is that it provides a sense of community for workers who live in one for the world’s most spread-out metropolises.
“People crave connection,” says Brewer. “Perth doesn’t have as many dense neighbourhood centres where people can get that social connection and community vibe.
“If you are working from home in, for example, St Kilda you can pop out for a coffee and meet people. That’s harder in suburban Perth.”
Not surprisingly, Perth mayor Basil Zempilas is over-the-moon that our CBD is a hive of activity during business hours.
“We are the best in the country in getting people back into offices and attracting visitors. You only have to come into the CBD on a Friday night to see how much activity there is. Perth hasn’t been this busy in years.”
Zempilas, however, is the first to admit that those empty retail spaces in the city are a blight and a challenge. But, he says, those spaces are ripe for reinvention.
“Our landlords have a role to play. If they’re unable to rent properties at the prices they are asking they might consider that it is time to lower their expectations,” argues Zempilas.
“There also needs to some creativity applied to the situation. Why does a space that has been a shop for many years need to remain a shop? Could it be an entertainment space? Could it be a live performance space? Could it be a gallery? What was once in vogue may not necessarily be the way forward.”
If the city is to follow Melbourne and diversify into a place for entertainment, eating and living at the same time as retaining its worker the government must ensure that it is easy to get and out of, according to Brewer.
“If you can reduce the friction of getting into and out of the city it will continue to thrive.
“The challenge is to grow without adding congestion to our freeways and our road networks. We need to entice people to catch public transport by making it close to home, frequent and attractive and enjoyable to use.”
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