Departing Cromwell boss Paul Weightman says long live the office

The death of the office tower amid the pandemic has been greatly exaggerated, with tenants now looking at extra space. Here’s why.

The death of the office tower due to COVID-19 has been greatly exaggerated with tenants now looking at extra space to satisfy social distancing requirements, according to the departing boss of Cromwell Property Group Paul Weightman.

Mr Weightman, who resigned this week as head of the $2.3 billion Brisbane-based property group after a 22-year career, said people still needed human contact and face-to-face communication, something that could not be done from a home office.

“People still need to collaborate and they need to be mentored,” Mr Weightman said.

“We talk to tenants and the people who are suffering the most are not the big bosses with their fancy home offices but the junior staff who have been working out of small flats.”

He said tenants were now looking at extra office space as COVID-19 stipulated more social distancing in work spaces and common areas.

“We had got down to a ratio of 1 person per 10 sq metres but is likely to increase to 1 person in 16sq m,” Mr Weightman. said.

“Tenants will be looking at more space.”

The Property Council of Australia said all CBD markets except Melbourne saw increases in office occupancy during October with Perth, Canberra and Brisbane recording the largest increases compared to the previous month. Brisbane’s occupancy level was just over 60 per cent, Adelaide was 73 per cent and Perth 77 per cent.

Paul Weightman, departing CEO of Cromwell Property Group.

Mr Weightman said the Australian economy was likely to bounce back strongly after the pandemic with people willing to spend more to enjoy life.

“It’s a bit like the 1920s when people wanted to embrace life after the Spanish flu,” he said. “People will want to spend more on cars and houses.”

The 59-year-old veteran property executive said other emerging trends in the sector included the blurring of the line between work, recreation and home.

“We now have more mixed uses of buildings including office, retail and residential,” he says. “I suppose it reflects the fact that with the mobile phone people can work anywhere now.”

Mr Weightman said he was proud of his achievements at Cromwell, which grew from a single investment in a small office building in Brisbane’s Coronation Drive in 1998 to a global portfolio of assets now worth $12 billion.

His resignation came amid board differences over the direction of the company as it came under intense pressure from dissident shareholder ARA Asset Management.

“We had no idea the company was going to get this big,” said Mr Weightman, who notes one of the first investors in the company was the late stockbroker Paul “Porky” Morgan.

“We have had our challenges along the way. When we first started, we were still recovering from the 90s recession.

“Then we had the Asian financial crisis, the tech crash and this year COVID. We didn’t take crazy risks and we built the company brick by brick.”

Mr Weightman said he would remain in the property sector but would take a break to hone his long-neglected golf skills before looking at new business ventures.

“I have been a member of Royal Queensland since 1984 but have only played five times,” he said.

“I would like to play more but first I have to find my clubs.”