We opened our office again a couple of weeks ago. No formal requirement for anyone to attend – we are all mostly still working quite effectively from our homes – but as the wider economy gradually eases itself out of lockdown it felt important, along with appropriate distancing rules, to offer our team somewhere to gather and meet each other.

This lockdown has been hard. Unlike the first it’s been dark, cold, rainy and relentless. I have struggled more than I thought I would and have had my fill of meeting people through a computer screen. Of course it’s possible to work like this, but I want to be in a room, reading body language, poring over plans, scribbling on them, laughing with my colleagues and enjoying basic human company. I can’t imagine that it’s any different for those who work in architecture practices – in fact, I can’t imagine how creative collaboration gets done with Zoom in the way.

The light at the end of the tunnel, however, has inevitably turned our thoughts to “what now?” Prevailing views have morphed over the last 14 months from the sea change in behaviour which we all said the initial four-month lockdown was going to inspire. Now the sick-to-the-back-teeth-of-being-at-home attitude is all I seem to hear. Numbers coming to our office every day are still only in single figures, but they’re creeping up and we’re turning our minds to a formal response to the end of lockdown.

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