Stay Positive To Stay Ahead Of The Curve

Realty+ in conversation with Jimmy Mistry, CMD, Della Group- Principal Designer | Hotelier | Entrepreneur

  What are the major challenges that architects & designers face in WFH? Covid 19 has made the design industry come into a 2.0 situation where every designer will have to recalibrate their knowledge and expertise to stay relevant. The old design and office practices won’t hold as before. New design software will come in practice and operating them from home might pose a challenge.  The only way to function would be to have everything on cloud and more collaborations within the industry.   How will design sector change post-Covid-19? I believe the culture of work from work will continue even post lockdown across design agencies as it helps save cost of office space and presently, any sort of cost cutting will be appreciated. In my opinion WFH is here to stay and I believe it is a workable concept. Also, the Indian design industry will leapfrog like the telecom industry with the design firms focusing more on industry partnerships and utilising their own core competencies to be successful.   Brief on your hospitality venture and how you are gearing up for post Covid reopening? We are into experiential hospitality and our hotel properties are located between Mumbai and Lonavla. This makes them easily accessible from multiple states like Maharashtra, Goa, MP and Gujarat. Our guesstimation is that there will be a surge in our occupancy once the lockdown is lifted. Being stuck at home all this time people will want to go out and enjoy some luxury. Our adventure park will be a huge attraction as it gives the feel of being outdoor but also surrounded by comfort. Being encased in the confines of our four walls for months now this will be a much needed getaway. In terms of sanitisation we are gearing up with state of the art technology to ensure the safety of our guests. In addition we are also making sure we fortify the immunity of our employees.  In hospitality we cannot completely eliminate the human touch so we will make sure to maintain best safety standards.   What is your outlook for Real estate in coming months? This crisis has established the importance of owning a home. So, those who were on the fence will now be convinced to purchase and may even size up the opportunity of buying home given low interest rates and scope of negotiation with builders. Also, with the WFH situation continuing for the long term, people will want to upgrade their home. They will want to move into homes with better amenities and facility management. Yes there will be shortage of liquidity, but people will also want to focus on buying a good home more than ever before.   What are the positives to emerge from the crisis? I have always wanted to do something with slum rehabilitation. I have always been vocal about the policies of the Government not being correct for slum redevelopment. I recently got the opportunity to be on a webinar with Mr. Ratan Tata and I used that to voice the plight of slum redevelopment and their current living conditions. When we developers speak many people might not listen but when Mr. Tata speaks the nation listens. So, I was very fortunate to get the conversation going on slum redevelopment. The pathetic living state of slums is the main reason Covid is spreading and it cannot be contained. We are now paying a price for ignoring a section of our society for over 30 years. Nature has its ways of getting back to people. So, the positive for me was be able to bring attention to slum redevelopment and have it taken up by Ratan Tata. I am going to continue working on this with Mr. Tata and if it reaches the Primes minister’s office then I would have done something permanently positive for society during this locked.