Coronavirus may have forced thousands of UAE employees to work from home but that hasn't halted the opening of more than 1 million square feet of premier commercial property in Dubai.

ICD Brookfield Place, Dubai’s highly anticipated new lifestyle and business destination, opened its doors on Sunday and welcomed its first wave of tenants, including Julius Baer, Natixis, Latham & Watkins, and Akin Gump.

The 53-storey, 1.1 million square feet commercial property offers dining, retail and community spaces alongside Grade A workspace.

EY, the building’s anchor tenant, said it expects to move into the property in October, while an Arts Club, a chef-driven food hall, health and fitness club, and a community hub, will open later this year.

The opening comes as companies continue to debate the pros and cons of employees working from home in a post-Covid world.

The increased demand for flexible offices, and the growth in remote working, may have been trends that pre-dated the onset of the global coronavirus pandemic, but their influence has certainly been exacerbated by it.

Throw into the mix the requirements for social distancing and other restrictions and it is clear the traditional office set-up as we knew it, prior to Covid-19, could well be a thing of the past.

“On a regional scale, extensive strides have been taken by Dubai to ensure flexible workspace frameworks are fixed and maintained in line with intensified measures aimed at combating Covid-19. To meet the growing demand, there has been a rapid increase in total supply of flexible office space in the Emirate.

“Although the effort is gaining momentum, the level of flex space in Dubai remains below the EMEA average of 2.3 percent, suggesting there is room for further growth,” said Toby Hall, director - head of office and business space leasing for JLL MENA.

“ICD Brookfield Place is a new destination for Dubai and a remarkable addition to the city’s renowned skyline. With a growing call for workplaces to evolve in the face of a ‘new normal’, we are proud to offer a world-class workspace within an urban setting in the heart of the city, which will be home to regional headquarters of some of the world’s leading companies,” said Khalid Al Bakhit, chairman, ICD Brookfield.

Located in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), ICD Brookfield Place features 990,000 square feet of Grade A office space alongside 160,000 square feet of retail amenities including private members club, The Arts Club.

Régis Burger, head Middle East & Africa and chairman of Julius Baer (Middle East) said: “The UAE continues to be a strategic core market for us and the relocation to a prominent address such as ICD Brookfield Place will support us in further cementing our commitment to the country... We are excited for this new phase in our journey and we look forward to welcoming our esteemed clients and partners to our new premises.”

Aspects of the base build, such as the air filteration system which increases fresh air by 30 percent, along with UV air treatment, helps protect against the spread of infection.

“As businesses transition back to physical workplaces, finding ways to respond to the health and safety of the workforce is more important than ever before. ICD Brookfield Place is at the cutting edge of health-centric building design,” Al Bakhit added.