Despina Katsikakis

Global Lead, Total Workplace • United Kingdom

Despina Katsikakis
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125 Old Broad Street
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Despina Katsikakis

Global Lead, Total Workplace • United Kingdom


For over 35 years Katsikakis has led innovation, research and implementation of transformative workplace environments for global corporates and the visioning of exemplary real estate developments for investors worldwide.

In her role at Cushman & Wakefield, she provides input across the firm’s global business on the rapidly changing context of work and its impact on employee engagement, productivity and wellbeing and the future role of the workplace.

With these factors increasingly determining the real estate decisions of leading corporations, Katsikakis’ unrivalled insight on the future of work benefits occupier clients – as well as building landlords and investors – through repositioning commercial real estate to drive top line performance.

She is Senior Vice President of the British Council of Offices (BCO) and will be taking on the Presidency in 2023. Serves on the advisory board of Delos™, the pioneers of Wellness Real Estate and founders of the WELL Building Standard and regularly lectures, writes, and contributes to media, research and publications on the future of the workplace.

in the News

Authority Magazine Article Despina (image)
“Why we need to take a hospitality mindset" with Despina Katsikakis

We need to bring new skills to the industry; we don’t need more chartered surveyors, we need more analysts, tech designers, curators, experience managers, human behavior experts, and environmental and wellbeing experts. We as an industry need to take a hospitality mindset to focus on customer satisfaction and ongoing loyalty and service rather than transactions.

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CNN Feature (image)
Lessons from China: How global business has changed forever

Commercial real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield has built a prototype called the "Six Feet Office," which encourages workers to continue social distancing when they return to the office.

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Fast Company (image)
Our offices will never be the same after COVID-19. Here’s what they could look like

It's hard to imagine now, but we will one day have to go back to our offices. So how will work...work? That's the question Cushman & Wakefield is answering already.

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Despina Washington Post (image)
The post-pandemic workplace will hardly look like the one we left behind

Through Cushman & Wakefield’s joint venture with Chinese real estate developer Vanke, the firm has already advised thousands of companies in Asia about returning to work.

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Business Insider feat Despina (image)
10 Real-Estate Insiders Lay Out the Future of Flex-Offices, and How Employers are Preparing Now

The costs for flex operators will be similar to those at traditional at traditional offices, Despina Katsikakis, Cushman & Wakefield's head of occupier business performance said.

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ABC News (image)
What offices may look like in a post-pandemic era, if they exist at all

Cushman & Wakefield developed a best practices guide and has also made a prototype of a "Six Feet Office," a reimagined office space that encourages social distancing at work and implemented a full-scale example.

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SERVICES

Total Workplace

Total Workplace brings industry leading thought leadership, strategy and guidance to help clients implement innovative and consistent solutions through the use of tools, technologies and best practices.

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Global Occupier Services

Helping our clients make intelligent business decisions to get maximum value from the spaces they occupy.

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Experience per SF
Experience per SF™ is Cushman & Wakefield’s proprietary tool that gives you insight into the engagement and experience of your workforce.
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Related insights

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European Obsolescence Equals Opportunity

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Trends Radar: real estate sector waiting for stabilisation

Upward pressure on rental rates and rising construction costs on the one hand and a growing focus on ESG and repositioning of commercial buildings on the other. Faced with the current pace of change in the real estate market, many investors are looking at 2023 with a degree of uncertainty. Are there any reasons to be fearful? And how will the economic slowdown shape trends and sentiments in each real estate sector in the short term? 
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Office of the Future Revisited

Our latest insight establishes three realities: demand for office space is accelerating, hybrid is here to stay, and the role of the office has changed—and we explore their implications for office-using companies and workers.
Despina Katsikakis • 26/04/2022
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Mental Health in the Workplace Podcast

As mental health problems continue to increase across the world, any return to a physical workspace must focus on supporting employees.
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Leading an Active Recovery to Build the Best Workplace Experience

Leading an Active Recovery shows how an Agile approach can engage the C-suite in real estate decisions that balance the codependent – and often contradictory – needs for efficiency, effectiveness and engagement.
Despina Katsikakis • 10/06/2021
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Workplace Ecosystems: The Office’s Changing Place in an Agile World

Cushman & Wakefield partnered with CoreNet Global to survey its membership on the future of the workplace.
David Smith • 07/04/2021
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Workplace Ecosystems of the Future

In this report, we examine what the future of the office will look like in a post-COVID-19 world by exploring investor, occupier and placemaker feedback and analyze historical work from home (WFH) penetration rates.
David Smith • 21/12/2020
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Video • Workplace

What’s your take…on the workplace?

Global Total Workplace Lead, Despina Katsikakis talks about what the pandemic has meant for the workplace, accelerating the trends that have been apparent for the last decade and more.
Andrew Phipps • 29/09/2020
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Recovery Readiness: A How-to Guide for Reopening your Workplace

The “Recovery Readiness: A How-to Guide for Reopening your Workplace,” outlines some of the best thinking and practices that our more than 53,000 professionals have compiled across the globe and also includes insights from key partners.
02/09/2020
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Staying Informed and Collaborating Virtually

In the third podcast of the “Rebalancing the Work-Life Experience” series, our attention shifts to two further drivers of workplace experience: staying informed and collaborative teamwork.
Nicola Gillen • 24/04/2020
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Leadership and Culture: Creating a Workplace That Excels

In the second podcast of the “Rebalancing the Work-Life Experience” series, we focus on two key qualities of a successful workplace: leadership and culture.
Rachel Casanova • 09/04/2020
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What we know, what is critical and what’s next?

In this first podcast we provide a fundamental grounding of remote working through a three-stage approach, backed up by quantitative data analysis.
Despina Katsikakis • 24/03/2020

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