Liverpool firms and professionals are "champing at the bit" to get back to the city centre - but when offices do return, rush hour will look very different, it’s been claimed.
Andrew Ruffler, chief executive of Professional Liverpool, said businesses are looking forward to reaping the benefits of in-person meetings again. But with the expected rise of hybrid working, he predicted the days of packed-out trains rolling in and out of Moorfields during the morning and evening rush hours could well be over.
Speaking to BusinessLive after having completed his first year in charge of the organisation, he said: "I do see that there's going to be this hybrid model which I think will work really, really well.
"Offices will remain, but they'll be operating in a vastly different way than they were pre-March last year.
"They will be much more of a touch point, because I don't think you can get away from the fact that everybody's missed the face to face."
Mr Ruffler joined the organisation representing the city's professional and business services sector days before Prime Minister Boris Johnson put the country into lockdown in March last year.
He said: "For me, 12 months into the role, with us having worked from home for the majority of the pandemic, I've hardly met anybody - which has been a real issue.
"So I see a hybrid model, where the city and offices and office space and workspace becomes this place where people come in to touch base, not necessarily a nine to five routine."
With the PM having announced the UK's roadmap out of lockdown, all restrictions are set to be gone by the end of June.
Mr Ruffler said people and businesses - particularly SMEs - are "champing at the bit" to get back to workplaces, "and reap the benefits of collaboration and coming together".
He said: "I do think if we get to that point, you're going to see a sudden release.
"People talk about the pent up demand for holidays and for the hospitality and tourism sector, but I feel that there's a pent up demand to get back into workspaces and places as well.
"So it'd be interesting to see how that release happens.
"You can't get away from the fact that there's still nervousness and anxiety from individuals about going back and jumping back on a train or going back into a workplace.
"So that's going to still remain, that's not going to just dissipate within these next three or four months.
"But I do get the belief and the feeling that if we can get to that point, if we adhere to all of the guidelines and if we are implementing the health and safety measures stem coming mid-June, I think we could be at a point where we think 'right, great. Let's get back on this again'."
So with firms set to embrace a hybrid model of working meaning inevitably fewer people coming into the city centre, is the famous packed-out Liverpool office district rush hour a thing of the past?
Mr Ruffler said: "It's an interesting question, because you can almost picture rather than being rush hour, it becoming a constant stream in and out of those stations.
"So people might not be coming in between eight and nine. There might be some, almost like a staggered flow between 8am and 11am, and then the same the other end of the day.
"So you will maybe see more of a constant flow than just an in and out, which is quite a traditional way to think of cities.
"I think it'll be really interesting to see how Liverpool changes because I do think it will change.
"We're not going to get away from the fact that the city is still going to be that hub, but at the same time, we’ll see how outlying towns around the city region are going to benefit long-term from this as well. Think cafes, takeaways and shops."
Mr Ruffler said Liverpool’s professional sector has "held up really well", despite the pandemic. That includes his firm putting on over 80 virtual events during the course of lockdown - "to show our members that we were still there as an organisation, but also as an offer of support to them".
He said: "It's robust, and a close-knit business community. I think the advantage is that the professional communities, and certainly what we've got here in the Liverpool City Region, is full of expertise.
"So all I've heard throughout all of this period has been about quality of expertise, people working together, and collaboration.
"People have used Zoom to support each other on a regular basis - to share information and intelligence.
"These include individuals who work for businesses in competition with one another, but they will meet every couple of weeks on a Zoom call just to touch base, to ask how they are doing.
"It's been such a strong source of support - I suppose it's almost like a mental thing as well as a commercial thing - that ability to get together quickly, and just talk openly in a non-competitive environment."
Despite the demands placed on the region by lockdowns, Mr Ruffler is still as positive for the future of Liverpool as he was before Covid.
He said: "I'm still hugely optimistic and having spoken a lot to the likes of [Metro Mayor] Steve Rotheram and [Liverpool Council chief] Tony Reeves, I can see there's this real determination and enthusiasm to get this city back going again.
"It was on an upward trajectory pre-March last year, there were a lot of real positive movements. You can see this as being a bit of a hurdle we are having to overcome but I think we can do it."
