Why AI is forcing landlords (and occupiers) to rethink what makes a building valuable

Buildings with robust connectivity, resilient power, and strong cybersecurity are commanding premiums – while those without face mounting commercial risk.

Geopolitical instability, climate pressures, and rapid technological change are reshaping our office sector faster than ever. As a result, workplaces are shifting: flexibility and adaptability are the most important attributes in a world where nothing is certain.

The most profound harbinger of this lack of certainty is something that can’t seem to stay out of the headlines. AI is fundamentally altering the make up of traditional commercial spaces, driven by occupier demands which place a premium on AI-readiness.

Today, facilitating AI adoption isn’t about adding a few smart building features or upgrading the wi-fi. It’s turning the office into something where computational power, connectivity, and always-on digital infrastructure serve as both the brain centre and nervous system. The speed of adoption is perhaps one of the most dramatic aspects of this digital evolution.

Data reveals occupiers are increasingly looking to implement technology, such as AI, into their own workflows – research shows 40% of enterprise software applications could include AI agents by 2026, up from less than 5% in 2024 – and expect landlords to provide offices that support these capabilities today, and adapt readily to changes in the future.

This is the new paradigm for the office market; winners and losers in the space will be determined by the ability to support the technological demands of an AI-driven workplace.

The three dimensions of resilience

The scale of this change is striking. WiredScore research shows that 81% of occupiers expect AI to be embedded within their daily workflows over the next five years. The implication here is that buildings need to be ready to accommodate this shift.

WiredScore recently launched its Global Cities Resilience Index, which demonstrates which markets are ready for the acceleration of AI-first occupiers. The index looks to ‘resilience’ as a metric for defining such value and measures it across three forms: physical, digital and cyber.

Physical resilience – The ability of a building’s infrastructure to protect digital systems and maintain operations during environmental, technical and power-related disruption. This includes the capacity to protect against damage from flooding and leaks, as well as providing backup power in the case of power outages. In today’s AI dependent world, power is increasingly important.

Digital resilience – The fluid nature of hybrid work means poor mobile signal is a barrier to productivity and something occupiers increasingly refuse to tolerate. Globally, however, around 35% of the world’s smartest buildings have in-building mobile performance that lags behind external network capability, and only 20% have dedicated in-building mobile solutions to counter this issue.

AI applications specifically require sustained, high-speed connectivity. That means diverse fibre routes, redundant pathways over single route ones, and a genuine choice of providers. Without these attributes, a brief outage no longer is an inconvenience, but a potential business-critical failure.

Cyber resilience – Perhaps the most critical dimension overall. As offices become more connected – smart access systems, IoT sensors, building management platforms – they also become more vulnerable to attack or exploitation by a bad-faith actor. But there is a disparity between cyber policy and implemented defences, globally.

While 87% of the world’s smartest buildings have a cybersecurity policy in place, only 57% conduct annual on-site assessments to ensure those policies are properly implemented. A data breach stemming from building-level infrastructure is a reputational risk no tenant wants to carry.

London’s place in the middle provides an opportunity

Looking specifically at where London falls in WiredScore’s ranking, we can see that it is just outside the top 10 cities leading the charge on technology-ready real estate. The capital scores 59% on both physical and digital resilience, reflecting a market where capability exists in pockets – particularly in newer or refurbished stock – but hasn’t yet become the norm. 

London fares better on cyber resilience, scoring 74%, though the challenge has shifted from policy adoption to consistent, tested governance at portfolio level. Taken together, the picture is one of real potential, but uneven progress across the city’s building stock.

An investment in occupier satisfaction

For landlords, both risk and opportunity weigh in equal measure. The risk is clear: assets that fail to invest in technological resilience will find themselves at a disadvantage. To mitigate this, research shows buildings with WiredScore-certified connectivity already achieve an average rental premium of 4.1% in London, while in North America, tenants sign leases nine months longer in WiredScore-certified offices.

Those that cannot support modern workplace technology, however, will be harder to let – and even harder to defend on value. The opportunity is equally significant. Forward-thinking landlords who invest now in enhancing their digital infrastructure can clear their asset as a point of difference in a crowded market, command premium rents, and attract quality tenants.

Recent data reveals as much: buildings equipped with indoor connectivity systems experience vacancy rates up to 50% lower than comparable assets without them.

First Steps: the need to future-proof the office today

The question is one of timing; technology doesn’t wait for the real estate market to catch up. The buildings that will thrive in the next decade aren’t necessarily the newest or the flashiest – they’re the ones with the infrastructure to support how people actually work.

Increasingly, though, the most fundamental question an occupier asks is simply: can this building support our technological needs now, and is it flexible enough to adapt to new ones – such as the next-generation of AI solutions – in the future?

For many assets, the honest answer is: not yet. The landlords who address that gap now will be the ones defining the next generation of office value.