How CRE Owners Are Boosting Outdoor Space

The pandemic has put outdoor spaces in high demand. Outdoor spaces not only help to protect against transmission and spread of the coronavirus, but being outdoors can boost people’s moods and health overall. Property owners are looking for ways to transform outdoor spaces into sought-after amenities. As a result, water feature design and contractor OTL has seen a dramatic increase in requests to build new water features from property owners.

According to the firm, this demand is just beginning to flourish. The firm is expecting long-term growth in this area. “The demand for water features in these environments will undoubtedly continue to increase throughout the pandemic and well into the future,” J. Wickham Zimmerman, CEO at OTL, tells GlobeSt.com.

It isn’t only the pandemic that is driving the firm’s business. A recent report from the International Journal of Environmental Health Research shows that spending time outdoors improves a person’s mood, health and happiness. Health can improve by spending only 20 minutes outside. The survey followed 94 adults over the summer and fall months and monitored their visits to the park. As developers begin to reformat their health and safety plans, outdoors space is high on the list. “According to a recent report, humans who spend time outdoors have discovered the quickest way to improve their happiness and health,” says Zimmerman. “The report also says that time outside has been proven to lower stress, blood pressure, and heart rate, in addition to the positive impact it has on overall mood and mental health.”

On top of these staple benefits, the outdoors is also a way to slow the spread of coronavirus, providing a double benefit for property owners. “In addition, time outside has been encouraged as a way to reduce the spread of coronavirus,” says Zimmerman.

Water features are a perfect fit for owners looking to elevate their outdoor space. “The combination of humans’ intrinsic attraction to water and the inherent benefits of being outdoors makes outdoor water features in settings like Graham Garden a win-win amenity for a wide variety of property types,” says Zimmerman.