> I am convinced that you get more in a collaborative environment having a few devs sitting next to each other in pairs/small groups that they enjoy being with than anything else.

You're confusing collaboration with physicality. Too many people make the mistake of thinking that they need to be sitting next to somebody in order to ask them questions, or have a quick chat, or get them to teach you about a project. Those are all things you should be doing in remote work as well.