There was a time, not so long ago, that one of the most important factors to consider when designing an office was the corporate hierarchy. The office was once the  embodiment of the corporate structure. In Joanna Eley and Alexi Marmot’s 1995 book Understanding Offices, quite a lot of space is dedicated to the idea of the ‘space pyramid’, which means simply that the higher up the organisation you were, the more space you were allocated and the better your furniture and surroundings. Even then, the idea of office design as a signifier of dominance was starting to wear thin, as the authors acknowledge. Ostentatious displays of status were already seen as somewhat gauche, but they were to be fatally undermined by the technological advances to come.

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More than 80 percent of SME decision makers expect to see positive outcomes to their workforce from policy changes to flexible working rules, a new poll  from NatWest Mentor suggests. In April 2024, under the previous Conservative government, new flexible working legislation was introduced across England, Scotland and Wales creating significant changes to how employees make flexible working requests and how employers must respond. More →

The UK government is committed to modernising and becoming tech-first, but widespread skills shortages and legacy IT systems within the public sector remain an obstacle to digital transformation. While we are seeing steps to digitise, and the £2bn set aside to improve IT across the NHS is a good case in point, capital investment is only one part of the puzzle. As we look to the new year, we can expect the public sector to continue to face challenges in keeping pace with technology innovation, particularly in adopting AI and cloud solutions, combating talent gaps, and modernising workflows. More →

Data privacy is the biggest concern around implementing GenAI in the workplace, a new survey claims. The poll from careersinaudit.com suggests that data privacy is the biggest ethical concern people have when it comes to utilising GenAI tools in the workplace, with 53 percent of respondents citing it as the biggest risk. The survey asked audit and governance professionals about how AI is being implemented in their respective organisations, their attitudes towards the tech and what their biggest concerns are with using the tools. More →

The Sustainable Design Forum – a one-day interactive event designed specifically for workplace designers and specifiers – is returning to the Crypt on the Green in Clerkenwell, London for its third year on Thursday 25th April 2025. With a focus on ‘People and Planet’, this year’s event has been expanded to include additional workplace topics. More →