About Mark Eltringham

Mark is the publisher of Workplace Insight, IN magazine, Works magazine and is the European Director of Work&Place journal. He has worked in the office design and management sector for over thirty years as a journalist, marketing professional, editor and consultant.

Posts by Mark Eltringham:

The Internet and a pile of turtles that goes all the way down

The Internet and a pile of turtles that goes all the way down

by • Comment, Technology

alan_turingIn his 1998 book A Brief History of Time, Stephen Hawking relates the following anecdote: “A well-known scientist (some say it was Bertrand Russell) once gave a public lecture on astronomy. He described how the earth orbits around the sun and how the sun, in turn, orbits around the centre of a vast collection of stars called our galaxy. At the end of the lecture, a little old lady at the back of the room got up and said: “What you have told us is rubbish. The world is really a flat plate supported on the back of a giant tortoise.” The scientist gave a superior smile before replying, “What is the tortoise standing on?” “You’re very clever, young man, very clever,” said the old lady. “But it’s turtles all the way down!” 

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The current issue of IN Magazine plus a special edition of Works

The current issue of IN Magazine plus a special edition of Works

by • Features, IN Magazine, News, Premium Content, Works Magazine

Here's the new digital edition of IN magazine, a printed magazine written, illustrated and designed by humans (and one AI)We learned recently that our website is one of the many that has been used to train Google’s AI, the very thing that would supplant us. We’re not alone in that of course, but we are flattered and appalled to discover we are fairly high up the list, so obviously doing something right as far as Google is concerned. Advertisers and sponsors, please contact us in the usual way. Anyway, never mind that bollocks, here’s the new digital edition of IN, a printed magazine written, illustrated and designed by humans (and one AI).  More →

BCO Awards for Central England continue focus on wellbeing and the environment

BCO Awards for Central England continue focus on wellbeing and the environment

by • Company news, Property

the BCO Awards for the region set out to recognise projects that demonstrate best practice in office design, fit-out, operation and sustainabilityWhat are claimed to be the Midlands and Central England’s most outstanding workplaces have been announced, with British Council for Offices Awards going to five office buildings across the region. Held at ICC in Birmingham, the BCO Awards for the region set out to recognise projects that demonstrate best practice in office design, fit-out, operation and sustainability. The organisers claims that the winners of this year’s competition in the Midlands and Central England stand out for their user-centred design credentials, as well as their creative implementation of wellbeing and sustainability measures. More →

FUTURE Designs launches NARO an adaptable, super-slim track light system

FUTURE Designs launches NARO an adaptable, super-slim track light system

by • Company news, Lighting

FUTURE Designs, the international designer and manufacturer of luminaires and lighting solutions, has launched its latest ultra-thin lighting design, NAROFUTURE Designs, the international designer and manufacturer of luminaires and lighting solutions, has launched its latest ultra-thin lighting design, NARO. Subtle in design, the aesthetic makes NARO architecturally neat and understated. Being only 22mm wide, NARO caters for the ever increasing demand for thinner minimal profiles. The innovative product has the creative adaptability to form countless configurations in square or linear formations, offering flexibility for any brief.

The potential applications are extensive; NARO offers 7 different head options to covering all needs, from spot and linear profiles to stick pendants, making this system highly flexible and suited to all types of space from traditional offices to breakout spaces, and boardroom as well as hotels, bar and restaurants.

The FUTURE Designs lighting system offers variable brightness and colour temperatures options, from warm to cool white, providing perfect light levels to visually enhance any environment, whilst maintaining the highest levels of functionality.

Getting back to the future of work

Getting back to the future of work

by • Comment, Flexible working

future of workQuoting George Orwell is the kind of thing that people who haven’t read George Orwell do. I have read Orwell, and even have a  drunken story about Paul Shane signing my copy of the Collected Essays, which was the only autograph-able material I had on me at the time I met him in a pub in about 1990. For another time. In Nineteen Eighty-Four, Orwell describes Winston Smith’s realisation that the best books are those that tell you what you already know. This is an ancient profundity, and one that is sort of useful during times of significant, rapid change, when we are obliged to confront old truths in a new context. History doesn’t repeat itself, it rhymes, as they say. More →

The final word on workplace wellbeing

The final word on workplace wellbeing

by • Comment, Wellbeing

The final word? Of course not. Five years ago this month, we published an article that described how the quest for productivity had been supplanted almost entirely by a new emphasis on workplace wellbeingThe final word? Of course not. Five years ago this month, we published an article that described how the quest for productivity had been supplanted almost entirely by a new emphasis on workplace wellbeing. It was the final nail in the coffin of scientific management and its central notion of the office as a factory, subject to rigid times and places of work and manufacturing’s culture of process, efficiency and productivity. The office a splice of factory and panopticon. More →

Ten years of Insight and a few things I think I know

Ten years of Insight and a few things I think I know

by • Comment, Flexible working, HR, Technology, Workplace design

This website started in late 2012 as a way for me to explore both a new media format and a new way of thinking about work and workplaces. I’d already been active in various roles in the workplace, design and facilities sector for twenty odd years, but needed a new challenge. And this was it. I was going for a ride with an idea to see where it went. More →

Hybrid working is the new normal and is here to stay, report claimzzzz

Hybrid working is the new normal and is here to stay, report claimzzzz

by • Flexible working, News

Mace has published a new report into workplace trends which claims that hybrid working with a collaborative central space is (brace yourselves) the new normal for a preferred post-pandemic working styleMace has published a new report into workplace trends which claims that hybrid working with a collaborative central space is (brace yourselves) the new normal for a preferred post-pandemic working style. The Mace Operate Workplace Survey looked at the enduring role of a central office for businesses and considered what an office space needs to offer in an era of hybrid working. The majority of respondents (87 percent) said that interaction with people and workplace culture are the main benefits of going to the office with employees and employers seeing eye-to-eye on the need for collaboration for motivation, resilience and effective hybrid working. More →

IN14 lands and it’s the best issue we’ve ever done. We would say that. So you decide

IN14 lands and it’s the best issue we’ve ever done. We would say that. So you decide

by • IN Magazine, News, Premium Content

The digital edition of issue 14 of IN Magazine is now available to read free, here. Print copies are in the post. We think it’s the best issue we’ve done so far, but please don’t take our word for it. It’s visually stunning, as always. It offers you the usual eclectic mix of content, covering everything from technology to urban design, management issues, property, office design, the environment, wellbeing and transport as well as all the usual interviews, news, events and commentary. All back issues of IN are available here. More →

IF AI can replace what you do without anybody noticing, the problem isn’t with the technology

IF AI can replace what you do without anybody noticing, the problem isn’t with the technology

by • Comment, Technology, Wellbeing

AI is ready to muscle in on our ability to create and consume vast quantities of content. So we need to look at things in a new wayPerhaps the least surprising news from the current AI media frenzy is that Buzzfeed has already been using the tech to publish a lot of its stories. There’s an obvious response to this and it’s not about how amazing the AI is. If an artificial intelligence can write vast quantities of formulaic clickbait stories on your website without anybody noticing, then the problem is with your original approach to ‘content’ and how it’s consumed. More →

The allure of workplace bullshit

The allure of workplace bullshit

by • Comment, Wellbeing, Workplace design

The sleep of reason and workplace bullshitAlthough the legend of Faust is one of the Germanic world’s foundational narratives, its archetypes and themes were already established by the time Goethe codified them in his 1808 play. They have since become universal. The idea that somebody would sell their soul to the Devil to gain something or rid themselves of unhappiness is as resonant now as it was in Renaissance Europe. It has inspired books films and artists to such an extent that its derivatives now have their own Wikipedia page.

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Zürich named as world’s leading smart city in list dominated by Asia and Europe

Zürich named as world’s leading smart city in list dominated by Asia and Europe

by • Cities, News, Technology

Zürich has been named as the world’s leading smart city according to the latest annual Smart City Index published by IMD business schoolZürich has been named as the world’s leading smart city according to the latest annual Smart City Index published by IMD business school. Asian and European cities dominate this year’s top twenty. Among them, IMD names six “super champions” because they have been continuously improving their performance since 2019: Zürich, Oslo, Singapore, Beijing, Seoul and Hong Kong. More →

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