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:

Commercial property sector worth £4.8bn to Scottish economy

Commercial property sector worth £4.8bn to Scottish economy

by • News, Property

The Scottish commercial property sector contributes almost £4.8 billion to the Scottish economy and supports more than 92,000 jobs, according to a new report. Compiled by the University of Strathclyde’s Fraser of Allander Institute under commission by the Scottish Property Federation (SPF) its findings include a comprehensive look at the potential economic impact of new commercial work. In total, the commercial real estate element of Scotland’s construction industry has a direct impact of around £2.4bn to Scotland’s economy, however taking into account the additional spill-over effects of the industry, the sector is estimated to have a total impact of around £4.8bn.

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New working styles are risking the health and wellbeing of people, claims report

New working styles are risking the health and wellbeing of people, claims report

by • AI, Flexible working, News, Technology, Wellbeing

A new report from the British Safety Council and consultancy Robertson Cooper, explores what it claims is the probable impact of new working practices and technology on people’s physical and mental wellbeing, and what employers, unions and legislators should do to address them. The report, Future risk: Impact of Work on Health, Safety and Wellbeing, argues that the safety, health and wellbeing of older workers will become more important and new risks will arise related to the adoption of artificial intelligence and automation.

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Europe continues to attract high levels of commercial property investment

Europe continues to attract high levels of commercial property investment

by • News, Property

Research released by Knight Frank in the European Quarterly, Commercial Property Outlook (Q3 2017) highlighted how 2017 European investment volumes were on course to beat those of 2016. In fact, a total of €47.4 billion was invested in European commercial property in the third quarter (Q3) 2017; a 13 percent increase on the same quarter of 2016. A new report from commercial property firm Savoystewart.co.uk claims to uncover the countries attracting the most interest in investment in Europe. In analysing the figures, Savoystewart.co.uk found several countries experienced a spike in commercial investment in 2017. Most notably in Finland, with a total investment of €5.6 billion, Q1-Q3 – a rise of 121.60 percent on figures from 2016.  Hungary (89.90 percent), Romania (73.50 percent), the Czech Republic (43.30 percent) and Netherlands (41.70 percent) followed, with considerable increases measured.

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Seven workplace stories that made us think this week

Seven workplace stories that made us think this week

by • Features, Flexible working, Property, Technology, Wellbeing, Workplace design

white collar workers flee the workplaceIBM gives services staff until 2019 to get agile

White collar workers are fleeing their desks to craft a life

The future of real estate tech and how we got here

McMindfulness: Buddhism as sold to you by neoliberals

Why our jobs matter more now than ever before

A psychologist noticed this cool chair illusion in his workplace

How to think about artificial intelligence in real estate

BIFM to change its name to reflect greater focus on workplace issues and pursue chartered status

BIFM to change its name to reflect greater focus on workplace issues and pursue chartered status

by • Facilities management, News

The British Institute of Facilities Management (BIFM) has today announced plans to embrace ‘workplace’ as a key ‘differentiator’ for its members and to help establish facilities management as a chartered profession. The manifesto for change announced by BIFM Chair Stephen Roots, sets out to ‘reposition facilities management, emphasising its ability to make a real contribution to organisations’ performance’. It sets the Institute the ‘twin tasks of helping members to improve their skills and their status to meet the needs of modern organisations, and to raise the profile of facilities management and the understanding of the value it contributes’. The proposed new name is the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management (IWFM).

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Standing desks may not be the wellbeing panacea we’ve been led to believe

Standing desks may not be the wellbeing panacea we’ve been led to believe

by • News, Wellbeing, Workplace design

Regular readers will know that we’ve been banging this particular drum for some time (see below), but new research confirms that sitting may not actually be the ‘new smoking’ and standing desks may not be the panacea we’ve been led to believe. A new study published in the journal Ergonomics confirms that standing at a workstation for prolonged periods of computer work can lead to ‘discomfort and deteriorating mental reactiveness’ which in turn can lead to a range of health problems and reduced productivity.  As usual, the nuances and limitations of this research have been ignored in the reporting of the study so that now standing desks are seen as a problem when instead they’re a good potential solution as part of a workplace culture that encourages people to move and shift posture more frequently.

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Prospects for UK commercial property continue to improve, claims report

Prospects for UK commercial property continue to improve, claims report

by • News, Property

facilities managementThe latest edition of the Investment Property Forum’s (IPF) UK commercial real estate consensus report claims that the commercial property sector’s sentiment for the current year continues to improve. In its latest report, IPF said the “outlook for 2018 has improved over the three months since the last survey” was conducted, with average rental and capital value growth rates increasing in virtually all sectors. It claims that the rental value growth average forecast has risen to 0.8 percent from 0.4 percent three months ago. Also, the average capital value growth rate has now increased to -0.2 percent from -0.7 percent in November with industrial growth now expected to be 4.0 percent from 2.7 percent in the last survey.

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Report identifies hundred greenest cities in the world (and not one is in the UK)

Report identifies hundred greenest cities in the world (and not one is in the UK)

by • Cities, Environment, News

A new report claims that there are now over 100 greenest cities worldwide who derive at least 70 percent of their electricity from renewable sources. The report from CDP claims that 40 of these now generate all of their energy in this way, including Basel and Reykjavik. No UK cities appear on the list although over 80 UK towns and cities have committed themselves to run on 100 percent clean energy by 2050, according to local government campaign group UK100.

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The key to tackling future economic challenges is to harness the ageing workforce

The key to tackling future economic challenges is to harness the ageing workforce

by • News, Workplace

Providing American seniors with better work incentives and opportunities will be crucial for the United States to meet the challenges of its rapidly ageing population. By 2028, more than one in five Americans will be aged 65 and over, up from fewer than one in six today, according to a new OECD report. Working Better with Age and Fighting Unequal Ageing in the United States finds that employment rates among older workers in the United States are above the average across OECD countries. In 2016, 62 percent of all 55-64 year olds were employed compared with the OECD average of 59 percent. However, employment rates are much lower among the ageing workforce. Early retirement is prevalent among workers from vulnerable socio-economic backgrounds, often occurring as soon as Social Security benefits become available at age 62. Poverty among seniors is a challenge: more than 20 percent of peopled aged 65 and over have incomes below the relative poverty line – defined as half of the median disposable household income – compared with the OECD average of less than 13 percent.

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Employers in the dark ages over recruitment of pregnant women and new mothers, report claims

Employers in the dark ages over recruitment of pregnant women and new mothers, report claims

by • Flexible working, News, Workplace

British employers are ‘living in the dark ages’ and have worrying attitudes when it comes to recruiting women, according to a new report from the Equality and Human Rights Commission. Claiming that many businesses’ attitudes are decades behind the law, the survey of 1,106 senior decision makers in business found around a third (36 percent) of private sector employers agree that it is reasonable to ask women about their plans to have children in the future during recruitment. The new statistics also reveal six in 10 employers (59 percent) agree that a woman should have to disclose whether she is pregnant during the recruitment process, and almost half (46 percent) of employers agree it is reasonable to ask women if they have young children during the recruitment process.

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Pearls of elemental wisdom about workplace design and management

Pearls of elemental wisdom about workplace design and management

by • Comment, Facilities management, Workplace design

The greatest conundrum in the endless debate about whether the workplace affects people’s wellbeing and productivity is that it’s still going on at all. We’ve known for decades that people are affected in profound and meaningful ways by their surroundings and the culture in which they work. We know which factors are most important and which work in the absence of others. We know how these factors have shifted in response to changing working cultures and technological advances. And we know which are glib distractions from the real deal.

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Countries with greater gender equality have a smaller proportion of women taking STEM degrees

Countries with greater gender equality have a smaller proportion of women taking STEM degrees

by • News, Workplace

Countries with greater gender equality see a smaller proportion of women taking degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), a new study by Leeds Beckett University and published in the Psychological Science Journal has found. The research found that countries such as Albania and Algeria have a greater percentage of women amongst their STEM graduates than countries lauded for their high levels of gender equality, such as Finland, Norway or Sweden. The researchers, from Leeds Beckett’s School of Social Sciences and the University of Missouri, believe this might be because countries with less gender equality often have little welfare support, making the choice of a relatively highly-paid STEM career more attractive.

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