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:

January 31, 2018

Plans to develop 2 million sq. ft. of office space in South East England announced

by Mark Eltringham • News, Property

Property developer John Baker, formerly of Baker Lorenz, has launched a new venture to develop a series of new business districts in South East commuter towns and outer London boroughs. The John Baker Group is working in partnership with building and civil engineering contractor Sir Robert McAlpine on the £2bn project which will see the delivery of some 2 million sq. ft. of new office space across the South East. The joint venture, called The Commercial Parks Group, has already acquired £20m worth of property in Crawley, Haywards Heath and Bromley in order to create a series of major business hubs.

January 30, 2018

The patchy outcomes of automation could compound Britain’s North/South divide

by Mark Eltringham • Cities, News, Technology

The patchy effects of automation and artificial intelligence could compound the economic differences between the UK’s cities, according to a new report from the Centre for Cities. It concludes that while automation will boost jobs in British cities over the coming decades, it will also deepen economic and political divisions across the country, with Northern and Midlands cities more exposed to job losses than cities in the South. The report claims that 1 in 5 existing jobs in British cities are likely to be displaced by 2030 as a result of automation and globalisation – amounting to 3.6 million jobs in total – with retail occupations, customer service roles and warehouse jobs among those most at threat. Significantly, however, this risk is not spread evenly across the country, with struggling cities in the North and Midlands more exposed to job losses than wealthier cities in the South. Around 18 percent of jobs are under threat in Southern cities, compared to 23 percent in cities elsewhere in the country.

January 29, 2018

New RSA report highlights increasingly precarious and diverse nature of work

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Technology, Workplace

Britain is dividing into seven new classes of worker as the gig economy grows, according to think-tank the RSA (the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce). Striving, Thriving or Just About Surviving has been published to coincide with the launch of the RSA’s Future Work Centre, following RSA chief executive Matthew Taylor’s employment review for Theresa May last year. The report warns of a 30:40:30 society: while around 30 percent live comfortably, economic insecurity is “the new normal” with 40 percent just managing and a bottom 30 percent not managing to get by.

January 26, 2018

Women in female dominated workplaces have less access to flexible working

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News

Workers in female-dominated workplaces have worse access to flexible working arrangements than those in gender-neutral and even male-dominated workplaces, new research from the University of Kent has found. The report challenges the commonly held assumption that the low wages often found in female-dominated workplaces can be justified through better provision of family-friendly arrangements, but the research provides evidence that low wages are accompanied by worse working conditions. More →

January 26, 2018

Seven workplace stories that made us stop and think this week

by Mark Eltringham • Features

Americans see both good and bad in trends that are changing the workplace

Seven portraits of modern work in the UK

Podcast: It’s time we accepted that the workplace is not a playground

You knew

Film: The world in 2018 (registration needed)

Health experts recommend standing up at desk, leaving office, never coming back

Delivering business growth through diversity

January 25, 2018

World Economic Forum announces expanded global network to shape policy for Fourth Industrial Revolution

by Mark Eltringham • AI, News, Technology

The World Economic Forum has announced an international expansion of its Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The announcement coincides with this week’s Forum at Davos, which you can follow live here. New affiliate Centers will open in India, Japan and the United Arab Emirates, creating ‘an international network dedicated to maximising the benefits and minimising the risks of emerging technology’. In cooperation with host governments and private companies, affiliate Centers will aim to build on the work under way in San Francisco to close the perceived gap between emerging technology and policy. The Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution model is to bring together business leaders, governments, start-ups, civil society, academia and international organisations to co-design and pilot innovative approaches to governance for emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and blockchain.

January 23, 2018

Flexible and coworking offices to account for ten percent of UK property market by 2027

by Mark Eltringham • Coworking, News, Property

Demand for flexible workspace including coworking space soared across the UK during 2017, according to a report from Cushman & Wakefield. The study of the rapidly growing market also claims that WeWork is already the largest single corporate occupier of office space in London, with only the public sector exceeding its scale. In addition, the report also claims that WeWork has taken up more space in London’s key commercial property districts than any other occupier since 2012. According to the report, WeWork has taken up more than twice as much space as Google, which leased 1.3m sq ft over the five-year period, while Amazon and Deutsche Bank leased just over 1 m sq ft and 0.9 m sq ft.

January 23, 2018

Global economy faces an immediate reskilling problem in the face of automation, claims Davos report

by Mark Eltringham • AI, News, Workplace

The global economy faces a reskilling crisis with 1.4 million jobs in the US alone vulnerable to disruption from technology and other factors by 2026, according to a new report, Towards a Reskilling Revolution: A Future of Jobs for All, published by the World Economic Forum. The report is an analysis of nearly 1,000 job types across the US economy, encompassing 96 percent of employment in the country. Its aim is to assess the scale of the reskilling task required to protect workforces from an expected wave of automation brought on by the ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’. Drawing on this data for the US economy, the report finds that 57 percent of jobs expected to be disrupted belong to women. If called on today to move to another job with skills that match their own, 16 percent of workers would have no opportunities to transition and another 25 percent would have only between one and three matches.

January 23, 2018

BRE and IWBI deliver improved guidance to streamline joint certification of BREEAM and WELL

by Mark Eltringham • Environment, News

BRE and the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) have released a new briefing paper that outlines how projects may achieve both a certified BREEAM rating and WELL Certification. The updated crosswalk document, Assessing Health and Wellbeing in Buildings – Alignment between BREEAM and the WELL Building Standard, was developed as ‘part of a commitment to continuous improvement by IWBI and BRE’ using industry feedback from professionals working to achieve joint certification. To simplify the process for project teams pursuing both standards, BRE and IWBI have worked together to compare performance requirements, harmonise evidence and identify opportunities to streamline the process of achieving dual certification. Specific improvements and enhancements to the guidance document include instructions for projects that clarify how to use the crosswalk, minor amendments to the alignments and overlaps between the two standards, and a simplified labelling system. The new crosswalk also features useful notes and comments to clarify these alignments.

January 22, 2018

People who work in an open plan office feel worse and are less satisfied

by Mark Eltringham • News, Wellbeing, Workplace design

The ongoing debate about the impact of open plan offices on people’s wellbeing and productivity continues to divide opinion. While there is a large amount of data from the likes of Leesman Index and workplace expert Nigel Oseland to suggest that an open plan office is the best solution when applied in the right way and right context, a new study from Karlstad University claims the opposite. The more co-workers that share of a workplace, the less satisfied employees are, and the more difficult they think it is to work collaboratively.

January 19, 2018

Apple announces plans for a new campus as part of huge investment programme

by Mark Eltringham • Company news, Property, Technology

Apple has announced plans to create a new campus for its technical support staff and to hire an additional 20,000 employees over the next five years. The details of the new location will be announced later this year as part of a five year plan which the firm claims will make its direct contribution to the US economy hit more than $350 billion. Apple currently employs 84,000 people in the US, with the majority of in California, including at its much publicised new Apple Park campus building in Cupertino (pictured).