Tailored workplace management for modern organisations

Tailored workplace management for modern organisations

by • Comment, Technology, Workplace design

Workplace management used to be a secondary concern for organisations in the past, but it has now become a top priority.Workplace management used to be a secondary concern for organisations in the past, but it has now become a top priority. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the process of digital transformation, leading to the implementation of new processes and technologies that focus on facilitating remote and at-home work. As a result of these changes, organisations have recognized the importance of finding a balance in their work environments. More →

Where are the iconic office furniture products of yesterday?

Where are the iconic office furniture products of yesterday?

by • Comment, Workplace design

A new image of Bauhaus students from 1927 raises interesting questions about the design of office furnitureOver the past week or so, this image has gone viral on social media. It is of a group of Bauhaus design students from around 1927. They are called Martha Erps, Katt Both and Ruth Hellos. The full image (reproduced below) shows them with legendary office furniture designer Marcel Breuer, who Erps would later marry. The story of the photograph can be found here. On social media, though, the standard response from people of a certain vintage – my vintage admittedly – is to suggest that they were last seen supporting Echo and the Bunnymen at the Barrowland Glasgow in 1984.  More →

Unpicking the retrofit enigma

Unpicking the retrofit enigma

by • Briefing, News, Property, Workplace design

We explore many of the issues around the crucial subject of retrofit in this supplement produced in partnership with BVNEarlier this year, a report from building consultancy Mace advocated for a retrofit first principle for buildings. The report highlighted how non-domestic buildings in the UK make up about an eighth of the country’s building stock but account for around a quarter of the country’s carbon emissions. The solution argued for in the report was to look at how best to retrofit around 3.5 million such buildings over the next ten years. We explore many of the issues around this crucial subject in this supplement produced in partnership with BVN. It represents both a snapshot of the current conversations about retrofit while pointing a way ahead. This one will run and run, but we need to get it right. More →

From the archive: The role of workplace design in employee engagement

From the archive: The role of workplace design in employee engagement 0

by • Features, Wellbeing, Work&Place, Workplace design

A new report certainly raises the question of what more can be done, including in terms of workplace design, to boost engagement levels amongst these employees

Originally published six years ago, this feature is currently the most read story ever on the website with around 50,000 readers. A global study by my own firm Steelcase has found that one-third of workers across 17 of the world’s most important economies are actually disengaged. The findings make worrying reading for employers around the world, as engagement is so demonstrably linked to business critical outcomes such as employee retention, productivity and even profits. It certainly raises the question of what more can be done, including in terms of workplace design, to boost engagement levels amongst these employees. More →

The final word on… workplace trends

The final word on… workplace trends

by • Comment, Flexible working, Workplace design

You would not believe the number of firms that ask us to publish a list of workplace trends each week. Or maybe you wouldYou would not believe the number of firms that ask us to publish a list of workplace trends each week. Or maybe you would, given the number that have appeared – and are appearing -elsewhere. Each firm perhaps convinced they are saying something original, unique or interesting, or maybe simply convinced they stand out in some way, while pushing the same timid, stale narratives about the workplace. They will proliferate over the next month or so at the turn of another year. More →

Manchester is now a major draw for office design firms

Manchester is now a major draw for office design firms

by • Cities, Features, Workplace design

Way before the lockdown rewired the whole events scene in cities around the world, I was given a task by an old, now departed, friend. He wanted to explore the possibility of creating something like Clerkenwell Design Week in Manchester. The obvious problem was that, for some of its historic parallels, Manchester isn’t Clerkenwell and it certainly isn’t London. What it particularly lacked for this type of event was a hothouse of office design showrooms sharing space with a youthful community of architects and designers. The ecosystem for such an event didn’t really exist in the same way. More →

No one shouted stop, although we all should have seen it coming

No one shouted stop, although we all should have seen it coming

by • Comment, Everything Omni, Facilities management, Property, Workplace design

And No One Shouted Stop! seems to me to be an apt phrase to capture these post- pandemic times as we grapple with work and workplace dilemmas. It comes from the little-known but widely acclaimed book of the same name by John Healy. It is set over 50 years ago and it chronicles the decline of an Irish town. The book’s underlying narrative is a train crash happening in slow motion, people see it coming but nobody feels able to stop it. I sincerely hope that this will not prove to be the case for the world of commercial real estate as it grapples with hordes of tenants asking not just ‘where is my office?’ But ‘why do I need an office?’ More →

Want people to spend more time in the office? Give them a little piece of home

Want people to spend more time in the office? Give them a little piece of home

by • Comment, Workplace design

For many people, a large portion of the day is spent at the workplace. In fact, the average person will spend 90,000 hours at work over a lifetime. The Covid-19 pandemic saw the typical ‘workplace’ setting change for many people, after businesses around the globe were forced to adjust to a ‘work-from-home’ model. Now, three years later, we are starting to see more employees return to the office, with large corporations including JPMorgan, Chase, Apple and Google all announcing plans to bring their workers back to base. More →

The challenge for fit-out firms is to deliver best value despite supply chain challenges

The challenge for fit-out firms is to deliver best value despite supply chain challenges

by • Comment, Facilities management, Property, Workplace design

Whilst industry supply and demand dynamics may have found a level of equilibrium since the pandemic, geopolitical tensions, economic disruptions, and an unstable domestic policy environment continue to have an impact on the office fit-out marketThe past year has been a challenging one for London’s commercial fit-out market. Whilst industry supply and demand dynamics may have found a level of equilibrium since the pandemic, geopolitical tensions, economic disruptions, and an unstable domestic policy environment continue to have an impact. In tandem with this, the commercial fit-out market is adapting to changing needs; from accommodating hybrid working models to growing demands for sustainability and reuse, the workplaces of today are ever changing. More →

The office of the future is a dream of the answers to current problems

The office of the future is a dream of the answers to current problems

by • Features, IN Magazine, Workplace design

We’re often shown some Office of the Future that on closer inspection turns out to be a hyper-realised version of The Office of the PresentLewis Carroll’s second best known work The Hunting of the Snark is a long nonsense poem that describes the pursuit by a group of adventurers of an elusive creature called a Snark. This turns out to be a much more dangerous Boojum when it is finally seen, causing one of the crew members to vanish. The poem may or may not be an allegory for the pursuit of happiness but it could easily be about our pursuit of anything elusive, imaginary or ephemeral. More →

Inclusive office design is essential if we want offices to be worth the commute

Inclusive office design is essential if we want offices to be worth the commute

by • Comment, Workplace design

Organisations now understand the immense potential for sustainable, inclusive office design, and people-centric real estate strategies to drive positive change and fuel growth.Corporate culture has fundamentally changed since the pandemic and with it, so has the way employees interact with the office. This has put leaders under pressure to create experiences for employees that complement, and in some ways even compete with, the comforts of home. Organisations now understand the immense potential for sustainable, inclusive office design, and people-centric real estate strategies to drive positive change and fuel growth. More →

Workspace Design Show announces first names for speaker programme at 2024 London event

Workspace Design Show announces first names for speaker programme at 2024 London event

by • Company news, Workplace design

Workspace Design Show is pleased to announce the first names to be added to the speaker programme for its London 2024 showFollowing on from successful shows in both the UK and the Netherlands this year, Workspace Design Show is pleased to announce the first names to be added to the speaker programme for its London 2024 show. Held from 27-28 February 2024 at the Business Design Centre, Islington, the event will feature an impressive mix of senior professionals from architects and designers to developers and end users, who will come together to discuss the most pressing issues facing the workplace design community now and into the future. More →

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