Quality of the place and the pace of work is more important than money

by • Architecture, Events, Flexible working, Workplace design

Aol’s new West Coast HQ 395 Page Mill

O+A designed Aol’s new West Coast HQ

In a remarkable session on the future of work at Worktech 13 London this week – Charles Handy declared that organisations need passion, people and profit, in that order. Money isn’t the main motivating factor for individuals either, which is why Handy’s thoughts on the emergence of the portfolio worker should inspire anyone who dreams of quitting their corporate job to do something more interesting instead. Those who don’t have that option would have been cheered to hear the prevailing message at Worktech was that employers are waking up to the fact that the quality of the place and the pace of work (i.e. flexible working) is of equal importance to remuneration in attracting and retaining staff. (more…)

Workplace Week highlights the changing shape of the office

by • Comment, Events, Facilities management, Workplace design

'High Street' at Network Rail's Milton Keynes base

‘High Street’ at Network Rail’s Milton Keynes base

This year’s Workplace Week  which took place last week was a great success, with more people participating and more money raised for charity. Across the week, over 500 people took part, visiting innovative workplaces, attending the Workplace Week Convention or going along to one of the many Fringe events. Workplace Week is organised by Advanced Workplace Associates and supported by CoreNet Global, BCS, RICS, FMA and BIFM. All proceeds go to the Children in Need charity. Around 60 people joined the speakers at the headquarters of PWC on London’s Southbank for the Workplace Week Convention to discuss ‘Driving productivity through the connected organisation.’ The informal atmosphere and roundtable format encouraged participation, with a focus on developments in organisational design, change management and technology.

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Best tall buildings in world competition winners announced by CTBUH

by • Architecture, Company news, Events, News, Property

cctvheadquarters_ext-entranceview-2_(c)butyrskii_igorThe Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitats (CTBUH) has announced the winners of its Best Tall Building Worldwide competition. The overall winner was the China Central Television Headquarters in Beijing (above) which was also the regional winner for Asia. The other three regional awards went to The Shard, London (for Europe), The Bow in Calgary (Americas) and the Al Khatem Tower in Abu Dhabi (Middle East and Africa). The awards were presented in Chicago on 7 November with the winners chosen from 60 entries by a judging panel. A popular vote was taken on the evening which also saw the audience voting the CCTV headquarters as the best tall building. The overall winner award was presented to the building’s joint architect Rem Koolhaas, who famously included a chapter called ‘Kill the Skyscraper’ in his 2003 book Content.

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There is very little about flexible working that is actually flexible

by • Comment, Events, Flexible working

upside_down_officeIt’s pretty clear why some of the world’s greatest writers have been drawn to the human propensity for moral and linguistic inversions and subversions. Books like 1984, Catch 22 and A Clockwork Orange are predicated on the idea. And it’s not one limited to literature. If we look, we can see it going on all around us. In the field of workplace design and management we can see it in the use of the word ‘flexible’ as used in the phrase flexible working. This is a word that in this particular context is coming to mean something like its opposite.  According to a survey from YouGov, the 9 to 5 is a thing of the past, supplanted by a style of work labelled flexible but which involves a third of us working for over ten hours a day, many at home right up until the point we go to bed with a smartphone that sits by our side, to wake us with a beep and a wodge of new notifications the next morning.

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Looking forward to Workplace Week; productivity and the connected organisation

by • Events, News

'High Street' at Network Rail's Milton Keynes base

‘High Street’ at Network Rail’s Milton Keynes base

There’s not much time to go before Workplace Week, which takes place from the 4th to 8th November. The annual workplace conference and fundraiser for Children in Need will include more than a dozen visits to offices in London and around the UK, a one-day convention and events staged by Kinnarps, ASOS, KPMG, Herman Miller and Colebrook Bosson Saunders. Site visits include to the public sector’s new generation of landmark buildings, Network Rail, RBS and Innocent Drinks. The theme of this year’s convention on the 5th November is Driving Productivity Through The Connected Organisation which will take place at PricewaterhouseCoopers’ offices. Speakers includes Keith Saxton, director of financial services at IBM Research; Johnny Dunford, global director of commercial property at RICS; and Liz Nottingham, Regional HR Director for Western Europe at Starcom MediaVest group.

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Video: reimagining work to help people become happier and more productive

Video: reimagining work to help people become happier and more productive

by • Comment, Events, Facilities management, Technology

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Most companies are engaged in an attempt to help employees become happier, more productive and – yes –fitter at work. Firms do this because they are nice people or in the commercial interest of the business, or both. The problem is they are not doing it with a fixed set of criteria. Not only do they have to cope with changing commercial and economic conditions and legislation, they have to do it while the very nature of work evolves rapidly and in very different ways for different organisations. This is not so much like somebody moving the goal posts as it is like one of those games on It’s A Knockout where a contestant tries to do something while other people are shaking the platform they are standing on, squirting them with water, running into them, hitting them with things and yanking them back with ropes.

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Workplace Week announces details of visits to London Government buildings

by • Events, Facilities management, Flexible working, Public Sector

DfE London HQ

DfE London HQ

For the first time, Workplace Week includes visits to two Government offices, the Department for Education at Sanctuary Buildings in Great Smith Street (pictured) and the Department for International Development on Whitehall. The DfE is just a stone’s throw from the Houses of Parliament and boasts outstanding views of several major landmarks. The building is home to some 2,000 staff who work in a flexible environment with 7 desks for 10 people. The Department for International Development moved to its new London HQ, the oldest purpose-built office in London, at the beginning of the year. The DfID has created a modern, flexible environment which encourages collaborative working, whilst being sympathetic to the historic nature of the building.

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UK Green Building Council partners with Ecobuild to agree event programme

by • Environment, Events, Facilities management, News

UK Green Building Council partners with Ecobuild to agree sustainable event programmeThe UK Green Building Council has entered into a new long-term partnership with Ecobuild, the annual event for sustainable design, construction and the built environment. The agreement means the two organisations will work closely on the programme of events for Ecobuild to promote the business case for a greener and more sustainable built environment. UK-GBC Chief Executive Paul King, who already sits on the Ecobuild Advisory Board, said: “This partnership marks the start of a new and exciting chapter in our close relationship with Ecobuild, an event which has firmly placed sustainable construction on the UK and international agenda over the past ten years.” (more…)

Full details of Workplace Week event are announced

by • Events, News

PwC More London Offices

PwC More London Offices

More details have been announced about this year’s Workplace Week, which takes place on 5 November at  PricewaterhouseCoopers More London building. Our support for the event means that Insight readers are offered discounted tickets. The event is organised by Advanced Workplace Associates in aid of Children in Need. The event includes a chance to visit some of the UK’s most innovative workplaces including RBS, Innocent Drinks and KPMG as well as convention and a series of Fringe events. Speakers include Johnny Dunford, global director of commercial property at RICS; Curtis McLean, founder of Innovation Places; Keith Saxton, director of financial services at IBM Research; Jessica Pryce-Jones, founder of the I-Opener Institute in Oxford; and Mark Sherfield, COO of global accountants BDO.

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The rehabilitation of the cubicle and other lessons from 100% Design

by • Comment, Events, Flexible working, Furniture, Products, Workplace design

UniteSE from KI

UniteSE from KI

As we’ve said before, acoustics has become the dominant theme at office design exhibitions over the past three or four years. That’s been true at shows in Milan, Cologne, Chicago and London and was certainly the case at this year’s 100% Design at Earl’s Court. A quick whizz around the office zone at this year’s event – which is a useful way of getting an impression before you stop to talk to people about the detail of what they’re doing – revealed that well over half of the exhibitors were showcasing products that addressed the issue of acoustics. And yet things have also moved on from recent events, not least in the rehabilitation of that most demonised of all office furniture pieces – the cubicle.

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100% Design debate: Is there really a backlash against flexible working?

by • Events, Flexible working

Ben Munn of Regus and Andrew Mawson of AWA

Ben Munn of Regus and Andrew Mawson of AWA

The decision by Yahoo to ban flexible working earlier this year prompted a bout of navel gazing based on the premise that this marked the beginning of a backlash against the practice. But was that really the case or did it instead prompt a mature and reassuringly widespread  debate about the nature of work and workplaces. Discussing this and related ideas today at 100% Design today will be Ben Munn, MD of Regus Enterprise and Andrew Mawson, MD of Advanced Workplace Associates, chaired by Insight publisher Mark Eltringham. The discussion starts at 3.30 in the Hanging Room in the Office zone.

Sound design: a debate on openness and privacy at work, 100% Design, 18 September

by • Events, Facilities management, Furniture, News

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Insight publisher Mark Eltringham will be chairing a debate at 100% Design on Wednesday the 18 September on the ever topical and ever changing issue of designing for sound. The discussion will consider whether we have the balance right when it comes to providing people with a mixture of spaces to work quietly and privately and others in which they can work with colleagues and even- dare we admit it – enjoy the racket they create? The panel includes noted workplace experts Tim Oldman of Leesman, Monica Parker of Morgan Lovell and Colin Rawlings of Icon who will discuss the conflicting forces involved and challenge with examples and data the lazy assumptions and received wisdom that can distort decision making on this most sensitive of topics.

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