Where’s the desk? UK offices weighed down by paper clutter

by • Facilities management, News

UK offices weighed down by paper clutterWe’ve been hearing about the paperless office for more than two decades, BYOD (or CYOD) is supposed to replace ‘dead trees’; but we’re still drowning in paper. Today, the average UK desk is weighed down by almost a stone of clutter – with over a fifth of office workers losing important documents at least once a week, according to office equipment manufacturer Brother. Recent research by the EDM Group echoed these findings, estimating that employees wasted one and a half hours a week looking for misplaced documents and information. One of the causes is the sheer amount of information and data employees now receive, with over half (56%) in the EDM poll claiming that they receive more information at work than they did three years ago. (more…)

Norway’s tallest tower named as one of the winners of the Nordic Built Challenge

by • Architecture, Environment, Facilities management, News

Urban mountain front 1Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects has been announced as one of the five winners of the Nordic Built Challenge with plans for Urban Mountain – the tallest tower in Norway.  Nordic Built Challenge is a design contest based around the refurbishment of existing buildings. The objective of the competition is to encourage the sustainable refurbishment of some of the most common building types in the Nordic region by showcasing innovation in major projects across the region. The other four winners of the competition were Ellebo Garden Room in Denmark, Cape Green in Iceland, Fittja People’s Palace in Sweden and Equlibrium in Finland. All of the winning entries can be viewed here.

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IPCC climate report: built environment has major role to play in cutting carbon

by • Environment, Facilities management, News

built environment has major role to play in cutting carbon

The built environment has one of the biggest roles to play in tackling global warming, said the UK Green Building Council following the publication of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report which confirms that there is at least 95 per cent certainty that human activities are its principal cause. The Summary of the Report for Policy Makers; prepared by 259 climate experts from 39 countries, warns atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane, and nitrous oxide have increased to levels unprecedented in at least the last 800,000 years, while CO2 concentrations have increased by 40 per cent since pre-industrial times. It advises that containing these changes will require “substantial and sustained reductions of greenhouse gas emissions”. (more…)

What’s wrong with adopting a more positive approach to work and workplaces?

by • Comment, Facilities management, Public Sector, Workplace, Workplace design

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Has there ever been a UK government more interested in the workplace than this one? Most of it has been about cutting costs of course, so the majority of announcements emanating from the Cabinet Office have been about procurement, design and environmental performance. David Cameron even at one point announced that he wanted to measure people’s happiness. The questions needed to work out how happy we are proposed by the Office for National Statistics as a result would have had a very familiar feel for anybody who has ever completed a workplace satisfaction survey even if they miss the most blindingly obvious point that when you’re skint and in mortal fear of losing your job, most other things about work lose their lustre.

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Seminar programme for workplace ergonomics and productivity event unveiled

by • Facilities management, Furniture, News

Seminar programme for workplace ergonomics and productivity event unveiledPaying attention to ergonomics in design; MSDs in the office – a demographic challenge; and boomers and Millennials and the changing workplace; are just some of the topics being covered in a series of seminars dedicated to workplace ergonomics and productivity taking place over two days next week. The Workplace Ergonomics & Productivity exhibition and seminar event is organised by the Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors, to showcase the latest products, services, research and ideas about how ergonomics can benefit workers, managers and their businesses. Visitors will have the opportunity to examine products at exhibition stands, listen to speakers on a range of topics and gain an understanding of how ergonomics and productivity are related. For more information on the event – Ibis Earls Court, London (1 – 2 Oct), click here.

If you are moving to new offices, make sure you can get rid of the old ones first

by • Facilities management, Property, Public Sector, Workplace design

Building 1000 - seemed like a good idea at the time

Building 1000 – seemed like a good idea at the time

One of the most common reasons for large organisations to move to new offices is a consolidation of an extensive and disparate estate that has developed over a long period of time. But what happens when the benefits of the move are scuppered because the organisation finds it impossible to get rid of its old buildings? That is the question facing Newham Borough Council as it emerges that it may have to quit the controversially swanky £110 million offices it moved to in 2010 and back into some of the 26 properties it left at the time and has struggled to unburden itself of since.

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RICS launches guidance for small businesses on managing property assets

by • Facilities management, News, Property

RICS launches guidance for small businesses on managing propertyProperty costs – such as business rates and rent – are one of the most significant expenses incurred by SMEs and failure to take professional advice on how to manage them can cost businesses thousands of pounds. RICS has launched a guide to help small businesses take better control of their finances through managing their property assets differently. The Small Business Property Guide, which is free of charge for business owners, covers all aspects of the property process. It has been endorsed by the Federation of Small Businesses, the British Retail Consortium and the Association of Town and City Management. The guide includes advice on; finding the right premises; business rates; tax allowances on property; and valuations.

Government unveils BIM initiative for SMEs as survey reveals small business concerns

by • Architecture, Facilities management, Property

BIM1The Cabinet Office has unveiled a new initiative which aims to promote the practice of Business Information Modelling (BIM) amongst smaller businesses in the UK construction industry. At the launch of the  Construction Industry Council’s dreadfully named BIM4SME forum, Cabinet Office Minister Chloe Smith reiterated the Government’s commitment to use BIM on all Government construction projects by 2016. However new research from the Institution of Structural Engineers has revealed the problems facing small businesses in using BIM, including the fact that two thirds think the Government stance on BIM makes it harder for them to win work and three quarters believe it presents them with major cost challenges.

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Service providers taking desperate measures to combat “loaded dice” procurement

by • Facilities management, Legal news, News

Loaded dice

Building rapport with a potential client is an important part of the procurement process, but how far do you go? According to new research, some service providers have resorted to desperate measures to bag new business, including hiring the client’s daughter; bringing in actors and equipment to make their organisation seem larger than it is and even helping the prospect write the Request for Proposal to ensure that it matched the services they could deliver. The reason, according to findings unveiled today by blur Group is that despite the majority of decision makers believing there are better service providers available than their existing network, the vast majority (89%) were still likely to approach their existing service providers when a new project arose. (more…)

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

by • Events, Facilities management, Furniture, News

100sign-lo

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.

World Green Building week launches with a breath of fresh air

by • Environment, Facilities management, News, Property

World Green building week launches with a breath of fresh airMaking sustainability sexy is a tall order. Look up the topic “green building” and you’ll invariably come across in depth descriptions of energy saving schemes and achieving a BREEAM rating. All these considerations are of course very important, but they make it difficult to engage building occupants. With the theme “Greener buildings, better places, healthier people”, World Green Building Week, which begins today (16-20 September), should do just that, by concentrating on the tangible benefits to building occupants of a green office. Paul King, Chief Executive of UK-GBC, said: “We often hear about the environmental and financial benefits of green buildings, but less attention is paid to the impact on those who live and work in them.” (more…)

100% Design: Holding a mirror up to the way we design and manage workplaces

by • Comment, Events, Facilities management, Furniture, Products, Workplace design

Hanging Room

Hanging Room at 100% Design

If art holds a mirror up to nature, shouldn’t the design of workplace products hold a mirror up to the way we work? By definition, the things with which we surround ourselves should tell us something about the way we see ourselves and what we do. It should be possible to infer from the design of the products suppliers offer to the market what is changing in the workplace. This isn’t always the case, of course, especially for those firms who see design not so much in terms of putting lipstick on a gorilla as telling you that what you’re looking at isn’t in fact a gorilla at all. It’s Scarlett Johansson.

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