‘Overwhelming evidence’ of link between office design, productivity and wellness claims report

by • Briefing, Knowledge, News, Workplace design

office designA new report from the World Green Building Council (WorldGBC) claims it has “overwhelming evidence” that office design significantly impacts the health, wellbeing and productivity of staff. Health, Wellbeing and Productivity in Offices: The Next Chapter for Green Building reports on a range of factors – from air quality and lighting, to views of nature and interior layout – can affect the health, satisfaction and job performance of office workers. Understanding the link between workers and their workplace helps to drive the business case for higher quality, healthy and greener buildings, valued by investors, developers and tenants alike. With salaries and benefits typically responsible for 90 percent of an organization’s expenditure, any higher construction or occupation costs are far outweighed by even small improvements in staff performance.

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Over half of employees think workplace screens are damaging their eyes

by • Facilities management, News, Technology, Workplace

Over half of employees blame failing eyesight on workplace screensOne of the potential hazards of the incursion of digital devices into our lives is the fact that the average person’s screen time has increased since a generation ago, when watching too much TV was said to be bad for our eyes. However, workers still blame their working environment and the rather anachronistic tool, the VDU for any resultant eye troubles. According to new research more than half of UK employees say their current working environment has had a negative impact on their eye health. In Westfield Health’s recent survey of 7,000 UK workers, conducted just ahead of this week’s National Eye Health Week, fifty three per cent of respondents say their current working environment has affected their eye health, or their vision has got worse as a result of work. Headaches, blurred vision, eye strain and dry eyes are just some of the eye related problems employees associate with their jobs. More →

Government invites responses on EU public sector procurement regs

by • Legal news, News, Public Sector

public sector procurementThe UK Government is inviting firms to contribute to a new consultation on the implementation of the latest EU draft regulations for public sector procurement. The Government claims that the consultation follows two years negotiation with the EU on the simplification and modernisation of public sector purchasing and its results will help them to implement the 2014 EU Public Sector Directive effectively and in the best way. The ultimate aim of the new regulations is to make public sector procurement ‘faster and less costly and will lead to better value outcomes for government, industry, and the wider public sector’. The consultation document can be found here. Responses should be emailed to transposition@cabinet-office.gsi.gov.uk or in writing to Crown Commercial Service Helpdesk, Cabinet Office, Rosebery Court, Norwich, NR7 0HS.

Privacy concerns are inhibiting employee uptake of BYOD

by • Flexible working, News, Technology

Employees’ use of personal digital devices at work has led to concerns regarding the encroachment of work into leisure time; but the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) craze also poses a challenge for staff who are reluctant to expose their private data to the corporate gaze. According to a survey conducted by Ovum on behalf of AdaptiveMobile, keeping their privacy from employers is the top concern for employees being asked to use their own devices for work purposes. The research found that while over 84 per cent of employees rated privacy as a top three concern, there was a clear lack of trust in the ability of their employer to manage their mobile security and privacy. Among employees who do not use their own devices for work purposes, the desire to keep their work and personal life separate (44%) and a general mistrust of their employer having any kind of control over their devices (24%) were the biggest barriers.

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Winners of Design Guild Mark for 2014 announced by The Furniture Makers Company

by • Furniture, News, Products, Workplace design

Zoeftig Support chairThe Furniture Makers’ Company used last week’s 100% Design show to announce the Design Guild Mark award recipients for this year. The Design Guild Mark, now in its seventh  year since launching in 2008, rewards excellence in the design of furniture in volume production. According to the organisers, with the award of this Guild Mark for designs which meet The Furniture  Makers’ Company  criteria, the designers receive due recognition and the industry is made more aware  of  the importance of investment in design.  The Design Guild Mark aims to acknowledge the work of the finest furniture designers working in volume production and the best of British furniture designers working abroad. This year’s winners include Pearson Lloyd’s RIYA task chair for Bene and a posthumous award for the classic Supporto Chair (above), designed by the late Frederick Scott and now manufactured by Zoeftig.

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Universal application of open plan has led to global privacy crisis, claims report

by • Flexible working, News, Workplace design

open planA major new report from office furniture maker Steelcase claims that the universal provision of open plan offices means that organisations are facing an unprecedented privacy crisis with their employees. The claim is based on international research carried out by market researchers IPSOS and the Workspace Futures Team of Steelcase which found that a remarkable 85 percent of people are dissatisfied with their working environment and cannot concentrate. Nearly a third (31 percent) now routinely leave the office to get work done in private. The authors of the report claim that this does not mean a reversal of the decades long shift away from cellular offices but rather a move to create offices that offer a range of work settings to give people a choice of where and how to work. More than 10,000 workers across 14 countries were questioned about their office environments and working patterns.

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England’s local authorities acting like property developers, claims report

by • Knowledge, News, Property, Public Sector

property developersEngland’s local authorities are responding to the country’s ongoing austerity measures by behaving more like property developers as they seek to redevelop property and land valued at £13.5 billion by 2019, according to a new report from local government think tank Localis in conjunction with developer Cathedral Group. Rather than simply selling off assets, the research claims that councils are increasingly looking to develop property to provide them with revenue streams as a way of shoring up their shrinking budgets. The report claims that the proportion of projects slated for redevelopment is currently a third of all disposals but will make up the majority in five years time. The report has received cross party support and links to other high profile public sector initiatives, especially the One Public Sector Estate scheme. The Cabinet Office recently reported that the UK public sector estate had shrunk by 2 m. sq. ft. since 2010.

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Global launch of healthy buildings report announced for World Green Building Week

by • Environment, Events, Facilities management, News

Green buildingWorld Green Building Week 2014 takes place next week (22 – 27 September) with the theme for this year of ‘Get up, Green up’. Created in 2009 to promote a more connected, more interactive, and more public conversation around the role buildings play in creating a sustainable future, this year’s WGBW will feature a range of events held around the world; including Australia, US, Hungary and the United Arab Emirates. On Monday 22 September, as part of WGBW, UK-GBC is hosting a webinar looking at the Ökobau.dat, the German National LCA database for construction, and on Wednesday 24 the global launch event of the WorldGBC ‘Health, wellbeing and productivity in offices: the next chapter for green building’ report, which looks at health, wellbeing and productivity in offices, following an extensive project involving over 50 industry experts from around the world.  More →

Avanta Serviced Office Group to open Shoreditch business centre at heart of ‘Tech City’

by • News, Property

serviced officeAvanta Serviced Office Group has signed a deal to establish a new business centre in the heart of London’s Tech City at The Eagle, a 27 storey art-deco-style development on City Road, EC1, from Mount Anvil – Central London’s specialist residential-led developer. The centre is set to open on the 1st March 2015. The new centre will provide over 26,000 square feet of flexible office space over two floors, with approximately 400 desks. Set within a mixed-use development comprising retail, affordable accommodation, offices and high-end residential, it is located within TFL’s Zone 1, approximately five minutes’ walk from Old Street Rail and Underground Station, just two stops from Kings Cross.bThis is Avanta’s first site within Tech City, also known as Silicon Roundabout, which is the third largest technology start-up cluster in the world and home to over 15,000 growing businesses.

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Availability of office space in central London has fallen a fifth since last year

by • Facilities management, News

Availability of office space in central London fallen a fifth since last yearIncreased pressure on London rents are being predicted as the latest figures by DTZ show the availability of office space in central London is now 20 per cent lower than the same period in 2013, and 30 per cent below the 10 year average. While London office take up rose by 17 per cent over the same period in 2013, all Central London markets, except the South East fringe, are seeing year-on-year decreases in supply of at least 15 per cent. The North West fringe, the Docklands and the West End have seen the biggest falls in availability over the past 12 months (down 53%, 36% and 30% respectively) with availability in the City falling by 17 per cent over the same time period. A significant development has been the availability of second hand space falling by a third (33%) to 5.6 million sq ft over the past 12 months – 47 per cent below the ten year average. More →

Younger workers less tolerant of flexible workers than you would think

by • Flexible working, News, Workplace

Younger workers less tolerant of flexible workers than you would thinkOne of the key drivers for bringing a flexible working culture into the workplace is to accommodate the needs of the younger generation of ‘millennial’ workers who are perceived to view the idea of the traditional 9 to 5 as archaic. But this open-mindedness appears to waver when applied to other workers. A recent survey by employment specialists Doyle Clayton has found Generation Y employees have the most negative attitudes towards older employees and part-time and flexible workers; seeing their colleagues’ flexibility as coming at their own expense. The Age Before Beauty? Report warns that there shouldn’t be an assumption that initiatives to support flexible working will be welcomed by staff in their twenties and thirties. And while younger workers tended to be most likely to perceive discrimination at their workplace, they were also the most likely to exhibit negative attitudes towards equality, for example seeing older workers as less valuable because of their age. More →

Exam board introduces workplace issues to psychology A Level syllabus

by • Company news, News, Workplace, Workplace design

workplace issuesOne of the UK’s five main national examination boards is to introduce a range of workplace issues as part of its updated Psychology A Level syllabus from next year. Cambridge based OCR claims that Psychology is the UK’s fourth  most popular subject at both A and AS level and is also one of the most popular subjects at degree level too. The issues will be introduced to the syllabus as part of an Environmental Psychology theme and will consider as issues such as the effects of allowing desk clutter on individual wellbeing (although it didn’t do much for Kanji Watanabe in Akira Kurosawa’s film Ikiru, above), gender roles in workstation personalisation and so on. Students will be expected to carry out their own research into the topics as well as draw on established sources of information. OCR also suggests that the subject may help to develop the emotional intelligence of those who take the subject.

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