In this week’s Insight newsletter, available to view online; Mark Eltringham reflects on the need to be aware of the wider world when we are at work; and wonders where we will all fit into an increasingly automated workplace. News that strict controls could undermine the successful implementation of many BYOD programmes; confirmation that BIM technology is helping construction professionals improve productivity, efficiency, quality and safety and why the commercial property sector needs to take a city scale view of retrofit projects. A new survey predicts big changes to come in the way we manage an increasingly flexible workforce and legal expert Pam Loch provides an essential guide to the key pieces of employment law which will come into force over the coming year.

In the Insight newsletter, available to view online; cost is still viewed by businesses as the most important factor in assessing an office’s performance; a suspiciously high number of occupiers claim that their programmes of workplace change are successful; PwC’s nine-storey headquarters in London surpasses all BREEAM scores to date, and we review The Emergent Workplace – a new book which aims to help people make better decisions about their offices. Nigel Sikora discusses the challenges of ensuring the right level of acoustic and visual privacy within the workplace; Charles Marks says London may grab all the headlines but the creative and tech industries are thriving around the country and Richenda Oldham explains ways businesses can improve their knowledge of the range of costs involved in owning or leasing commercial real estate.

In this week’s Insight newsletter, available to view online; Nigel Oseland makes a plea not to kill off the open plan office just because it has been misinterpreted; Cathie Sellars explains why Maslow continues to offer us the ideal definition of wellness and Annie Gurton says the ability to find meaning and purpose in our lives trumps financial rewards. Mark Eltringham writes: what Robert Frost can teach us about how we discuss the changing workplace and why he believes attempts to predict the workplace of the future are overwhelmingly rooted in the present. In the news; employers who struggle with “doing mobile”; high tech sector contributes to highest level of commercial real estate activity in over six years and zero-hours contracts are not the evil they’ve been portrayed.

In the weekly Insight newsletter, available to view online; an inspirational morning spent in the company of Charles Handy at the recent Worktech 13 London conference; a gallery of images [pictured] from Apple’s new $5 billion campus in California and in our exclusive interview, Dave Coplin, Microsoft’s Chief Envisioning Officer, shares his views on the full potential that technology offers a modern, digital society. Mark Eltringham wonders if our growing preference for mobiles over the office landline indicates a willingness to blur the boundaries between our private and working lives; Simon Heath says the answer to the question “How Will We Work In 2020?” is probably “exactly as we do today” and legal expert Adam Hartley explains why Zero hours contracts are not a new phenomenon.

In this week’s Insight newsletter, available to view online; chaos is something that many organisations should harness as a way of fostering the creativity they claim to desire; FM is revealed as one of five UK industries where employees have reported the highest levels of long-term ill health; six architectural practices are shortlisted to design new RIBA HQ; and the CTBUH announces the winners of its Best Tall Building Worldwide competition. Pam Loch considers the CBI’s support for the opt-out of the maximum 48 hour working week; Philip Ross says we should never take the UK’s talent base for granted; and reflecting on a 400-year guide to ergonomics, Mark Eltringham observes paper may have been replaced by tablet computers, but the people using them haven’t changed at all.

Workplace of the Future winner: Vertical Flux

In the latest issue of the Insight newsletter available to view online; Smartglasses look set to become the next Bring Your Own Device (BYOD); office construction in the City of London higher than it has been for five years and the winners of a competition to uncover the “Workplace of the Future” are announced. We’ve an exclusive interview with journalist and urbanist Greg Lindsay, a key speaker at the Worktech 13 conference, along with columnist Philip Ross who explains why data will transform the role of workplace. Debra Ward, Chair of Women in FM questions why companies choose not to ensure gender balance in senior positions and Pam Loch offers advice to managers on what to do when a social media fixation threatens staff productivity.