Columnists
March 28, 2014
Google’s new Amsterdam office exposes Tech’s youthful obsessions
by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Technology, Workplace design
Back in the 1990s, when Frank Duffy was one of the august handful of people popularising notions of a changing approach to office design, he categorised four models of the workplace that he foresaw would come to reflect the work done in them, namely the den, cell, hive and club. Back then, the word ‘club’ […]
March 27, 2014
Design of the Year shortlist contrasts what is practical with what is possible
by Simon Heath • Architecture, Comment, Workplace design
A great many of us pay architecture and design very little attention until it’s too late and we’re confronted with the workings of a mind that doesn’t consider whether just because we could really means we should. The kind of mind that designs a building that melts cars on the street or one with wind […]
March 26, 2014
The enduring need to put a bit more of the M into facilities management
by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Facilities management, Furniture, Workplace design
It may well be a statement of the obvious, but it’s worth reminding ourselves sometimes that the term facilities management consists of two words. There is often a bit too much emphasis on the facilities and a bit too little on the management and sometimes we look for design and product solutions to problems that […]
March 25, 2014
The workplace should be designed for (and by) people, not robots
by Simon Heath • Comment, Facilities management, Technology, Workplace design
From existential and dystopian fears expressed through books and films, we have long had an uneasy relationship with the idea of automatons and artificial intelligence. The UKCES saw robotics and automation as significant enough to include in it’s recent report on the future of work and the risks to jobs are very real based even on […]
March 21, 2014
Why work should be a key focus in improving our happiness
by Jessica Pryce-Jones • Comment, Flexible working, Workplace
The iOpener Institute for People & Performance is an official partner of the UN International Day of Happiness, which took place this week. Here, iOpener’s Joint CEOs Jessica Pryce-Jones & Julia Lindsay explain why work should be a key focus of improving happiness. The UN International Day of Happiness is designed to recognize that ‘progress’ is […]
March 20, 2014
European executives overconfident about their ability to manage change
by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Facilities management, News, Technology
There are a number of casual truisms about the modern workplace that everybody accepts to the point they become clichéd. But knowing something and knowing what to do about it can be two completely different things. While we might all agree that ‘change is a constant’ and the ‘main driver of change is technology’, both […]
March 18, 2014
What the UK regional divide can teach us about the way we design offices
by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Facilities management, Workplace design
In the BBC documentary Mind the Gap, Evan Davis asks why London has an economy that is larger than and different to those of other UK cities, but also getting bigger and more differentiated. One of the main reasons he finds for this is something called agglomeration; the more skilled people you can put within […]
March 14, 2014
Might a lack of joined-up thinking undermine UK high-tech ambitions?
by Mark Eltringham • Comment, News, Property, Technology
Over the past week both Prime Minister David Cameron and London Mayor Boris Johnson have offered up visions of economic success founded on new technology. Yet, as the CBI points out in a new report pinpointing the dearth of talent needed to make such dreams a reality, politicians often appear to ignore the realities of […]
March 11, 2014
A field guide to workplace terminology (part 2)
by Simon Heath • Comment, Facilities management
A year ago we published the first part of Simon Heath’s acid lexicon of the terms people use to obscure the reality of what it is they actually mean. Part One can still be read here. While much has changed over the past year, we are fortunate that Simon’s corrosive, witty and informed take on corporate […]
March 10, 2014
The workplace of the future is one founded on uncertainty
by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Facilities management, Flexible working, Technology, Workplace, Workplace design
We now know for a fact that the good people at the UK Commission for Employment and Skills take heed of what they read on Workplace Insight. After Simon Heath recently eviscerated the idea of the year 2020 as a useful marker for the ‘future’, a new report from the UKCES draws its line in the sand a bit […]
March 5, 2014
Innovate or die? Why facilities management must embrace change to survive
by Demitri Maldonado • Comment, Facilities management
According to recent reports on workplace, facilities management and corporate real estate, the support services sector needs to change. Some even say it needs to innovate or die. That might be a little harsh, but the current model that the majority of FM service providers work to and that their clients take for granted is […]
April 2, 2014
When worlds collide: a preview of the Salone Internationale del Mobile in Milan
by Justin Miller • Comment, Events, Furniture, Workplace design
Don’t even think about going to Milan for a break at this time of year – you probably won’t get a hotel room. Every year the Salone Internationale del Mobile (International Furniture Fair) and Milan Design Week ensure that hotels are full despite room rates soaring for the duration of this world class exhibition. Salone […]