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New objectives in workplace design guide set out to increase biodiversity in government estate

New objectives in workplace design guide set out to increase biodiversity in government estate

The UK's Government Property Agency has published details of how it intends to protect the natural environment and increase biodiversity across its extensive estate.The UK’s Government Property Agency has published details of how it intends to protect the natural environment and increase biodiversity across its extensive estate. The Biodiversity and Nature Recovery Annex (BNRA) forms part of the Government Workplace Design Guide. As the largest office property holder in government, the GPA believes it ‘has an opportunity to improve the environment for the benefit of everyone by playing a part in ceasing the extensive loss of biodiversity in the UK’. More →

AI will leave a lot of people with nowhere to go in the job market

AI will leave a lot of people with nowhere to go in the job market

Non-graduates, 'silver surfers' and those in lower socio-economic brackets will be left behind as AI creates a 'skills glass ceiling'Non-graduates, ‘silver surfers’ and those in lower socio-economic brackets will be left behind as the rise of AI creates a ‘skills glass ceiling’. That’s according to the latest Robert Half Jobs Confidence Index (JCI) – an economic confidence tracker produced in partnership with the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr). The latest iteration of the Robert Half JCI revealed that almost half (45 percent) of the UK workforce is concerned that AI will disrupt their career in the next six to ten years. More →

Fitwel Announces 2024 Best in Building Health Awards

Fitwel Announces 2024 Best in Building Health Awards

Fitwel, the building health certification system, has announced the winners of the 2024 Best in Building Health Awards.Fitwel, the building health certification system, has announced the winners of the 2024 Best in Building Health Awards. The awards are designed to honour the most innovative real estate companies and individuals ‘setting the standard for health and wellbeing in the built environment across the globe, leveraging the trusted Fitwel Standard to enhance quality of life and drive value through design and operational excellence’. This year’s winners include projects from Canada, Spain, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, Thailand, and the United States. More →

Architecture must transform to meet the climate challenge, say RIBA

Architecture must transform to meet the climate challenge, say RIBA

The most significant actions the architecture profession can take to help mitigate the worst impacts of climate change, adapt buildings to withstand weather extremes, promote biodiversity and scale up engagement and activismThe Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has launched a new horizon-scanning programme with a set of scans that identify the most pertinent environmental issues facing the built environment over the next ten years. Developed by leading academics, The Environmental Challenge themed horizon scans provide foresight into the most significant actions the architecture profession can take to help mitigate the worst impacts of climate change, adapt buildings to withstand weather extremes, promote biodiversity and scale up engagement and activism. More →

People are simply ignoring bans on AI use at work

People are simply ignoring bans on AI use at work

Employees say they are ignoring AI bans because it makes them more productive and better at their jobsOlder readers may remember a phenomenon called Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) which marked the point at which employers gave up worrying about people using their own phones at work and instead made it look like it was their idea anyway. A similar arc seems to be happening with AI, as people simply ignore their employers’ attempts to manage its use. A new poll from comms firm Definition suggests that over half of employed UK adults (54 percent) use tools like ChatGPT at work, despite 25 percent of businesses banning or significantly limiting its use. We have no other information on the methodology beyond that it was of 1,000 people. More →

Digital communication tools are a constant source of workplace strife

Digital communication tools are a constant source of workplace strife

A new poll of 4,000 knowledge workers in the UK, US, Germany and Australia suggests that digital communication tools are a constant source of strife in the workplaceA new poll of 4,000 knowledge workers in the UK, US, Germany and Australia suggests that digital communication tools are a constant source of strife in the workplace, especially between different generations of people. The poll from the Adapatavist Group, Mind the generational gap, was co-authored by Dr. Eliza Filby, a Historian of Generational Evolution. With half of companies now employing three or more generations, the report claims to reveal a pressing need for clear digital communication guidelines to support effective collaboration and workplace efficiency among diverse age groups. While highlighting areas of intergenerational friction, it also revealed large areas of mutual understanding and cooperation. More →

Modus announces new partnership with Canadian office furniture giant Teknion

Modus announces new partnership with Canadian office furniture giant Teknion

UK based furniture maker Modus has announce a partnership with Canadian office furniture giant Teknion. Modus is the first British manufacturer to become a Teknion partner and this new venture enables both parties to expand their global presence and localise their manufacturing capabilities. The firms say this strategic approach will help significantly reduce the carbon footprint of its products for the UK, European, and North American markets, while at the same time driving sales. More →

UK and other countries sign international pledge to cut carbon emissions from buildings

UK and other countries sign international pledge to cut carbon emissions from buildings

This declaration aims to facilitate a swift, equitable, and effective transition within the sector to lower carbon emissions from buildings.The inaugural Buildings and Climate Global Forum, organised by the French Government and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) concluded last week.  Representatives from 70 countries adopted the Declaration de Chaillot, a foundational document for international cooperation. This declaration aims to facilitate a swift, equitable, and effective transition within the sector to lower carbon emissions from buildings. More →

UKGBC publishes new guidance on embodied carbon emissions reporting for more rigorous carbon reduction strategy

UKGBC publishes new guidance on embodied carbon emissions reporting for more rigorous carbon reduction strategy

The UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) has launched new guidance on Scope 3 embodied carbon measurement and reporting, for stakeholders across the built environment. Scope 3 represents a proportion of an organisation’s indirect embodied carbon emissions that can constitute up to 80-95 percent of its total value chain footprint. Setting out a way to coherently align embodied carbon assessments, the guidance reframes Scope 3 reporting as a singular methodology rather than siloed efforts. More →

If you want to increase productivity, let an algorithm decide the incentives

If you want to increase productivity, let an algorithm decide the incentives

Targeting workers with different incentive schemes based on their individual characteristics leads to greater performance and increased productivity and is much more effective than a one size fits all approachTargeting workers with different incentive schemes based on their individual characteristics leads to greater performance and increased productivity and is much more effective than a one size fits all approach, according to new research from Frankfurt School of Finance & Management and published in the Management Science Journal. To study the impact of targeted incentive schemes on performance, Timo Vogelsang, Professor of Accounting at Frankfurt School of Finance & Management, alongside colleagues from University of Cologne, ran two large-scale experiments with more than 12,000 participants on Amazon MTurk. More →

A quarter of projects don’t meet their stated goals – but that’s not because of remote working

A quarter of projects don’t meet their stated goals – but that’s not because of remote working

A quarter of all projects do not meet the business goals that their organisations set for them but remote working is not a major factor in outcomesA quarter of all projects do not meet the business goals that their organisations set for them, according to research published by the Project Management Institute (PMI) in the 15th edition of its Pulse of the Profession report – The Future of Project Work. The newly released report, based on the responses of over 2,000 project professionals and 300+ senior leaders around the world, paints what the report says is a concerning picture of project outcomes across various industries globally. The report also highlights the reasons for this and excludes remote working as a major factor. More →

Navel gazing may not be the answer to the challenges facing workplace professions

Navel gazing may not be the answer to the challenges facing workplace professions

An adherence to strongly held beliefs can make people think and behave in peculiar ways and get them tangled up in peripheral issues that take on a great deal of significance. Early religious artists, for example, spent centuries wrestling with the seemingly intractable problem of whether to depict Adam and Eve with belly buttons or not. More →