October 3, 2023

Investment and new powers essential to unleash the vast potential of UK cities

Unleashing the potential of the UK’s cities is critical to boost growth, repair their social fabric and meet our net zero targets according to a new report, produced in partnership between the Royal Society for Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) and Core Cities UK. The report calls on the government to move away from the current trend of short-termism, witnessed in recent weeks in debates on HS2, net zero and the future of local government. More →

October 2, 2023

Sustainability and skills at heart of RICS’ new manifesto for the built environment

by Jayne Smith • Environment, Facilities management, News

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) is launching its manifesto for the built environment in the lead-up to the next UK General Election, titled Empowering a Sustainable Future. The UK’s built and natural environments face large-scale challenges ranging from climate change to a cost-of-living crisis. According to the manifesto, endemic skills shortages undermine development in the industry while the workplace has become more fluid post-pandemic, with the built environment needing to reflect the change in workforce behaviour and its approach to sustainability. More →

September 18, 2023

Smart technology needs to start with people if it wants to get smarter

by David Sharp • Features, Technology, Wellbeing

“My engineering students had come to class with technology on their minds.” So says artist and design researcher Sara Hendren, author of What a Body Can Do: How we Meet the Built World. It’s a fascinating book in which she consciously pushes back against the prevailing narrative that so-called smart technology has a fix for every problem. As a professor teaching design for disability at Olin College of Engineering, Massachusetts, Hendren draws attention to the assumptions that drive normative behaviours to define what is a ‘problem’ in the first place. More →

September 5, 2023

Breaking eggs and a two thousand year quest to make the most of each day

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Flexible working, Workplace

The fracturing of time and place underlies every one of the great workplace issues of our time. Everything that springs from this – the where, when, how, what and why of work – is defined by the shattering of any fixed idea we may once have had of a time and a place to work. Because the challenge to these traditional ideas is now so inextricably linked in our minds with new technology, we might often forget that people have been asking questions about how we can get the most out of each day for thousands of years. Tempus fugit after all, and as a consequence we’ve always known that how we spend our days is how we spend our lives. More →

August 14, 2023

First look at Sustainable Design China Summit taking place in Beijing this September

by Freddie Steele • Company news, Environment, Events, Workplace design

Following on from its successful launch last year, the Sustainable Design China Summit returns for 2023. The event, an evolution of Design China Beijing, is held at the Beijing Exhibition Center from 21-23 September 2023 and is a must-visit for designers, architects, developers, and decision makers looking to design a sustainable future. More →

August 11, 2023

Majority of firms lack the data to make ‘return to office’ decisions

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News, Technology

A new survey from Envoy, which polled over 1,100 company executives and workplace managers across five leading industries, explores how these two groups of leaders use data to make smarter, more informed decisions about their workplaces. It suggests that the world’s leading companies are struggling to confidently report what’s happening in their workplaces. The problem is the lack of accurate, easy-to-use data. 52 percent of executives admit not being able to make a critical workplace decision because they lacked the necessary data to assess operational and real estate needs. Furthermore, 80 percent of the same executives confess that they would have approached the so-called return-to-office differently, if they had access to accurate data. More →

August 7, 2023

Webinar: How to adapt to a new era of dynamic space management

by Freddie Steele • Company news, Facilities management

As organizations adopt hybrid work, reduce their real estate footprint and redesign floor plans, space planners are running into a slew of new challenges. Yesterday’s antiquated tools can’t handle these challenges, because they were built for the old, relatively static world of work. More →

August 7, 2023

Sedus office cube solutions: a symbiosis of proximity and distance

by Freddie Steele • Company news, Furniture

Open space concepts, flexibility and new working styles will continue to be defining characteristics of the office of the future. They offer a number of advantages by eroding entrenched structures and supporting collaboration and communication. When people work in close proximity, with flexible meetings and spontaneous exchanges, they are able to determine the shape of each working day. Employees are increasingly deciding for themselves where and how they can best manage their tasks. Concentrated individual work shifts seamlessly into collaborative work and teamwork precedes periods of retreat or relaxation. For certain tasks, focus, silence and a sense of distance from the outside environment are essential. The office cube solution is one way of insulating people from interruptions and unwelcome noise. As an enclosed cubicle and thanks to its acoustically effective components, se:cube from Sedus can minimise acoustic and visual disruption. More →

August 4, 2023

Insight confirms partnership with Material Matters for sustainable design event

by Mark Eltringham • Environment, News, Workplace design

We are part of the London Design Festival for the first time this year, developing an exciting new project that promises to mark a significant shift in the way we think about workplaces and sustainable design. We have partnered with Material Matters to create a space that will showcase the latest and most innovative thinking on sustainable office design, circularity, new materials and innovation. Known as The Works Place, products and ideas will be presented in a range of working settings so that visitors can see how they might be applied in their own offices and other spaces. More →

August 3, 2023

Issue 16 of IN magazine is now available for you

by Mark Eltringham • IN Magazine, News, Premium Content

The new issue of IN Magazine is now available to read online. The print edition will be posted shortly. In this issue, we look at the ongoing shift in the way we think about work and workplaces but without falling back on the simple, cliched thinking that defines much of that conversation. We consider what happens now for the world’s fringe business districts as Canary Wharf sets out its plans for the future in the wake of HSBC’s announced departure. We report on how domestic design is changing in response to a rapidly evolving world. We look at how the changing work practices of architects are playing out in buildings and cities. And we announce details of our first major event. More →

August 2, 2023

FOOTPRINT+ event moves to Old Billingsgate from Brighton

by Freddie Steele • Company news, Environment, Events

After two years on Brighton seafront, FOOTPRINT+ will relocate to London for 2024. The sustainability event’s new home will be Old Billingsgate Market; re-purposed by partner Marco Goldschmied of RSHP in 1985-88 for National Westminster Bank Plc. The building itself enjoyed a low-carbon retrofit, from the 19th century’s largest fish market to a central London prime event space. Old Billingsgate is naturally lit, with openable rooflights throughout, and an outdoor terrace directly facing directly out to the Thames. The venue provides the space to accommodate the growth of FOOTPRINT+ while providing greater accessibility for all the various sectors who will now have only a short walk from Monument and London Bridge stations. More →

July 27, 2023

Growth of serviced office market doesn’t mean it has bounced back

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News, Property

An analysis of the UK serviced office market from Sirius Property Finance, claims that while the sector is set to grow by 17 percent in 2023, a growing appetite for remote working means it is still struggling to match its pre-pandemic highs. More →