Search Results for: london

Is it time to stamp out e-cigarettes in your workplace?

by • Comment, Facilities management, Workplace

e-cigarettes at workElectronic cigarettes, love them or hate them, they are here, but are they here to stay? Since 1 July 2007, smoking in enclosed or substantially enclosed public places and workplaces in the UK has been prohibited. E-cigarettes however emit water vapour rather than smoke and therefore could be legally used in public places and workplaces. But there is increasing debate about the use of e-cigarettes in public places, as concern grows about their potential harmful effects. It’s been alleged that e-cigarettes contain chemicals that could make them as harmful as normal tobacco. The World Health Organisation (WHO) calls the devices safety “illusive”, noting that the chemicals they contain are often not disclosed and have not been properly tested, while a report commissioned by Public Health England said e-cigarettes required “appropriate regulation, careful monitoring and risk management” if their benefits were to be maximised. More →

England’s technology firms now employ more people than California’s, claims new report

by • News, Property, Technology

technology firmsAs we reported last week, London and the South East of England remain the UK’s hotspots for new business start-ups and now new research claims that the region now has more people working in the vital technology and information sector than the capital of world tech, California. The report from South Mountain Economics and Bloomberg Philanthropies shows that there are nearly three quarters of a million people working for technology firms in London, the South East and East Anglia compared to 692,000 in California and that there are more firms working in financial technology in London than either Silicon Valley or New York. The report backs up new research from Oxford Economics, commissioned by the Mayor of London to coincide with London Technology Week, which claims that over the next decade, London’s digital tech sector is expected to grow at a rate of 5.1 per cent per annum, creating an additional £12 billion of economic activity and 46,000 new jobs, which in turn is driving change in the commercial property market. More →

Integration of workplace services continues to gain momentum, claims report

by • Facilities management, News, Property, Workplace

Integration of workplace services is gaining momentumHR, FM and IT within large corporate organisations are gradually being brought together to provide ‘Workplace services’ that recognise new working practices and the importance of people. This trend – which has already seen an agreement between the BIFM and CIPD to collaborate in the future, will accelerate in the increasingly agile, digitally driven business environment.  This presents an opportunity for FM to provide new service solutions that focus more on supporting people, and less on the buildings from which they work. This is according to a new report, Delivering the Vision of an Integrated Workplace, was commissioned by Mitie, which will be unveiled at the Facilities Show next week. The report highlights the opportunities for FM providers to offer an expanded range of consultancy-style services, such as space management and the analysis of FM and property data to drive property strategy.

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Silicon Roundabout remains the UK’s foremost location for business startups

by • News, Property

silicon-roundaboutResearch from accountants UHY Hacker Young has revealed the UK’s most popular postcodes for business start-ups. Silicon Roundabout is the most prolific area, generating 15,620 new businesses over the last year. London, unsurprisingly dominates the list with only three zones outside the capital making the top 20. Within London, Silicon Roundabout saw nearly five times as many businesses launched as Canary Wharf (3,180). The Borough, Bankside and Bermondsey areas, covered by the SE1 postcode, saw a rapid expansion in new business creation, with a 13 percent increase in new businesses, from 5,190 to 5,850 in the last year. Outside of London, Hove (BN3), came 10th marked out as a hub for outsourcing, tech and finance businesses, Leeds LS14 which came 12th and Warrington WA1 which both offer a large number of business and technology parks.

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France latest country to offer incentives for people to cycle to work

by • Legal news, News

cycle to workFrance has joined the UK, Netherlands, Germany, Belgium and Denmark in offering a financial incentive for people to cycle to work. The six month scheme will see people paid to take to their bikes as a way of cutting traffic, pollution and fuel consumption as well as boosting people’s health. When announcing the scheme, Transport Minister Frederic Cuvillier, said that if  the pilot is deemed successful, it will be extended to confirm its outcomes. He hopes that the bike-to-work incentive scheme will boost bike use for commuting by 50 percent from 2.4 percent of all work-home journeys, or about 800 million km, with an average distance of 3.5 km per journey. In Belgium, where a tax-free bike incentive scheme has been in place for more than five years, about 8 percent of all commutes are on bicycles. In the Netherlands, it is about 25 percent, according to Reuters.

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The Shard evacuated after smoke spotted in basement of EU’s tallest building

by • Facilities management, News

The Shard fireAround 900 people were evacuated from the Shard this morning, following reports that smoke was coming from the basement of the 1,004ft-high building. Seven fire engines and around 50 firefighters were sent to the building, following the alert at around 10.30. The smoke had begun to dissipate by around 11.45, and this afternoon London Fire Brigade announced it was set to allow tenants to re-enter the premises. No injuries have been reported at the tallest building in Western Europe, winner of the European Award in the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitats (CTBUH) Best Tall Building Worldwide competition; however there were complaints that office workers had to walk down hundreds of steps during the evacuation. Along with retail and hospitality tenants, the Shard has a number of office occupants, including investment bank Duff & Phelps and the venture capital group Foresight. More →

New tenants reflect strong demand for office accommodation on Regent Street

by • Facilities management, News, Property

Sstrong demand for office accommodation on London's Regent StreetIn one of the most substantial West End lettings this year, global asset and investment manager, Tudor Capital Europe LLP is to locate its new UK headquarters to Crown Estate’s 10 New Burlington Street development. The firm will move into some 40,000 sq ft across two floors at the £250m redevelopment, which forms part of Regent Street’s £1 billion regeneration. This follows on from a 30,000 sq ft letting to Ares Management at the same building. The addition of Tudor Capital Europe to the line-up at 10 New Burlington Street means the office element (around 100,000 sq ft) is 75 per cent let at completion. The move illustrates strong demand for office accommodation on Regent Street, where office take up rose by 90 per cent in the 12 months prior to March 2014, compared to an increase of 31 per cent over the wider West End in the same time span. More →

A third of UK workers would welcome a digital assistant to free up their time

by • Comment, News, Technology

digital assistant

A vision of the present. © Pixar Studios

In the 2008 Pixar film WALL-E, humans have fled the planet they have destroyed in an orgy of garbage-generating mass-consumerism and been reduced to morbidly obese, sedentary lumps living vicariously through screens and whose every need is catered for by the machines around them. Well, they say the best science fiction is really about the present day and sure enough, it appears that many of us are perfectly happy with the idea of suckling at the galvanised teat of a robot overlord. A new survey carried out by ClickSoftware  claims that a third of UK employees would welcome the idea of having a personal digital assistant to help them carry out everyday tasks. Over half (58 percent) hope that intelligent apps will take on at least a tenth of their workload in the future, especially those tasks considered mundane and repetitive such as administration, work scheduling and planning journeys.

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Employees’ time off increasingly squeezed by their job duties

by • Flexible working, News, Workplace

Work pressures mean over half of managers plan to work on holiday

Flexible working may be perceived as more advantageous to employees than employers, but there’s new evidence that it encourages presenteeism rather than promoting a better work/life balance. The Glassdoor UK Annual Leave Survey has discovered that 44 per cent of employees undertake some work while on holiday; 18 per cent report that a colleague and 13 per cent their boss, have contacted them about work related matters while on leave. And that’s just those who take their allocated holiday time. The average UK employee uses just 77 per cent of his or her annual leave, and only half (50%) of UK employees take their full annual leave. Given that the average annual leave in the UK is approximately 28 days per year, this means that employees could be losing 6.5 days every 12 months. More →

BCO office standards include guidance on provisions for cyclists for first time

by • Facilities management, Flexible working, News, Workplace design

guidance on cyclists provision in BCO guide

The new edition to the British Council for Offices’ Guide to Specification, which provides guidance on industry standards for workplaces across the UK will contain guidance on provisions for cyclists for the first time. The new 2014 edition to the office standards guide due for publication later in the year, recommends one shower per ten cycle spaces and one cycle space per 100m2, reflecting the evolving face of travel to and from the office environment. Another significant change is to the recommended workplace density, which has been reviewed to take into account the ever more diverse way businesses are now using their workspaces; which includes the adoption of more flexible working patterns. The report states that: “Considering workplace density alone may overstate the demands placed on building infrastructure, or result in over provision if used as the basis for design.”

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British Land announces first letting at Marble Arch House in West End

by • Facilities management, News, Property

Marble Arch HouseJust a month after its launch, Marble Arch House in London’s West End, which includes 61,200 sq ft of new office space over seven floors, has been let by British Land. Fulcrum Asset Management has signed a ten year lease at £78.50 per sq ft, and will move into the 9,000 sq ft fifth floor of the building in the summer. British Land entered into an agreement with The Portman Estate to purchase and redevelop Marble Arch House, located on Seymour Street in the Portman Village, in 2011. The scheme, designed by Bennetts Associates Architects, includes 6,400 sq ft of green roof space, designed to encourage wild grasses, as well as birds, bees, butterflies and other wildlife. The office space features natural light from both east and west, with shading louvres that minimise glare and overheating, while maintaining views towards Hyde Park. More →

The business of workplace design and management; new issue of Insight is now available

by • Comment, News, Newsletter, Workplace design

Flexible workingIn the latest Insight newsletter, available to view online; Mark Eltringham lists just seven of the ways in which flexible working may have actually made our lives more rigid; expectations for rising rents as demand for commercial property reaches the highest level since before the financial crisis; ‘Walkie Talkie’ skyscraper signs up two new tenants; and the BCO names London and the South East’s best recently refurbished examples of workplace design. The idea that staff find greater job satisfaction when they work in environmentally friendly surroundings is challenged by a new study; while another report claims that wearable technology could be a boast to productivity; and the CIPD warns that rigid organisational hierarchies hamper the development of management and leadership skills within the workplace. To automatically receive our weekly newsletter, simply add your email address to the box on the home page.

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