May 10, 2023
The World Green Building Council (WorldGBC) and its network of over 75 Green Building Councils are launching the Circular Built Environment Playbook. The organisation claims this is ‘a critical guide for the building and construction sector around the world to accelerate the adoption of circular economy and resource efficiency principles’. More →
May 4, 2023
The UK Green Building Council has launched new guidance which it claims will empower the built environment sector to deliver Biodiversity Net Gain as a key element in its developments. Biodiversity Net Gain policy requirements will come into effect in November and will mandate that all new developments must design and deliver solutions that support nature. More →
April 21, 2023
Savills latest global Prime Office Costs (SPOC) analysis has revealed that pricing for prime top-tier offices around the world has largely held steady during the first quarter of 2023, with net effective costs – the ‘all in’ cost for occupiers – increasing an average of 1.1 percent. More →
April 19, 2023
Hybrid working can facilitate major carbon savings and has the potential for significant impact on the climate crisis, according to a new study by IWG and Arup. The study measured the environmental impact of hybrid working on six cities across the US and UK with a deep dive on two major carbon contributors – London and LA. Others examined were New York City, Atlanta, Manchester and Glasgow. All six cities showed the potential for huge carbon savings through the widespread adoption of hybrid working, which has rapidly expanded amongst white collar workers, who are now using the available technology to work where is most convenient and they are most productive. More →
April 10, 2023
The digital edition of issue 14 of IN Magazine is now available to read free, here. Print copies are in the post. We think it’s the best issue we’ve done so far, but please don’t take our word for it. It’s visually stunning, as always. It offers you the usual eclectic mix of content, covering everything from technology to urban design, management issues, property, office design, the environment, wellbeing and transport as well as all the usual interviews, news, events and commentary. All back issues of IN are available here. More →
April 5, 2023
Zürich has been named as the world’s leading smart city according to the latest annual Smart City Index published by IMD business school. Asian and European cities dominate this year’s top twenty. Among them, IMD names six “super champions” because they have been continuously improving their performance since 2019: Zürich, Oslo, Singapore, Beijing, Seoul and Hong Kong. More →
March 29, 2023
The 2023 business rates revaluation will come into effect on the 1st of April 2023, the first of its kind for six years and according to business rates experts at Colliers could have a material impact on the provision of affordable workspace in the capital, historically located in the “fringe” locations. Colliers claims that this is because rents and hence rateable values in fringe locations such as Hackney, Southwark and Hammersmith & Fulham have increased at a greater pace than in historic ‘core’ office locations such as the City, Islington and the West End, and those fringe locations have now become equally or in some cases more expensive locations than those in the Central London core. More →
March 28, 2023
MIPIM may have returned last year, but 2023 was the year it felt back. That was despite widespread concerns over the rising costs of refinancing and a banking crisis that started with the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in the US and quickly moved to Europe, with Swiss financial regulators beginning to put together during MIPIM week the deal that would see UBS buy Credit Suisse in an emergency rescue. More →
March 27, 2023
The office has passed through five ages. The ‘coffee houses’ of the 17th century, yielded to the ‘clerical factories’ of the 19th as machines revolutionised work. After the Second World War, the ‘corporate offices’ of global corporations and William Whyte’s Organization Man dominated the scene. Following the launch of IBM’s PC in the early-1980s, we saw the rise of ‘digital offices’ in the 1990s, complete with internet, email and social media. And for the past few years we have been moving inexorably towards the latest age: ‘network offices’. Each age was shorter than its predecessor: both the digital and network ages began less than a career span ago. More →
February 8, 2023
Humans are exposed to poor air quality and pollution almost everywhere. The World Health Organization estimate that 99 percent of the world’s population breathe in polluted air each day. Chess players competing indoors are no exception – and it can affect their performance. A recent study conducted by researchers from Maastricht University (Netherlands) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA) analysed the quality of chess moves across multiple German chess tournaments. They found that chess experts perform worse when there is more particulate matter (PM2.5) in the air. More →
February 1, 2023
The British Safety Council has warned that new legally binding air quality targets for the UK, which passed the final stages of parliamentary scrutiny earlier this week, fall well short of what is needed to keep people safe. The new limits will come into force in the wake of last year’s Environment Act, after the Government missed its own deadline of December to introduce them, following a consultation. More →
March 30, 2023
Every workplace innovation contains the seeds of its opposite
by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Flexible working, Technology