Search Results for: sit stand

April 8, 2015

Sino might: a review of the CIFF office design show in Guangzhou

by John Sacks • Comment, Furniture, Products, Workplace design

Guangzhou, about two hours by train from Hong Kong, is China’s third city. It is a sprawling metropolis. Apart from a cluster of skyscrapers and the busy, broad sweep of the Pearl River which carves the city into districts, it has few redeeming features. Unlike the previous years’ office design shows hosted in Guangzhou, the heavy rain stayed away and the weather was hot and humid. It would probably have been sunny, were it not for the pall of smog which constantly shrouds the city. The 35th China International Furniture Fair is too large to be held at one time in the 430,000 sq. m. China Import & Export Fair complex, so it’s split into two, five day phases, held six days apart. Billed as the ‘Fabulous Furniture Fair’, Phase 1 concentrated on residential furniture. Phase 2 was for CIFF Office and for Interzum – the furniture materials and machinery show.

April 2, 2015

UK labour productivity continues to flatline in spite of upturn

by Mark Eltringham • Knowledge, News, Workplace

UK labour productivity continues to flatline in spite of the recent economic upturn, according to a new report from the Office for National Statistics. Overall productivity as measured by output per hour fell by 0.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2014 compared with the previous quarter. In 2014 as a whole, labour productivity was little changed from 2013, and slightly lower than in 2007, prior to the economic downturn. As ever, the devil is in the detail. There were notable increases in productivity in both manufacturing and construction but the modest gains in service industries obscure the fact that there is a great deal of variation across sectors and also the fact that any gains reflect a greater number of hours worked rather than an increase in the overall number of people employed or their underlying productivity.

March 27, 2015

MIPIM demonstrated how property industry is moving with the times

by Anna King • Comment, Property, Workplace design

In its 26th year, the colossus conference that is MIPIM was back in full flow. With 93 countries were present, 4, 500 investors and 22, 000 registered delegates there were numerous developments presenting opportunities around the world. And crucially, there were more people apparently buying than selling, meaning that strong investment activity will follow. A dumbfounding prediction from property agent Cushman & Wakefield, that global real estate investment could rise 11% to 1.2 trillion euros – an indication of just how much healthier the market is. However, the renewed positivity isn’t simply a return to the ‘good times’, it is apparent that the pain the recession brought in 2008 hasn’t been forgotten and we are seeing a revised formula for property that includes sustainability, collaboration and – crucially – people.

March 25, 2015

Wellbeing continues to improve despite static pay levels, claims ONS

by Mark Eltringham • Environment, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

The overall wellbeing of the UK population continues to improve despite ongoing concerns about pay levels and job security, according to a new report published today by the Office for National Statistics. The latest analysis includes an assessment of changes in national wellbeing for the first time and finds that year on year 33 percent of indicators had improved, 42 percent showed no overall change, 21 percent were not assessed and 5 percent deteriorated. The proportion of people in the UK giving the highest ratings for each aspect of personal wellbeing measured by the report increased significantly in the financial year ending 2014. The report defines wellbeing as a measure of “how we are doing as individuals, as communities and as a nation, and how sustainable this is for the future” based on 41 metrics.

March 20, 2015

Happiness and wellbeing must be at the heart of the economy finds new report

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

To mark International Day of Happiness, a major new report has revealed that a country’s GDP fails to reflect levels of people’s happiness, which, it says, “are not easily reducible to monetary values”. Wellbeing and policy was commissioned by the Legatum Institute, which established the Commission on Wellbeing and Policy to advance the policy debate on social wellbeing and is chaired by the former head of the civil service Lord Gus O’Donnell. It finds there is growing recognition that the measures of a country’s progress need to include the wellbeing of its citizens. The report adds that with job satisfaction on a long-term downward trend in most advanced countries, and people ranking time spent with their manager as among their least happy moments in the day, there’s a lot more employers can be doing to address levels of wellbeing and happiness at work.

March 12, 2015

Firms not offering staff the technology they need, claims report

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Technology

More than half (55 percent) of UK employees believe they do not have access to all the technology needed to do their jobs, according to research by Fujitsu. The study, Digital Inside Out, was based in a survey of just over 1,400 UK based employees and claims to reveal a significant disconnect between the needs of a digital-savvy working population and the digital services UK employers are currently providing. According to the report, 73 percent of UK employees believe that digital is vital to the future success of their organisation. However despite this, only 45 percent of employees feel they are provided with access to the technology services and applications they need to do their job sufficiently and 29 percent state that their ability to do their job is being hindered due to poor digital services. The report argues that the mismatch can be very costly for organisations.

March 12, 2015

BREEAM consults on new scheme for refurbishment and fit-out projects

by Mark Eltringham • Environment, Facilities management, News, Workplace design

A draft of the part of the BREEAM sustainability assessment schemes which deals with refurbishment and fit-Out, has been published for consultation. Launched this week at MIPIM, the consultation will close on 10 April 2015. The draft document can be downloaded from the BREEAM website here. All interested parties, buildings owners and investors, designers, construction industry professionals, BREEAM assessors and other stakeholders are invited to send their comments to breeam@bre.co.uk with the subject: “Comments on draft BREEAM International RFO 2015”. The draft publication of of the scheme comes four months after the launch of the UK Refurbishment and Fit-Out 2014 scheme. BRE claims that this has been adapted for an international market to take account of a range of local and regional standards, conditions and climates.

March 11, 2015

Two new reports highlight potential benefits of flexible working for women

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Workplace

Two new reports published this week highlight the potential benefits of flexible working for both employers and staff, especially women. According to a Workingmums.co.uk Best Practice Report, only 36 percent of employers have a flexible working policy despite over half thinking it improves retention, particularly of women, and over a third saying it makes people more efficient. Meanwhile, a study from the TUC claims that around half of the net growth in female employment in 2014 came from women moving in to lower-paid part-time jobs. The analysis claims that while full-time employment accounted for all of the net growth in male employment last year, for women full-time employment accounted for just 47 per cent of net female jobs growth. The TUC also claims that women who moved into part-time jobs during 2014 were typically employed on much lower rates of pay than those in full-time work.

March 11, 2015

How a big, stupid idea can be more attractive than a small, effective one

by Mark Eltringham • Architecture, Comment, Property

We’re going to be hearing a lot of big ideas over the next few weeks. Politicians will be sharing their ‘visions’ with us and letting us know exactly how ‘passionate’ they are about them and anything else Twitter tells them we care about. It’s going to be boring and infuriating, but we only have ourselves to blame. We fret when politicians don’t give us a handy label on which we can rest our hopes or lay the blame, depending on whether we agree with whatever the big idea is or not. Of course, David Cameron’s vision of choice when he became Prime Minister in 2010 was The Big Society. I won’t get into the rights and wrongs of that but I think we can all agree that The Big Society has been kicked unceremoniously into The Long Grass and we won’t be hearing much about it in the build up to this year’s General Election. Nor will we be hearing much about another of David Cameron’s pet projects even though that has actually gone on to be something of a success.

March 10, 2015

Third of Millennials more engaged by contributing to company vision than a high salary

by Sara Bean • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

The younger generation of workers say high visibility and the chance to help influence the workplace culture is of much more importance than the size of their pay packet. When asked by US-based firm Futurestep what matters most to them as employees, the greatest number of Millennial respondents – those born after 1980 – (23%) said it was “the ability to make an impact on the business,” followed by “a clear path for advancement” (20%) and “development and ongoing feedback” (16%). Income came in at fourth place at 13 percent. When questioning what makes Millennials choose one job over another, more than a third (38%) said “visibility and buy-in to the vision of the organization” while 28 percent said “a clear path for advancement.” “Job title and pay” came in third place at 18 percent.

March 6, 2015

Best performing office buildings included in the annual BREEAM awards

by Sara Bean • Environment, Facilities management, News, Workplace design

A Grade A listed building at London’s King’s Cross; a former industrial warehouse complex in London’s Clerkenwell and an office building off Paris’ Champs-Elysées were among the award winners for best performing buildings assessed under sustainable buildings standard BREEAM. Over 50 green projects from across Europe were shortlisted with eight awards going to UK-based projects and four others shared equally between France and Norway. Winner of ‘offices new construction’ is One Pancras Square, a Grade A office building based at the gateway to the King’s Cross development. ‘Offices in use’ winner Washington Plaza is a 47,097 sq.m office building, at 42 rue Washington 75008 Paris. ‘Offices refurbishment and fit-out’ winner Morelands sits at the junction of Old Street and Goswell in London’s Clerkenwell area and comprises a cluster of warehouse buildings built around a U-shaped courtyard.

March 5, 2015

The financial services sector leads the way in how we think about office design

by Charles Marks • Comment, Facilities management, Workplace design

The office as we know it may continue to change, but that doesn’t mean its vital role at the heart of the organisation will diminish. The recent downturn meant some tough decisions had to be taken by many companies. It certainly focussed more attention on the way firms design and manage their workplace, based on a clear understanding of their economics. It is one of the most commonly cited truisms about office design that after staff, buildings are easily the second highest item of expenditure for the majority of organisations. The conclusion often drawn from this is that there is a compulsion to reduce space through new working practices or more efficient office design and management. Which may be true but the challenge is to take advantage of these opportunities without adversely affecting the company’s most expensive and valuable asset; its staff.