Search Results for: office

Pandemic highlights the need for smarter, more adaptable offices and cities

Pandemic highlights the need for smarter, more adaptable offices and cities

pandemic and smart citiesThe coronavirus pandemic is a new experience for every one of us. It has changed life as we know it – at work, at home and for public interactions. As some countries start to ease restrictions on public life, how can we go back to ‘normal’ while still maintaining social distancing and feeling safe? How do we manage crowded public spaces like shopping malls, cinemas and restaurants? How do we optimize safety in our offices and factories? More importantly, how do we avoid shutting down entire cities and countries when the next pandemic hits? More →

What the 21st Century office of the future looked like in the 1960s

What the 21st Century office of the future looked like in the 1960s

refraction and the office of the futureWe’re used to hearing people predict what The Office of the Future will look like. It’s been going on for a very long time now and each new generation of commentators on the subject comes up with its own forms of wishful thinking, wild generalisations, distorted conclusions and failures to account for the inherent unknowability of future disruptive technology. The best way of reminding ourselves of these pitfalls is not to look forward, but back. Only then  can we see how an image can be refracted and make allowances. More →

Office occupiers set to transform the design of their offices

Office occupiers set to transform the design of their offices

Nearly three quarters of global office occupiers responding to a survey expect to transform their workplace design in the next two years, according to a report from Mace. The report, which was produced using data from a global client workplace survey issued by Mace to over 4,000 CRE professionals, shows that businesses worldwide are reviewing their current workplace offer following the pandemic, in a move to improve employee experience and attract people back into offices. More →

Winds of change are blowing through the office

Winds of change are blowing through the office

Whilst driving through Zürich in a hailstorm I passed a Mercedes with a plastic bin liner taped over a missing window. Two thoughts struck me. First: this must be the result of the owner locking himself out of the car, as car crime is a fictional event in Switzerland (bike theft is preferred). The second was how utterly pointless this flapping piece of plastic served as an attempt to seal the broken window. More →

Kingsley Napley’s new office supplied by Rainbow

Kingsley Napley’s new office supplied by Rainbow

International law firm, Kingsley Napley, have recently moved to Twenty Bonhill Street, London. The new space has been designed with an ‘activity-based’ flexible working model in mind. This entailed creating a range of spaces which suit the various tasks that are necessary in a modern law firm. More →

Confidence sky high in London Office Crane survey

Confidence sky high in London Office Crane survey

LondonThe London Office Crane Survey Winter 2021 suggests dramatically improved confidence about London in the developments that are being undertaken in the office market. The survey, compiled by Deloitte, claims the volume of new starts has increased from 3.1 million to 3.4 million sq ft, above the long-term average of 2.4 million sq ft. More →

The great office door handle problem

The great office door handle problem

office door handleArchitects and designers have always a had a thing for door handles. It’s the kind of detail they like and one of the most genuinely tactile features of a building. Architects from Frank Gehry to Zaha Hadid have worked on the designs of door handles for manufacturers. It was the Finnish architect Juhani Pallasmaa who described the door handle as ‘the handshake of the building’ in his architectural theory book?The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture and the Senses in 2005. This was cute before last March but now looks slightly menacing.   More →

Wondering what to do about that office of yours? Hold the line.

Wondering what to do about that office of yours? Hold the line.

Bruntwood Bloc Manchester office

At the end of April, New York magazine’s cover feature was headed ‘Remember the Office?’ The article reminisced about a world of cubicles and water-coolers, coffee points and staff parties. Its tone was elegiac, implying that it wasn’t just the enforced distance of 13 months of COVID-19 restrictions that lent enchantment to communal workspace, but the possibility that offices had gone for good.?  More →

Upmo – the new easy-to-use platform for seekers of office space

Upmo – the new easy-to-use platform for seekers of office space

The brains behind Upmo are two of the equity partners at Devono – the UK’s leading commercial occupier-only advisory practice. Described by Forbes in 2015 as disrupters of the status-quo, Luke Philpott and Robert Leigh have once again come together, with the addition of technologist Alastair Bishop, to found Upmo. More →

Manchester’s office market set to be fuelled by growth in SMEs

Manchester’s office market set to be fuelled by growth in SMEs

Manchester'sManchester’s office market could see a boost thanks to its 22,850 SME businesses says Cluttons, who have recently launched an office on King Street in the City. Recent research by distribution company Citisprint highlighted that Manchester’s SMEs are also the most confident with 33 percent saying their business is in better shape post-pandemic, and 52 percent expecting to grow in the next 12 months. More →

HDR is providing engineering expertise on one of London’s most sustainable, all-electric office buildings

HDR is providing engineering expertise on one of London’s most sustainable, all-electric office buildings

Holbein Gardens, located at 7 Holbein Place in the heart of London’s Belgravia, will lead the way for future schemes on the road to achieving net zero carbon. Independent multidisciplinary engineering consultancy HDR has been commissioned by property business Grosvenor Britain & Ireland to provide engineering services on Holbein Gardens, a new office scheme located in the heart of Belgravia. More →

London office market reignites as occupiers implement hybrid working strategies

London office market reignites as occupiers implement hybrid working strategies

LondonResearch from Gerald Eve has highlighted a strong resurgence in activity in the London office market in Q3. Occupier take-up increased 30 percent to 2.8 million sq ft, driven by large commitments by major London occupiers. It was the highest level of occupier activity since before the pandemic and only 7 percent below the five-year quarterly average. More →