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The latest issue of Insight newsletter is now available to view online

by • News, Newsletter

Oof for newsletterIn our weekly newsletter, Insight, now available to view online; a preview [pictured] of 100% Design, (Earl’s Court 18 -21 Sept) featuring the latest designs from some of the world’s most progressive suppliers of office products; BCO research into the way space and budgets within buildings are allocated; how widespread adoption of BYOD can leave organisations’ data vulnerable; confusion amongst FMs at to what BIM actually does; and advice on compiling a list of the world’s coolest offices. Andrew Mawson argues it’s still possible to deliver a pleasurable and effective workplace whilst achieving economic objectives; and reflecting on the BBC Head of HR’s grilling at the hands of the Public Accounts Committee, Simon Heath asks would your business bear the same scrutiny unscathed?

When it comes to transparency, most businesses might fail The Peacock Test

by • Comment, Workplace

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The HR profession took a savaging yesterday in a Daily Telegraph article by Louisa Peacock following what many felt to be a disastrous appearance by the BBC’s head of HR, Lucy Adams in front of the Public Accounts Committee. You can see a brutal excerpt above. A thread of sensationalism runs through the Telegraph piece but some good points are made that have broader lessons for the commercial world. There have been acres of coverage generated by the debacle at the Beeb, but there is a real sense of “there but for the grace of God go I” and schadenfreude about much of the commentary and chatter from the business community.

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Research reveals UK’s shrinking workplace space standards and regional disparities

by • Facilities management, Flexible working, Knowledge, Property, Workplace design

Alice growingThe latest Occupier Density Study from the British Council for Offices reveals that London and the South East of England have some of the most spacious workplaces in the UK, in spite of the fact that London has the most expensive office space on Earth. The BCO research found that the South West has the highest density at 8.6 sq. m. per workstation while London (11.3 sq. m.) and the South East (12.7 sq. m.) have lower densities than all UK regions apart from Wales (11.4 sq. m.). Yet recent research from Cushman and Wakefield has identified London as the world’s most expensive city to rent office space and a report last week from BNP Paribas revealed the large disparities in total occupancy costs between London and the rest of the UK.

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We deserve better than a polarised debate about cellular v open plan offices

by • Comment, Facilities management, Workplace design

Jacques Tati's Playtime

Jacques Tati’s Playtime

Stimulated by a number of rather unsubtle commercial interests, the ‘in’ workplace discussion seems to have swung from ‘collaboration’ i.e. organisations need more new spaces for formal and informal collaborative interactions, to ‘distraction’ i.e. open plan workplaces are creating a loss of productivity because people whose work requires concentration are impeded by constant interruption. The implication of the latter is that people should keep their ‘cubes’ and open-plan should be avoided at all costs. You can see pretty quickly where the commercial axes are being ground can’t you.

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FMs show support for BIM, though not all are certain about what it does

by • Architecture, Facilities management, News, Workplace design

FMs show support for BIM though not all are certain about what it does

There is a lack of understanding within the FM community about what Building Information Modelling (BIM) is and its full capabilities, according to the full results of a BIM4FM Group poll. The majority of respondents (61.7%) held the view that BIM can support the delivery of facilities management, but just over a third of respondents (35.3%), do not yet understand the intricacies of how this will be achieved at this stage. While 65 per cent of the individual members of the organisation’s that make up the BIM4FM group which represents institutes, trade associations and professional bodies within the built environment had heard of BIM – there did seem to be some confusion as to what actually constitutes a BIM project. (more…)

New report urges UK Government departments to ditch paper completely by 2020

by • News, Products, Public Sector, Technology

Paper stackA new report from the Think Tank Policy Exchange is claiming that UK Government departments should look to stop using paper by moving from process that are ‘digital-by-default to digital, full stop’ by the year 2020.  The report, Smaller, Better, Faster, Stronger: Remaking government for the digital age, claims that the move would make the UK public sector 8 percent more effective and save £24 billion a year by eliminating the paper used by Government departments to communicate and switching to digital processes for all services that don’t require face-to-face interaction with suppliers and members of the public.

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Mobile apps will dominate workplace communications within next three years

by • Flexible working, News, Technology

The news this week that Microsoft is to purchase Nokia’s mobile phone business for £4.6bn is a reminder of how rapidly app-based communications tools have transformed mobile phones and computer devices. Within the workplace, fragmentation and lack of standardisation of the technologies have resulted in organisations often using multiple tools, including that of employees’ own consumer smartphones and tablets. According to analysts Gartner most collaboration applications will be equally available on desktops, mobile phones, tablets and browsers by 2016. Over the next three to five years it predicts, every business will be using mobile collaboration tools – boosted by BYOD, personal cloud file sharing and the increasing availability of mobile applications. (more…)

Facilities managers should harness information to show the value of what they do

by • Comment, Facilities management

empty-toilet-rollOf the various myths that plague the facilities management profession, the most pernicious may well be that the role of facilities managers is largely to carry out what the early feminists called shit-work – the kind of job that only becomes visible when it is done badly or isn’t done at all. Conversely, when it is done well, nobody seems to notice or even care that much. The proto-feminists of the 50s and 60s applied the term to housework, but the term is equally apposite for the work of many facilities managers who may only come to the attention of their organisation when the air-conditioning stops working, the toilet floods or there is a problem with the car park.

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UK nominations for European Awards in green building leadership announced

by • Environment, Facilities management, News

The UK Green Building Council (UK-GBC) has announced the organisations it will put forward for the European Regional Network Awards, part of the World Green Building Council Leadership Awards 2013, which honour best practice and excellence in green building policy. From the entries it has received, the UK-GBC is nominating; Brighton & Hove City Council for the “Excellence in City Policy for Green Building” award; British Land for the “Business Leadership in Sustainability” award; Cundall for the “Leadership in Building Design and Performance” and “Business Leadership in Sustainability” awards; Sika for the “Business Leadership in Sustainability” award and Tishman Speyer for the “Business Leadership in Sustainability” award. Winners will be announced by the WorldGBW as part of World Green Building week in September.

Latest issue of Insight newsletter is now available to view online

by • News, Newsletter

2.Insight_twitter_logo smThe latest issue of our weekly newsletter, Insight, is now available to view online. This week:  with more over 50s in the workforce than ever before, forget Gen Y, the workplace is and will remain multigenerational; the challenge for larger organisations in creating a productive “buzz” in the office; why we propose a version of the Darwin Awards for health and safety; advice on improving the performance of low energy designed buildings; the BIFM bows out of negotiations to merge with fellow trade associations; investor confidence in commercial property reaches the highest level in five years; and we list the seven ways in which flexible working has actually made our lives more rigid.

Sometimes health and safety failures can be a laughing matter

by • Comment, Facilities management, Legal news, Workplace

Wile E CoyoteOne of the regular refrains from those involved in health and safety management is that while they aren’t killjoys, protecting people from harm is no laughing matter. Well actually yes, sometimes it is. And if the health and safety profession wants to shake off the po-faced image it claims is unjust, it needs to realise that some of the people it is trying to protect are just bloody idiots. And however much you try to make things idiot-proof, you’re unlikely to make them bloody-idiot-proof. Some people will always come up with something you haven’t thought of and a new way to put themselves in harm’s way.

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Dull corporate offices with no “buzz” inhibit productivity, complain staff

by • Facilities management, News, Workplace, Workplace design

Dull corporate offices are stifling productivity

Creating a dynamic and creative workplace is dependent on a number of factors; the office layout and design, the style of management and the wider company culture. Get these elements right and, says workplace consultants Morgan Lovell you hit the “Buzz Barometer” – a combination of a good atmosphere, energy and teamwork which encourages productivity and high levels of employee engagement. However, according to their recent research, three quarters (78 per cent) of employees say they would be significantly more productive if their workplace had more buzz. And worryingly for larger organisations, corporates are failing to match small company buzz, with four-fifths (81 per cent) saying SMEs offer a better working atmosphere than large companies.

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