May 26, 2021
New research from MRI Software, claims that 71 percent of commercial occupiers say the mass shift to remote working during the pandemic has fundamentally changed their long-term approach to space usage, and yet 69 percent of landlords expect no lasting impact from COVID-19. More →
September 8, 2020
According to a new independent survey of over 500 senior business decision-makers, nearly three quarters believe COVID-19 will result in more UK businesses downsizing to smaller office spaces in the coming 12 months. Most also say they value the office and will be more focused on its strengths as part of the shift. The data from property developers Accumulate Capital claims to show how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected UK businesses and their commercial property needs. More →
July 29, 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic changed numerous aspects of how we live and work and led to a massive remote work experiment. A JLL survey of more than 3,000 employees working in multi-national companies across the globe claims that 71 percent of people have worked from home during the pandemic, and that 58 percent missed the office and 44 percent missed human interaction and socialising with colleagues. The largest cohort who missed the office was the under 35s, or millennials, with 65 percent citing poor home-office environments and missing support from their managers.
July 23, 2020
The British Council for Offices (BCO) has launched its first podcast, a 12-episode series, hosted by chief executive Richard Kauntze, which explores how COVID-19 is impacting the office, both in the long and short term. The interviews are edited versions of a recently run video series by the BCO. More →
August 14, 2019
Lewis Carroll’s second best known work The Hunting of the Snark is a long nonsense poem that describes the pursuit by a group of adventurers of an elusive creature called a Snark. This turns out to be a much more dangerous Boojum when it is finally seen, causing one of the crew members to vanish. The poem may or may not be an allegory for the pursuit of happiness but it could easily be about our pursuit of anything elusive, imaginary or ephemeral.
March 27, 2019
A new book from RIBA Publishing, which examines the future office, argues that despite predictions that the office is on the verge of extinction, it is not only surviving, but thriving. Digital technologies have spurred this transformation, and with it, the metamorphosis of our entire working environment. The office of today can vary from a sweeping open expanse of ergonomic, futuristic workstations, to a local coffee shop. Future Office: Next-Generation Workplace Design debates tradition, change, and the future of how we work and where.
January 8, 2019
The Northern Ireland office market had a record year in 2018, with a 100 percent increase in take-up, according to the latest figures from CBRE. The Northern Ireland (NI) office sector enjoyed its most successful year on record with 885,023 sq ft of take-up reported across 84 transactions, more than double that achieved last year. Notable office deals completed in 2018 included the PwC move to Merchant Square, Northern Ireland Civil Service at 9 Lanyon Place, Allstate at Mays Meadow, TLT at River House and Baker McKenzie at City Quays 2, which is part of Belfast’s City Quays mixed-use regeneration project. However, according to CBRE’s Real Estate Outlook report, the office market in NI is hampered by a severe lack of investment deals in the face of ongoing local, national and international political uncertainty. This means that while the real estate market in Northern Ireland generally has performed well in 2018, the investment sector experienced a decrease in activity as a resulting knock-on effect of the current political situation locally at Stormont as well as ongoing Brexit negotiations.
December 10, 2018
This week’s beachcomb of the best workplace stories is brought to you in the wake of the first flood of retrospectives and predictions that wash up in the media at this time of year. The first piece of flotsam [sound of a metaphor snapping] is Dezeen’s listing of the world’s best office designs of 2018, which appears to be based on the answers to three questions. Is it a coworking space? Does it look like an office? Is there anybody actually working there? Answer yes, no, no to those three simple questions and you’re in the frame.
December 7, 2018
At this time of year, it seems like we don’t have to wait more than a few hours before some or other organisation is sharing its prognosis about how we will be working in the future. The thing these reports usually share in common, other than a standardised variant of a title and a common lexicon of agility, engagement and connectivity, is a narrow focus based on their key assumptions about what the office of the future will be like. While these are rarely false per se, and often offer valuable insights, they also frequently exhibit a desire to look at only one part of the great workplace elephant. While the more informed reports make excellent points and identify trends, across most there are routine flaws in thinking that can lead them to make narrow and sometimes incorrect assumptions and so draw similarly flawed conclusions. Talk of the office of the future tells us rather a lot about how we view offices right now.
November 21, 2017
There is a theory that if you want to know how the economy is doing, you ask a taxi driver. The basis for this idea is that they are the first to know when money is getting tight, because people make more use of buses and tubes. In a similar way, one of the best ways of gauging workplace trends is to ask an office furniture company. They’ve always functioned in a fiercely competitive market, but are also the first to notice an economic downturn or a shift in the structure of their markets.
October 19, 2017
Those working within the built environment are already in the change business, was the view of Neil Usher of workessence in his presentation at the Workplace Trends Conference which was held in London this week. This was apt, as the changing business of work’ was the theme of the conference. It’s a pretty common topic these days of course but a strong line up of speakers ensured some interesting discussions; which included the rise of the gig economy, the variety of ways people from different cultures perceive workplace design and predictions on the workplaces of the future. On the current design and fit out of the office, Usher was clear; that creating a fantastic workplace is independent of culture, location, the work style you want to create and the sector in which you’re working. His other mantra was that you can still work in an awful workplace with great technology, but not the other way around, which is why there is no excuse for not getting your technology right.
December 4, 2020
Is there a future for the office?
by Mark Eltringham • Comment