Search Results for: tech

Overbury delivers new head office for iconic British brand Fred Perry

Overbury delivers new head office for iconic British brand Fred Perry 0

by • Case studies, Company news, Workplace design

Fit out firm Overbury has completed the interiors of a new head office and showroom for iconic British brand Fred Perry in Clerkenwell, London.  The refurbishment of 27,000 sq ft in a historic Victorian warehouse supports Fred Perry’s move from its long-term address in Covent Garden to a fashionable corner of London. In 2015, the company leased two 19th century warehouse buildings on the corner of Mount Pleasant and Warner Street, opposite a former Royal Mail Sorting Office. Working with architects Buckley Gray Yeoman, Overbury delivered the fit out of seven floors, which included the installation of new floors, ceilings, walls and mechanical and electrical systems. Following a four month programme, the result is a space that reflects the brand’s British identity and brings the brand’s head office and showroom under one roof.

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Remote access to the workplace may be doing staff more harm than good

Remote access to the workplace may be doing staff more harm than good 0

by • Facilities management, Flexible working, News, Technology, Wellbeing, Workplace

Remote access to the workplace may be doing more harm than good

Employees are divided on whether remote access to the workplace is really a positive or negative development, with almost a third of UK workers (32 percent) feeling that having remote access to the workplace means they can’t switch off in their personal time. According to the latest CIPD/Halogen Employee Outlook report, two-fifths of UK workers (40 percent) admit to actively checking their work mobile or emails at least five times a day outside of working hours. Nearly a fifth (18 percent) feel as though they are under surveillance with remote access to work, and 17 percent say it makes them feel anxious or even impacts their quality of sleep. However, almost a third (30 percent) of employees say they feel empowered by having remote access to the workplace, showing a divide in opinion. Indeed, more than half of employees (53 percent) say it helps them to work flexibly and more than a third (37 percent) say it makes them more productive.

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Best workplaces in London honoured by British Council for Offices

Best workplaces in London honoured by British Council for Offices 0

by • Facilities management, News, Property, Workplace design

The British Council for Offices has announced the six winners of regional property awards for London and the South East of England. The winning entries, announced at a lunch at the Park Lane Hilton were Sky Central (main image), 8 Finsbury Circus, The Estée Lauder Companies, 20 Eastbourne Terrace, 67-71 Beak Street and Sea Containers House by BDG architecture + design. The prestigious BCO awards programme claims to recognise ‘the highest quality developments and sets the standard for excellence in the regional and national office sector.’ The winner of the Best Commercial Workplace was 8 Finsbury Circus while Sky Central took home the prize in the Best Corporate Workplace Category.

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Requests to work remotely increase as stigma around flexible working diminishes

Requests to work remotely increase as stigma around flexible working diminishes 0

by • Facilities management, Flexible working, News, Technology

A majority of workers (65 percent) now feel comfortable requesting to work from home, while a third (33 percent) of UK employees would decline a job offer if they weren’t able to work flexibly. This is according to a new study from Maintel which claims that today’s multi-generational workforce prefers flexible working to traditional office hours and location; with flexible work policies perceived as an important workplace benefit. Nearly three quarters (73 percent) of respondents say the company they work for has good flexible work policies in place, 64 percent of remote workers don’t feel micromanaged, and 58 percent would take the opportunity to spend even less time in an office, if it were available. Well over half (60 percent) of respondents believe technology can replace in-person interaction in the workplace. Yet there remain challenges with flexible work, including indifference regarding the security of company data (66 percent) and distractions at home (31 percent).

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WeWork extends property as a service offering as IBM takes on entire coworking building

WeWork extends property as a service offering as IBM takes on entire coworking building 0

by • Facilities management, News, Property, Workplace design

In a deal of enormous significance for the commercial property and workplace sectors, IBM has agreed a deal with coworking giant WeWork to take on all the space at its 88 University Place office in New York. Although originally targeted at startups and freelancers, especially those working in the creative and technology sectors, a growing number of corporate clients are seeing the appeal of coworking space in a fast changing world and now make up over a fifth of WeWork’s membership worldwide. Meanwhile, in moves that are sure to have major implications for the corporate real estate and facilities management market, WeWork has also announced plans to become a major real estate investor and introduce a wider range of FM services. The firm already operates in 135 locations spread across 44 cities in 14 countries.

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Many workers believe AI and automation will increase employment and flexible working

Many workers believe AI and automation will increase employment and flexible working 0

by • Flexible working, News, Technology

A new study from Adecco suggests that a large number of employees have a generally positive attitude towards technology in the workplace with many seeing it as increasing employment opportunities and nearly half believing that the advent of artificial intelligence and automation will enable a greater uptake in levels of flexible working. According to the Humans vs Robots report, two-thirds (65 percent) of employees believe that overall, technology has actually increased the number of jobs available to them, 54 percent believe that advances in technology will continue to create more jobs than it destroys over the next decade, 48 percent think AI will positively benefit them, by helping them to work more flexibly and a large majority of workers (87 percent) think that computers will make their role easier within the next ten years

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Commercial property lenders should drive sustainability through financial innovation

Commercial property lenders should drive sustainability through financial innovation 0

by • Environment, News, Property

The commercial real estate finance sector is witnessing a dramatic shift in attitudes towards the issue of sustainability, according to a new report from the Better Buildings Partnership. It claims that major commercial property lenders are already exploring new opportunities that go well beyond traditional risk management through sustainability initiatives that ‘drive new business, strengthen customer relationships and improve the data they hold on the buildings in which they have underwritten’. The report, Beyond Risk Management: How sustainability is driving innovation in commercial real estate finance, is sponsored by CREFC Europe, GeoPhy, ING Bank and Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking, and claims to reveal pioneering examples of how lenders are incorporating sustainability into their core business activities.

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Governments need to address perfect storm of low wages, productivity and automation

Governments need to address perfect storm of low wages, productivity and automation 0

by • News, Technology

Governments need to act now to address issues such as productivity, automation and stagnating or falling wages, according to two new reports from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In both its Spring global policy agenda and world economic outlook, the IMF claims that workers are subject to a perfect storm of factors that will destabilise their jobs and lives unless governments implement robust policies to help them work more flexibly, acquire new skills and work alongside the new generation of automated technologies instead of in competition with them. Addressing the issues in a speech last week, IMF managing director Christine Lagarde said that governments need to create a new economic and social architecture that allows everybody to take advantage of the opportunities offered by technology and the current growth in the world economy.

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Number of data scientist jobs soars as Big Data moves up the corporate agenda

Number of data scientist jobs soars as Big Data moves up the corporate agenda 0

by • News, Technology

Advances in tech have boosted Data Scientist roles by 57 percent globally in one year, according to a Big Data Analytics and Business Intelligence Observatory run by Politecnico di Milano School of Management. Advances in big data analytics are encouraging increasing numbers of industries – including banking, media and big pharma – to maximise this tool by employing more data scientists. The research, which surveyed 280 international data scientists, revealed the 57 percent annual increase in positions allocated, as well as role availability in nearly a third of companies. The research suggests that international businesses will increasingly be looking to integrate Data Scientist roles into their hiring strategies.

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Apple granted permit to trial driverless cars in California

Apple granted permit to trial driverless cars in California 0

by • Flexible working, News, Technology

Apple has been given permission to test a range of driverless cars in California. The state’s Department of Motor Vehicles has awarded a permit for the company to start testing its self-driving car technology on public roads, ending a period of speculation about its plans for the autonomous technology. The permit covers three vehicles, which will be 2015 Lexus RX 450h hybrid SUVs, and six individual drivers. However, the plan does not seem to suggest that Apple will become a car maker any time soon and instead will focus on the development of the technology itself rather than the hardware.

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Rents start to surge in Australia’s thriving high rise commercial property market

Rents start to surge in Australia’s thriving high rise commercial property market 0

by • News, Property

Australia can justifiably claim to lead the world in thinking about office design and management right now, but it may be coming at a cost as rents surge for high rise office space in its major cities. The cost of renting office space in the skyscrapers of Sydney and Melbourne (pictured) is rising faster than in any other major global city, as a lack of space pushes up rates. The costs of space have yet to hit the heights of tall buildings in cities like Hong Kong, but Knight Frank’s Skyscraper Index claims that the cost of renting space in the upper floors of skyscrapers in Melbourne had risen by 11 per cent to £40.98 per square foot per year in the six months to the end of last year, while those in Sydney had risen 10.1 per cent to £78.39 per sq ft.

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City of London offers free public access WiFi across whole Square Mile

City of London offers free public access WiFi across whole Square Mile 0

by • Company news, Technology

The City of London Corporation has announced a deal that will deliver a free, public access WiFi network, offering internet access anywhere within the Square Mile. The multi million pound project is one of the largest investments in wireless infrastructure ever seen in London. Cornerstone Telecommunications Infrastructure Ltd (CTIL) has been awarded a major 15-year contract to roll-out and manage the City of London’s new wireless network in conjunction with O2. The new network will deliver wireless services across all mobile networks for City businesses, residents and visitors.

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