Search Results for: climate

Problems at home impact employee creativity more than problems at work

Problems at home impact employee creativity more than problems at work

employee creativityFeeling ostracised by family members has a negative effect on employee creativity, more so than feeling ostracised at work, claims new research from Nazarbayev University Graduate School of Business. More →

Finding a new sense of purpose in the way we all do business

Finding a new sense of purpose in the way we all do business

Mental health and purposeIt is now a truism that society expects more of business than merely maximising shareholder value. Milton Friedman’s conviction that unswerving commitment to this single goal would ensure that business and society would prosper has come to be seen as blinkered, unfit for the twenty-first century and enabling of corporate greed. Instead of shareholder value maximisation, an idea that The Economist called ‘the biggest idea in business’ in 2016, businesses are now encouraged to recognise their responsibilities to an array of ‘stakeholders’, from employees, suppliers and customers, to the planet itself and other communities (real or imagined). So, it has never been more important for businesses to do good, have a clear sense of purpose and be seen as doing so. More →

Business leaders share lessons in resilience from the Covid crisis

Business leaders share lessons in resilience from the Covid crisis

resilienceMost businesses were ill-prepared to deal with the pandemic and muddled though the challenges stemming from it, according to new report ‘Resilience reimagined: a practical guide for organisations’, produced by Cranfield University, in partnership with the National Preparedness Commission (NPC) and Deloitte. More →

Industry comes together to collaborate on Whole Life Carbon Roadmap project

Industry comes together to collaborate on Whole Life Carbon Roadmap project

roadmapThe UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) has announced four new task groups and a Steering Group which will support the development of the Net Zero Whole Life Carbon Roadmap for the Built Environment. More →

Major firms lose appetite for office downsizing as they plan what happens next

Major firms lose appetite for office downsizing as they plan what happens next

office downsizingA new report from KPMG suggests that half of major corporations do not expect to see a return to any sort of ‘normality’ until 2022 when half of the general population has been vaccinated. The report also claims that there has been a steep decline in the appetite of the global executives who took part in the survey for office downsizing as the firms reconsider the need for in-person business to resume when countries emerge from the pandemic. More →

Siemens commits to making Smart Infrastructure HQ carbon neutral by 2023

Siemens commits to making Smart Infrastructure HQ carbon neutral by 2023

SiemensSiemens Smart Infrastructure plans to transform its global headquarters in Zug, Switzerland, into a carbon neutral location by 2023. To achieve this, a comprehensive renovation of an existing building on Theilerstrasse 1c will commence in May 2021 for a period of two years. Siemens has earmarked around EUR 63 million (CHF 70 million) for the refurbishment works. More →

New guidance for renewable energy procurement and carbon offsetting

New guidance for renewable energy procurement and carbon offsetting

The UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) has published Renewable Energy Procurement and Carbon Offsetting Guidance for Net Zero Carbon Buildings. This guidance provides clarity for the property and construction industry on the procurement of high-quality renewable energy and carbon offsets for net zero buildings and organisations in the UK. More →

Four new companies join WorldGBC’s Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment

Four new companies join WorldGBC’s Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment

Net Zero CarbonWorldGBC has announced four new companies as signatories to its Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment (the Commitment), signalling global industry leadership to decarbonise the built environment and combat climate change. The Commitment now has a total of 132 signatories, with 98 businesses & organisations, 28 cities and six states & regions. The businesses and organisations signed up to the Commitment now account for over 5 million (tCO2e) of portfolio emissions. More →

Mental health related workplace absenteeism costs soared to £14bn in 2020

Mental health related workplace absenteeism costs soared to £14bn in 2020

mental healthThe impact of the nation’s deteriorating mental health from Covid-19 lockdowns and other restrictions cost UK businesses £14bn last year, according to a study by Westfield Health. The cost of absenteeism from work due to mental health reasons increased last year by £1.3bn from 2019’s totals as work from home, travel restrictions, furlough and pay cuts changed the workplace for millions of people across the UK. More →

Ten point green plan needs to be embraced by organisations

Ten point green plan needs to be embraced by organisations

The green plan and building designWe’ve been talking to our clients a lot over the last eighteen months, informing and educating them about when upcoming green legislation might come into force and what that will mean for the construction industry. So, it’s with interest that we saw the UK government unveil its ten point green plan in mid-November that reflected our predictions to date. The hope is that this route to a green industrial revolution will have a game-changing impact, similar to the positive effect on people and places the original industrial revolution had some 260 years earlier. More →

Older executives are coping with WFH challenges better than younger leaders

Older executives are coping with WFH challenges better than younger leaders

executivesSenior executives aged 55+ have fared better than ‘millennial’ leaders (aged under 35) during the global pandemic. ABBYY’s COVID-19 Technology and Business Process Report claims that since the pandemic, executives of all ages have experienced huge challenges – in the UK alone, 81 percent of senior decision-makers struggled, particularly with collaborating with colleagues remotely (37 percent), motivation to work (29 percent) and productivity (26 percent). More →

Amazon unveils latest plans for new US headquarters campus

Amazon unveils latest plans for new US headquarters campus

Amazon has submitted plans for its new $2.5 billion headquarters campus, known as HQ2, in Arlington County. Virginia. The NBBJ designed proposal for the PenPlace campus includes a 350 ft glass tower,  three 22-story towers offering 2.8 million sq. ft of office space, a 250-seat outdoor amphitheatre, public green space, and several other buildings. The centre piece tower, officially dubbed The Helix, is a plant covered structure to emphasize the firm’s commitment to the environment and biophilic design.  More →