Search Results for: change

December 9, 2015

Offices and smart cities will drive uptake of the Internet of Things, claims report ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Facilities management, News, Property, Technology

A new report from analysts Gartner claims that the roll out of the Internet of Things will be driven by innovation in commercial property and smart cities. The study, Internet of Things — Endpoints and Associated Services, Worldwide, 2015 claims that 1.6 billion connected things will be used by smart cities in 2016, an increase of 39 percent from 2015 (see Table 1). The authors of the report claim that smart commercial buildings, particularly those subject to Building Information Modelling technology will pioneer applications until 2017, after which consumers will become the dominant force as devices migrate to a new generation of smart homes. Commercial real estate benefits greatly from IoT implementation. IoT creates a unified view of facilities management as well as advanced service operations through the collection of data and insights from a multitude of sensors.

December 9, 2015

Generation Z imagines its future workplace design, pods and all ⁰

by Sara Bean • Architecture, Flexible working, News, Wellbeing, Workplace design

Research by Leesman Index (among others) shows how the design of learning environments influences a student’s choice of university. This thinking now also applies to offices, with the commercial office design sector creating the kind of facilities available on the modern university campus. A new workshop organised by furniture brand HÅG has discovered how Generation Z imagines its future workplace. For example, in the same way that a college library offers collaborative and silent spaces; the young people in the workshop didn’t share the current trend of shared workspaces but wanted a mix of collaborative areas combined with isolated working pods that they could customise for their own requirements and mood. However, Gen Z goes further than ever, in blurring the boundaries between home and work, with a great deal more emphasis on wellbeing and areas to relax compared to previous generations.

December 8, 2015

Linear equations are no longer enough to determine the size of offices

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Facilities management, Furniture, Technology, Workplace design

In 2013, the US Census Bureau announced that the official human population of the Earth had exceeded 7 billion for the first time. This provoked people to raise concerns that were couched in Malthusian pessimism. Although people might have assumed we’d left behind this kind of flawed thinking, there is obviously something appealing about the idea that exponential population growth is unsustainable when resources increase only in arithmetical terms. We’ve got a problem but what we should have learned in the two centuries since Thomas Malthus first popularised the idea is that there are complex factors that can influence the resources we need to survive, not least in terms of greater efficiency in the way we produce them. A similar debate is also apparent in the way in which the commercial property market is able to offer the right sort of buildings for modern organisations.

December 7, 2015

Ambitious commitments made by Green Building Councils at COP21 ⁰

by Sara Bean • Architecture, Environment, Facilities management, News, Property

A total of 25 Green Building Councils from around the world have unveiled commitments reduce greenhouse gas emissions and ensure that the building and construction industry plays its part in limiting global warming to 2 degrees. More than 1.25 billion square metres of buildings – almost double the size of Singapore – will be registered, renovated or certified as green building space over the next five years, under ambitious commitments made by Green Building Councils at COP21 in Paris. Green building is one of the most cost-effective solutions to climate change, which generates significant environmental, economic and societal benefits. A new alliance of 16 countries and over 60 organisations, known as the Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction (which includes WorldGBC, its 74 Green Building Councils and their 27,000 member companies) is now committed to help countries meet their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) through green building.

December 2, 2015

Too much focus on standing in the sit-stand debate say ergonomics experts ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, Furniture, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Campaigners have been keen to promote the health benefits of adjustable or sit-stand workstations. However, according to the latest advice from the experts at the Ergonomics Program at Colorado State University’s Office of Risk Management and Insurance, too much focus has been placed on standing more and sitting less, when the mixture of the two postures is most important. Although sitting for too long can have detrimental effects on the body, standing for too long has its own set of detriments such as pooling of blood in the feet, increased back pain, varicose veins and even an increased risk of atherosclerosis (i.e. hardening and narrowing of the arteries). At the recent U.S. National Ergonomics Conference and Exposition, Dr. Joan Vernikos, former director of life sciences at NASA, simply said to stand up often. “Standing up often, at least 30 times a day, is a powerful antidote to sitting,” she said.

December 2, 2015

RICS issues new international property measurement statement ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, News, Property

From 1 January 2016, all property measurements undertaken or commissioned by RICS’ professionals will need to comply with its new Property Measurement Professional Statement, which incorporates the new International Property Measurement Standard (IPMS), that changes the way office buildings are measured worldwide. The IPMS was developed by the independent Standards Setting Committee to address how different measurements create inconsistencies between regions. According to RICS, the change represents a major advance and will be welcomed by investors, occupiers and governments. RICS is making the new Property Measurement Professional Statement (incorporating IPMS) mandatory for all its professionals that undertake or commission property measurements in order to assure clients of surveyors that they will benefit from international best practice as the norm when working with RICS professionals.

December 1, 2015

Regional office market takes off, with Bristol and Manchester in demand ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, News, Property

Demand for prime office space in key regional business hubs is strengthening, driven primarily by the professional services sector, according to a review of market trends in the UK property markets by Cushman & Wakefield. Manchester is the strongest performing regional office market, with several large transactions recently completed, but a number of other cities, such as Bristol, are also in hot demand. The Thames Valley, South East and West Midlands have been the strongest performing regions in 2015, and prime rents in the top office locations have reached new highs, with further growth forecast. While overall take up is being constrained, to a certain extent, by the lack of prime stock new commercial property developments are picking up as a result, but are still some way below what is required to meet demand levels and cities such as Glasgow, Manchester and Birmingham have all seen reductions in availability rates.

November 27, 2015

Built environment crucial to attaining emissions targets say RICS of COP21 ⁰

by Sara Bean • Environment, Facilities management, News, Property

The built environment has a vital role to play in helping governments meet their carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions targets says RICS – ahead of the 21st Conference of the Parties or COP21. This begins on Monday, when 196 governments meet in Paris for the climate change summit hosted by the United Nations. Buildings are some of the biggest emitters of CO2 accounting for one-third of global greenhouse gasses. Commercial and residential buildings also account for 40 percent of the world’s energy consumption. RICs is working with members in the land, real estate and construction sectors to find solutions across the property lifecycle to support more sustainable business practices, and will be in Paris to join stakeholders from governments, industry and civil society to support efforts to reach an agreement. The commitments made at the summit could have far-reaching repercussions for the built environment, and the global economy more generally.

November 24, 2015

Fast workplace migration to Windows 10 as demand for digital devices soars ⁰

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, News, Technology

By 2019, organisations will deliver twice as many applications remotely compared with 2015, according to analysts Gartner which predicts that 50 percent of enterprises will have started Windows 10 deployments by January 2017. Several factors are driving this, specifically awareness of the end of support for Windows 7 in January 2020, strong compatibility with Windows 7 applications and digital devices, and a pent-up demand for tablet and 2-in-1 device rollouts. Gartner also predicts that by 2018, touchscreens will be shipped on one-third of all notebooks. As the incremental price for touch decreases, it will become more normalized as a default feature for notebooks. Pricing is expected to get much more competitive in the second half of 2016 as manufacturing processes continue to improve and Windows 10 migration planning starts to accelerate. In addition, by 2018, 30 percent of enterprises will spend more on display screens than on PCs.

November 23, 2015

RIBA signs UN Compact as part of an increased focus on ethics ⁰

by Sara Bean • Architecture, Facilities management, News, Property

RIBA (The Royal Institute of British Architects) has become a signatory to the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) and has undertaken to support its principles on human rights, labour standards, the environment and corruption. Joining the UNGC is part of the RIBA’s focus on ethics which has recently included co-founding a new coalition to develop a set of globally recognised ethics standards for real estate and related professional organisations. RIBA President Jane Duncan said: “As our profession changes and becomes increasingly international, so must our approach to developing and reinforcing professional ethics. Architecture has a direct impact on societies and economies; it shapes and influences the world we live in. For this reason, we architects have a duty to uphold the highest standards wherever we practice. I am delighted that RIBA has signed the UN Global Compact and undertaken to support and promote its principles.”

November 20, 2015

Two thirds of employers disappointed in performance management process ⁰

by Sara Bean • Knowledge, News, Technology, Workplace

As the economy recovers and the so-called ‘war for talent’ increases, there is a renewed focus on performance management, with 87 percent of companies in the latest research from Towers Watson, saying it is their primary method for aligning individual performance objectives with strategic priorities. However, only a third (36 percent) of companies actually consider their performance management process to be effective, and one in three managers and employees are shown to be dissatisfied with their process. According to the survey, 45 percent say managers don’t see the value in it and 53 percent say managers don’t have the time to do it well. Under 10 percent of companies have scrapped performance management altogether, or plan to do so, and though 30 percent of companies are considering eliminating performance ratings or scores, just 7 percent have already taken the step to do this.

November 19, 2015

Dubai office market shows signs of cooling down over the next year ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, News, Property

The Dubai office market is showing signs of cooling, following a strong growth period, with average rents remaining unchanged during the first three quarters of 2015 across all the city’s major submarkets and free zones. Clutton’s Winter 2015/16 Dubai Commercial Market Outlook report revealed prime, secondary and tertiary office rents stand at AED 250 psf, AED 130 psf and AED 70 psf, respectively. However, micro-markets, which are often as small as specific buildings, buck wider trends, such as Emirates Towers (AED 310 psf) and The Gate District (AED 225 psf). Banks, financial institutions, law firms, construction companies and technology-media-telecoms (TMT) firms are the most active occupiers, with the city’s free zones remaining the primary target. This is because the free zones continue to be dominated by multinational organisations, with take-up activity intrinsically linked to business performance in their home markets.