Search Results for: office

April 19, 2015

The latest issue of Insight Weekly is available to view online ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Events, Facilities management, Furniture, Newsletter, Workplace design

In this week’s issue; we preview next month’s Clerkenwell Design Week; RBS sets out to save £18 million a year with a major office consolidation strategy in Edinburgh; Sara Bean reports on the importance of office location for employee engagement; Jim Ware offers a CEO’s perspective on a successful real life workplace strategy; Mark Eltringham extols the joys of procrastination and daydreaming; we look at the wellbeing benefits of a groundbreaking new acoustic office design element made from recycled plastic; and we ponder why exactly the electorate gets itself so riled up about office furniture. Sign up to the newsletter via the subscription form in the right hand sidebar and follow us on Twitter and join our LinkedIn Group to discuss these and other stories.

April 19, 2015

Promotion: Can discarded plastic bottles foster employee wellbeing? ⁰

by Insight Promotion • Insight promotion, Wellbeing, Workplace design

Employee wellbeing, productivity and privacy are hot topics in the workplace right now and AgileAcoustics think they have a unique solution to drive this forward. The company, based on campus at the University of Bradford has developed a range of acoustic panels that use plastic bottles destined for the scrap heap to make offices around the world more pleasant places to work. About 18 months ago they developed a ‘shaped’ wall print made from recycled plastic bottles, and raised £13,000 on Kickstarter. Shortly after Stuart Jones, the Founder met with a Commercial Interior Designer who loved the prints and advised him to look at the acoustic performance. Jones quickly set to researching the prints acoustic performance, and shortly after decided to develop a spin-off product with class-leading acoustics performance.

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April 17, 2015

A preview of Clerkenwell Design Week 2015 ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Events, Flooring, Furniture, Lighting, News, Workplace design

The organisers of Clerkenwell Design Week have announced the latest up to date details of its events and showrooms programme. Taking place between 19 and 21 May, this is the sixth year the event has taken place in London’s creative centre. Over 80 showrooms will take part this year, hosting a range of activities, discussions, showcases, product launches and talks. Confirmed keynote participants include designers such as David Adjaye (top), Michael Young and Patrizia Moroso. New participants this year include heritage brand Carl Hansen & Søn and modernist storage specialists USM. Office furniture firms Wilkhahn and Connection Seating will both open new showrooms on Great Sutton Street, while flooring manufacturer Milliken is significantly expanding its Berry Street premises.

April 14, 2015

The workplace as a strategic resource: a real life CEO’s perspective

by Jim Ware • Facilities management, Furniture, Workplace design

Raise your hand if you agree: “The workplace is obviously a strategic resource.” We facilities management professionals know that to be true. But if you often feel like a voice in the wilderness when speaking to anyone other than a fellow workplace professional, you are not alone. For many if not most senior executives, their facilities are a necessary evil that always cost too much. That reality frustrates me as much as it does you. So my colleague Paul Carder and I conducted two extensive research projects in 2012 and 2013 aimed at making the case (mostly to FM professionals themselves) that facilities and workplaces are incredibly strategic – and very poorly understood. And while we’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback about the work, we haven’t seen much change in mindsets, management practices or outcomes.

April 14, 2015

Latest issue of the Insight newsletter is now available to view online ⁰

by Sara Bean • Newsletter, Property, Wellbeing, Workplace, Workplace design

In this week’s issue; Justin Miller previews this year’s Milan International Furniture Fair; John Sacks reviews the 35th China International Furniture Fair in Guangzhou and Charles Marks explains why Facebook’s new offices sport a traditional open-plan design. News that commercial occupiers in London are willing to pay a premium for outside access and upper floor views, the latest CIPD research finds that one in three workers have experienced conflict at work, and a US-survey highlights the negative impact on productivity of working with a toxic colleague. There is also video footage of Perry Timms‘ talk on the challenges and opportunities of the future of work made at his TedX in Bucharest. Sign up to the newsletter via the subscription form in the right hand sidebar and follow us on Twitter and join our LinkedIn Group to discuss these and other stories.

April 12, 2015

A preview of this year’s Milan International Furniture Fair ⁰

by Justin Miller • Comment, Events, Furniture, Workplace design

One of the least remarked upon consequences of the digital revolution of the past two decades has been its impact on the world of exhibitions. Not so long ago, these were one of the few ways people had of finding out about new products, firms, services and technologies. Now we can find as much as we would like about all of that kind of thing at any time, and so the exhibition has had to adopt a new role. In many ways, the changing role of shows has followed the same trajectory as that of offices. Far from becoming irrelevant or extinct, as some people predicted, they have instead developed a new prominence as platforms for new ideas, the sharing of information, meeting new people and reacquainting ourselves with old friends in the analogue world.

April 12, 2015

Designer creates soundproof helmet to deal with noisy surroundings ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Furniture, News, Workplace design

We’re used to seeing intriguing solutions to the much talked about problem of noisy offices. This year’s Milan International Furniture Fair (see our preview here) will be no different. None, however, will be quite so intriguing as this Cork Helmet from Belgian designer Pierre-Emmanuel Vandeputte. According to the designer’s website this is a ‘helmet made out of cork allowing a person to insulate himself from noise. A mechanism devised with a counter-weight, a rope and two pulleys helps to move the helmet up or down one’s head.’ We can’t help but see the parallels with the thinking behind the Super-Chromatic Peril Sensitive Sunglasses from the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy which feature lenses that turn completely black at the first hint of trouble, thus preventing the wearer from seeing anything alarming.

April 10, 2015

Central London occupiers prepared to pay more for upper floors and terrace ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, News, Property

There is a growing trend for London occupiers prepared to pay more for upper floors, particularly with access to a terrace, as according to the latest research by Cushman & Wakefield (C&W), unprecedented rental rates are being paid for tower floors and roof gardens. Central London office leasing activity overall, was 2.4 million sq ft for the first quarter of 2015, which equals the same period in 2014, which marked the highest first quarter volumes since 2007. Momentum in the City of London office market has also continued, with a total of 1.8 million sq ft let, up 34 percent for the same time last year. The West End recorded a relatively quiet quarter, with leasing volumes down to just over 600,000 sq ft – the lowest level since mid-2013. However, this is against a backdrop of falling vacancy rates, leading to the increasing migration of commercial occupiers out of the West End.

April 9, 2015

Video: Perry Timms lays down some thoughts on the future of work ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Flexible working, Workplace

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Regular readers will know we’re not too fond of the F Word at Insight. This isn’t because we think there is nothing to talk about when it comes to the future (what else did you think we meant?) of work and workplaces. We just believe that the word is now routinely misapplied to justify an endless effluvia of simplistic nonsense, absurd generalisations, undisguised commercialism and wishful thinking. Not to mention the eternally tedious idea that the ‘office of the future’ can be defined in very specific ways based on a few supposedly cool but actually infantile features borrowed from primary schools. Fortunately, all this misdirection makes the informed, wise and sober reflections of Perry Timms all the more powerful when he spoke recently at TedX in Bucharest to outline the challenges and opportunities of the future of work.

April 7, 2015

“Toxic” employees create stressed co-workers, with over half more likely to quit

by Sara Bean • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Members of staff who have a negative influence on those around them, and create a poisonous atmosphere in the office, do not affect the overall productivity of their colleagues, but are more likely to make them want to leave. “Toxic employees” make their teammates 54 percent more likely to quit and cost employers up to three times more in hiring fees, finds “Toxic Employees in the Workplace” a new US-based report by Cornerstone. The indirect costs of toxic employees, as measured by the toll they take on co-workers, can have a far greater overall impact and create an even larger financial burden on the business than the direct costs of an employee’s misbehaviour. While these individuals have a negligible effect on the performance of their co-workers, the research suggests they have a stronger influence on stress and burnout than on day-to-day task completion.

April 7, 2015

New masterplan submitted for £5bn East London development

by Mark Eltringham • Cities, News, Property, Technology

Developers have submitted a revised masterplan for the £5 billion Greenwich Peninsula mixed use development in East London. The new plans not only increase the number of homes on site but also include a greater focus on digital arts and media studios as well as more high rise buildings in keeping with London’s current predilection for tall buildings and emphasising the shift in London’s centre of gravity eastwards. The original plan, created by Farrell & Partners and dating back to 2004 are described as outdated by developers Knight Dragon, who have submitted the new mixed use plan for around 15,000 dwellings, 59,000 sq.m. of hotel, retail and recreational space and 60,000 sq.m. of office space as well as a design district, space for healthcare buildings, educational facilities, transport hubs, visitor attractions, parking, cycling paths, community facilities and parks.

April 2, 2015

UK labour productivity continues to flatline in spite of upturn

by Mark Eltringham • Knowledge, News, Workplace

UK labour productivity continues to flatline in spite of the recent economic upturn, according to a new report from the Office for National Statistics. Overall productivity as measured by output per hour fell by 0.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2014 compared with the previous quarter. In 2014 as a whole, labour productivity was little changed from 2013, and slightly lower than in 2007, prior to the economic downturn. As ever, the devil is in the detail. There were notable increases in productivity in both manufacturing and construction but the modest gains in service industries obscure the fact that there is a great deal of variation across sectors and also the fact that any gains reflect a greater number of hours worked rather than an increase in the overall number of people employed or their underlying productivity.