Search Results for: facilities

June 20, 2014

The new issue of Work&Place is now available to view online

by Mark Eltringham • Architecture, Premium Content, Technology, Work&Place, Workplace, Workplace design

The new issue of Work&Place is now available to view online. Published by Occupiers Journal in partnership with Insight it offers a wide range of thought leadership, research, commentary and case studies from the world’s foremost commentators, academics and practitioners in the world of workplace design and management. Contributors this quarter include Professor Franklin Becker of Cornell University, BBC CEO of Commercial Projects Chris Kane, Andrew Laing of AECOM, Simon Allford of architects AHMM Allford Hall Monaghan Morris, designer and workplace strategist Ziona Strelitz and Ian Ellison of Sheffield Hallam University. Work&Place offers progressive and informed commentary on some of the most pressing and cutting edge issues facing workplace designers and managers around the world today including co-working, office design, architecture, facilities management, workplace analytics, technology, flexible working, productivity and urbanisation.

June 19, 2014

Virtually Uninspiring, Cautiously Aspirational – award winning offices for the VUCA world.

by Simon Heath • Architecture, Comment, Workplace design

World-of-work watchers will be more than aware that we are increasingly being informed that we are living in the VUCA age, which under normal circumstances is an acronym for volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous but in the context of these RIBA Award Winners for 2014 might be taken in a number of other ways. Commentators and self-styled thought leaders are warning businesses to prepare for seismic changes to the way work gets done, where, how and by whom (or by what, if proponents of automation and robotics have anything to do with it). How lovely then, that RIBA have made awards to seven offices that hark back to more comforting, more halcyon, times. The text of the accompanying feature in Architects Journal is at pains to point out that offices are hard to design and that RIBA awards are hard won. I wouldn’t disagree on the former point but, from the evidence on show, it’s a bit more of a challenge to agree with the later. So I won’t.

June 12, 2014

Integration of workplace services continues to gain momentum, claims report

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

HR, FM and IT within large corporate organisations are gradually being brought together to provide ‘Workplace services’ that recognise new working practices and the importance of people. This trend – which has already seen an agreement between the BIFM and CIPD to collaborate in the future, will accelerate in the increasingly agile, digitally driven business environment. This presents an opportunity for FM to provide new service solutions that focus more on supporting people, and less on the buildings from which they work. This is according to a new report, Delivering the Vision of an Integrated Workplace, was commissioned by Mitie, which will be unveiled at the Facilities Show next week. The report highlights the opportunities for FM providers to offer an expanded range of consultancy-style services, such as space management and the analysis of FM and property data to drive property strategy.

June 11, 2014

New BBC Wales headquarters will be less expensive to run

by Sara Bean • Architecture, Company news, Facilities management, Property

The BBC is to move its main headquarters in Wales to a new, purpose-built broadcast centre in Cardiff city centre by 2018. BBC Cymru Wales, currently based in Llandaff in north west Cardiff, says it plans to relocate to a new 150,000sq ft. development in Capital Square – on the site of the current bus station at the northern entrance of Cardiff Central rail station. The decision follows a detailed three-year study prompted by the ageing facilities at the current base in Llandaff and the pressing need to modernise the outdated and unreliable technology. Options to upgrade the current site were ruled out as they were costlier, more disruptive and would have taken longer to deliver. The new centre, which is being designed by Fosters & Partners, will be roughly half the size of the current premises and less expensive to run. More →

June 10, 2014

Physiotherapists warn that poor work habits are damaging staff health

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, Flexible working, News, Workplace

Physiotherapists are warning employers that bad working habits are damaging workers’ health. A survey by the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP) found that one in five people (21%) worked through their lunch every day. Of those who do manage to take a break, 48 per cent said they ate at their desk. Only 19 per cent leave their workplace to go outside for a break, and only three per cent go to the gym, meaning most miss out on any kind of physical activity during the day. Investment in staff health and wellbeing makes good business sense for employers says the CSP, which is calling on them to find ways to support staff to be more physically active during the working day in order to reduce their risk of developing musculoskeletal problems like back and neck pain and more serious illnesses such as cancer, heart disease and stroke. More →

June 6, 2014

IFMA & BIFM to discuss work and place at Workplace Strategy Summit

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, News

Leading academics and experts in the fields of facility management and real estate are meeting to discuss the most innovative concepts to emerge in workplace strategy at the Workplace Strategy Summit, beginning this weekend at the Wokefield Park Conference Centre in Berkshire. The International Facility Management Association (IFMA), British Institute of Facilities Management (BIFM) and IFMA Foundation will come together from 8-10 June to discuss the themed “Innovation on the Edge.” The editorial team at Workplace Insight has produced a special issue of the Occupiers Journal, Work & Place featuring in depth articles, case studies and comments from some of the key speakers at the event. Paul Carder, publisher of Work & Place said: “As well as the journal’s obvious relevance to the creators and managers of places we were also keen to find subjects which are equally relevant to managers of the “work” process.”

June 2, 2014

How Adolf Hitler’s desk came to be modified and used for another fifty years

by Mark Eltringham • Facilities management, Furniture, News

It would have been a bit early for Christmas anyway, but German authorities who have identified the desk Hitler used while working in the Reichkanzlei during the War say it isn’t for sale, despite the fact it would be valued at tens of thousands of pounds to a specialist collector. In 2014, The Associated Press issued a picture of the desk which was made in 1937 and used in a US military base in Berlin up until 1996. Facilities managers being who they are, when it was handed back to the German authorities it had been modified with fax and telephone connectors. The desk is now kept away from the public gaze in a storeroom in Weissensee near Berlin and Germany says it will never be sold, even though it would prove a very attractive acquisition for collectors of militaria. ‘The desk is, and remains, the property of the Federal Republic,’ said government spokeswoman Jacqueline Besse. However, a piece of another desk belonging to Hitler was sold recently.

May 19, 2014

Loss making design and build service withdrawn by MITIE Group

by Mark Eltringham • Company news, Facilities management, News

Diversified facilities management services business Mitie has announced it is no longer to provide design and build services in the energy sector and will no longer provide mechanical and electrical (M&E) services. It has announced in its preliminary results for the year to March 2014 that the withdrawal of both operations will incur substantial losses – £25.4 million and £22.1 million respectively – so it will now concentrate more closely on its core and more lucrative facilities management markets instead where it sees the ‘potential for growth and [to] meet our margin targets’. While the firm reports that a number of design and build projects had experienced delays and cost overruns which led to substantial losses, results for the whole of MITIE group show pre-tax profit up 4.3 per cent to £113.3m with revenue up 8.2 per cent to £2.14 billion.

April 30, 2014

CoreNet issues phase one of road-map to zero energy buildings

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

CoreNet Global and the Rocky Mountain Institute have issued new guidance that lays out a framework for corporations to better manage their energy usage. According to Next Generation Energy Management, corporations have made progress in energy management and performance since 2007 when CoreNet Global and RMI first collaborated on this topic. Over two-thirds of corporations now have a sustainability agenda and staff as well as energy management plans, and nearly half have dedicated energy managers, a position that was only just emerging in 2007. However, research indicates that in many cases, these efforts have plateaued, so the new report is designed as Phase One of a road map toward the goal of net-zero buildings, in which buildings use the same or less energy than they generate through the use of renewables such as solar and wind power. More →

April 28, 2014

New collaborative office design for Petronas HQ in Italy

by Mark Eltringham • Architecture, Company news, Workplace design

Building work has begun on the new 17,000 sq. m. European Research & Development Headquarters for Petronas Lubricants, the global lubricants manufacturing and marketing arm of Petronas, the Malaysian oil and gas company. The building has been designed by architecture, urbanism and design practice Broadway Malyan. The office – located in Santena, just outside Turin, Italy – is part of a major investment into Petronas’ overall research capability and will be home to a community of several hundred scientists, researchers and new product developers. It is expected to play an important role in supporting Petronas’ development and refinement of fuels and lubricants with a particular emphasis on an office design that encourages collaborative work.

April 14, 2014

New BIM guidance published for operational phase of a building

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, News, Property

Guidance on the use of BIM (Building Information Modelling) in the operational phase of a building has been issued by the business standards Institution (BSI). PAS 1192-3, Specification for information management for the operational phase of assets using building information modelling (BIM) is a companion document to PAS 1192-2, which specified an information management process to support building information modelling (BIM) Level 2 in the capital/delivery phase of projects. In contrast, PAS 1192-3 focuses on the operational phase of assets irrespective of whether these were commissioned, acquired through transfer of ownership or are part of an existing asset portfolio. The new specification recognizes that the cost of operating and maintaining buildings and facilities can represent up to 85 per cent of the whole-life cost and savings can pay back any upfront premium in construction expenses in a few years. More →

April 11, 2014

Allied London announces plans for development of former Granada site

by Mark Eltringham • News, Property

Property Developer Allied London has announced plans to transform part of the former Granada Studios site in Manchester into a new media hub when it takes control of the building in June. The new building is to be branded Hello House and will offer workspace specifically aimed at media and PR companies, including startups and SMEs as well as established businesses. Not only has the site already enjoyed a long associated with one of the UK’s most famous and well-established media firms, it is also be able to take advantage of Manchester’s growing reputation as one of the country’s most important media and tech locations. The revamped space will include a rooftop media bar and facilities to encourage tenants to work together and develop new joint opportunities. Allied London has already signed up its first tenants.