September 30, 2021

The truth about the workplace comes out of the well

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Property, Technology, Wellbeing, Workplace design

The debate about the workplace and the future of work gets more interesting by the week. In the last few days alone, I’ve listened in on three great speakers talking about the opportunities, challenges, nuances and complexities of it all in a way that has been all but impossible in the past 18 months. In addition, Nigel Oseland has published his new book on people-centred work. Jo Owen’s new book on hybrid working is similarly a breath of fresh air on that particular subject. More →

September 7, 2021

Climate change action highlighted by coalition ahead of Cities, Regions and Built Environment Day at COP26

by Neil Franklin • Environment, News

Following the sobering message from the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report, a coalition led by C40, the Global Alliance for Building and Construction (GlobalABC), The Resilience Shift, World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and World Green Building Council (WorldGBC) announce #BuildingToCOP26 — a partnership to promote radical collaboration for climate change action ahead of the Cities, Regions and Built Environment Day at COP26. More →

June 8, 2021

Third of firms plan to reduce office space

by Jayne Smith • Business, News, Property

Major UK employers plan to reduce their office space by up to nine million square feet, equivalent to 14 Walkie Talkie buildings – the 37 floor high rise on London’s Fenchurch Street – according to PwC’s Occupier Survey of 258 of the UK largest companies. The fresh figures show half of the organisations surveyed expect to reduce the size of their real estate portfolio and, of these, one third believe they will reduce their office footprint by more than 30 percent. More →

February 19, 2021

‘Zoom rooms’ and breakout space top of the agenda for post-COVID offices

by Jayne Smith • Business, News, Workplace design

New data from real estate consultancy OBI claims that 70 percent of business leaders surveyed across Manchester have said they need to permanently change the design of their offices in order to suit the longer-term needs of their businesses and teams. More →

January 6, 2021

The city and the office have much to teach each other

by Marian Evans • Cities, Features, Workplace design

Whatever you might hear, these times are far from unprecedented. History has lessons for us both in terms of how we view the events of 2020 and how we might respond to them, including how we progress as a species and make our lives and the world a better place. In 1832, there was an epidemic of cholera in the UK’s towns and cities. In those with a population of 100,000 or more life expectancy was just 26 years. The reasons for this were picked up on by a government official called Edwin Chadwick as a member of the Poor Law Commission. More →

September 2, 2020

New strategy tackles the post-COVID climate emergency

by Jayne Smith • Environment, News

Supported by its Green Building Councils and their members, the WorldGBC (World Green Building Council) network has launched Sustainable Buildings for Everyone, Everywhere — a new strategy to accelerate and mainstream the transformation of built environments around the world. Based on climate science and the Global Goals of Sustainable Development (SDGs), the strategy tackles global warming, health and wellbeing and resource impacts to deliver quality infrastructure — a critical need for our planet, communities and economies in the context of the COVID pandemic.
More →

August 13, 2020

BCO releases lift and escalator guidance for reopening offices

by Jayne Smith • Facilities management, News

The British Council for Offices (BCO) has published new guidance for the safe use of escalators and lifts, as the country begins to return to the office. The safe use of lifts and escalators has been a priority for the industry, with 90 percent of decision-makers and influencers in the commercial office sector saying they were worried about their safe use. To help solve these headaches, the guidance emphasises the importance of social distancing and strict hygiene measures. More →

July 22, 2020

Older people are happiest at work

by Neil Franklin • News, Wellbeing

The latest edition of the annual Age Research by Engaging Works claims that the happiest people in the workplace are those beyond middle age. By comparison, young employees don’t feel rewarded or recognised and feel that their views are not heard at work. They are also more likely to suffer anxiety in the workplace. However, it’s middle aged employees who are struggling the most at work, admitting that they feel the least developed. They also feel that they have a poor feeling of wellbeing at work and that they don’t have enough information to do their job. More →

May 17, 2020

About

by Mark Eltringham •

Insight Publishing is one of the world’s leading platforms for workplace news, commentary and features. It publishes podcasts, reports, daily updates and now IN and Works magazines.

Workplace Insight is the UK’s most widely read publication dedicated to the design and management of workplaces, offering a definitive source of daily ideas, comment, news and information. Launched in 2013, it publishes a weekly newsletter and has a readership of up to 8,000 unique users a day including workplace professionals, suppliers, purchasing, HR, IT and facilities managers and specifiers including fit-out firms, architects and designers.

IN Magazine was launched in 2020 to offer a new way of talking about the physical office and the digital and cultural aspects of work. Aimed at occupiers and managers, it is published every two months and has around 90,000 readers per issue. In the Spring of 2022, Works Magazine was launched aimed at Europe’s workplace interiors sector. It has quickly established itself as one of the continent’s essential reads for everybody interested in office design.

Insight Publishing is led by Mark Eltringham, a professional with over thirty years’ specialist experience working as an editor, writer and commentator. Mark is a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts and is the European Director of Work&Place Journal. Works magazine is edited and published by Mick Jordan, who has been a mainstay of the European office design scene for over twenty years. Insight Publishing employs an experienced and knowledgeable team of industry experts, journalists and professionals to offer you the most independent reporting of issues relating to workplace design, culture and management, property, cities and technology.

Philosophy

From day one, we have worked on the premise that modern ways of working are no longer about just physical offices, but about cultural and digital work spaces too. This is the driving force behind a new discipline that embraces existing professions like general management, facilities management, HR, IT, real estate, design and architecture. The end result is a coherent way of looking at a wide range of workplace issues centred on the needs of people that occupy the three domains of 21st Century work. We offer a platform for all those with new, insightful and meaningful things to say about related issues. We prefer not to follow received wisdom but produce thought-provoking, informative and occasionally challenging content.

Contact

Insight Publishing Ltd

Brampton House

10 Queen Street

Newcastle

Staffs ST5 0PS

England

E. enquiries@workplaceinsight.net

May 5, 2020

From the archive: We shouldn’t rely on narrow ideas to define flexible working

by Luke Munro • Comment, Flexible working, Technology, Wellbeing

This piece was originally published five years ago. While we now read it with different eyes, what is interesting is how the ideas have stood up. Some better than others perhaps but a welcome reminder that the conversations we are now having about life after lockdown began some time ago. One of the particular and often unspoken issues that shadows in any debate about flexible working is what we mean by the term. We’ve been talking about new ways of working for a good quarter of a century now and what is generally understood about the practice has evolved considerably. The very idea was conceived at the birth of the new online era so is inextricably tied up with the Internet and new technology. More →

March 30, 2020

Home working initiative to tackle worldwide pandemic response

by Neil Franklin • News, Wellbeing

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and the International Facility Management Association (IFMA) collaboration are to throw their weight behind an emergency initiative by Leesman, building a global pan-industry response group to the threat posed to the real estate and facilities management industries by Covid-19 and addressing the huge uptake in home working. More →

January 24, 2020

Workplace culture can eat strategy for breakfast

by Alistair Craig • Comment, Workplace design

It was management consultant and author Peter Drucker who coined the well-worn maxim that “culture eats strategy for breakfast”. But often it is used in the wrong way. Far from suggesting that culture alone dictates workplace function, he presented culture as a first among equals. A strategy that does not heed culture is more likely to fail. A culture without strategy is prone to go adrift. It is vital for an organisation to be aware of its own culture and subcultures. Without self-awareness, the steps to improve or nuture those within the organisation will be futile. More →