Search Results for: office design

Cities worldwide are grappling with the delicate balance between nighttime charm and sustainability

Cities worldwide are grappling with the delicate balance between nighttime charm and sustainability

Cities worldwide, from London to Sydney, are grappling with the delicate balance between nighttime charm and prioritising sustainability. As well as the delights of daytime, cities around the world have long been defined by how their iconic landmarks come to life at night. Think of London’s illuminated riverside or Amsterdam’s canals lit up after dark. These vistas almost come to be synonymous with these places’ very identities. Aston Woodward, co-founder of asset management firm Oxygen also brings one of Australia’s best-known destinations into the mix. “Well-lit buildings at night in any city are attractive. Sydney is a good example and at night is dramatic. Many tourists as well as residents sit and admire a variety of size and colour and interactions generated from the buildings’ lighting.” More →

Going with the flow … with Domino Risch

Going with the flow … with Domino Risch

Sharing a hot drink separated by numerous time zones, Domino Risch chats with Mark Eltringham about what firms get wrong about hybrid and in-office work, the best places to have ideas and how hard the modern world makes it to achieve flow statesDomino Risch uses her new found freedom to discuss the limitations of relying on a single place to get work done. Sharing a hot drink separated by numerous time zones, she chats with Mark Eltringham about what firms get wrong about hybrid and in-office work, the best places to have ideas and how hard the modern world makes it to achieve flow states. They discuss the potential of anthropology to change the way we work. And what the current news about Deutsche Bank’s insistence people come into the office on Mondays and Fridays tells us about the avoidable tensions that exist in the tedious debate about remote work and so-called return to office mandates. More →

Home Sweet … Ergonomic Workspace. Why wellbeing and comfort matters when you work from home

Home Sweet … Ergonomic Workspace. Why wellbeing and comfort matters when you work from home

Just because you work from home, doesn't mean things are different when it comes to your wellbeing.Working from home offers a host of benefits: flexible hours, avoiding the commute, and the comfort of your own pyjamas (within reason, of course). But amidst the perks, it’s easy to overlook an often-forgotten aspect: ergonomics. That fancy term simply means designing your workspace to fit you, preventing discomfort and injuries. While ergonomics might seem less crucial in your home office, it’s just as important as in a traditional office setting. Just because you work from home, doesn’t mean things are different when it comes to your wellbeing. More →

State-of-the-art European weather centre headquarters in Reading given go-ahead

State-of-the-art European weather centre headquarters in Reading given go-ahead

The UK Government has been granted planning permission to develop a new cutting-edge headquarters for the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) at the University of Reading. Construction of ECMWF’s modern, accessible, and highly sustainable headquarters is scheduled to start towards the end of this year and completion is expected in Autumn 2026, after Wokingham Borough Council approved the development at its February 2024 Planning Committee. More →

Changing shape of workplace is creating new opportunities for property market

Changing shape of workplace is creating new opportunities for property market

A new report claims that changing approaches to the workplace will create new opportunities for the quickest and smartest to adaptAfter a challenging environment for commercial real estate in 2023, its fallout provides investors, developers and corporate occupiers with significant opportunities for value creation and transformational organisational change in 2024, says leading property management and investment firm, Colliers (EMEA) in its new market commentary: ‘Engage, activate and accelerate performance: next generation real estate strategies’ [registration]. The report claims that new approaches to the workplace will create new opportunities for the quickest and smartest to adapt. More →

Attendance registration opens for 55th NeoCon

Attendance registration opens for 55th NeoCon

Plans are taking shape for the 55th edition of NeoCon (held June 10-12 at THE MART, Chicago), the world’s leading platform for commercial space designPlans are taking shape for the 55th edition of NeoCon (held June 10-12 at THE MART, Chicago), the world’s leading platform for commercial space design, as show management announces a power-list of thought-provoking speakers, dynamic activations, best-in-class brands, and the newest movers and shakers impacting the built environment. The three-day event offers unparalleled opportunities to connect, learn, and experience the latest trends and innovations across verticals, from office to healthcare. More →

Cautious welcome for government’s disability plan which aims to make UK ‘most accessible nation’

Cautious welcome for government’s disability plan which aims to make UK ‘most accessible nation’

he UK government has announced details of its new Disability Action Plan which includes 32 steps it claims will make the UK the most accessible place in the world for disabled people to 'live, work and thriveThe UK government has announced details of its new Disability Action Plan which includes 32 steps it claims will make the UK the most accessible place in the world for disabled people to ‘live, work and thrive’. The publication of the Disability Action Plan is part of the government’s stated intention to improve the lives of millions of disabled people. This has included seeing 1.3 million more disabled people in work now than in 2017, which the government claims is delivering a commitment five years early. More →

Of mice and men

Of mice and men

What humble computer mice can tell us about the way we now work. Or how the law of unintended consequences applies to hybrid workersThe history of the humble computer mouse dates back to the 1960s and engineer Douglas Engelbart’s work on improving the way people and computers interact. He initially called the device he envisaged a ‘bug’ but the first prototype he created with Bill English was so unmistakeably a rodent that there was only one thing they could have called it. If only they had settled the question of whether the plural was mouses or mice. More →

Revised plans submitted for joint tallest building in Western Europe

Revised plans submitted for joint tallest building in Western Europe

Eric Parry Architects have put forward revised plans for the One Undershaft tower in central London. A planning application for the project was first submitted to the City of London authority in 2016. The revised plans would make it the joint tallest building in the UK. More →

New RIBA guidance sets out to demystify smart building technology 

New RIBA guidance sets out to demystify smart building technology 

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has published its Smart Building Overlay to the RIBA Plan of Work. The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has published its Smart Building Overlay to the RIBA Plan of Work. Developed with ScanTech Digital, Glider Technology, Kier and Hoare Lea, RIBA says this free resource will support anyone involved in the design of newbuild, retrofit or refurbishment projects to implement smart building technology. The Smart Building Overlay introduces smart building terminology and outlines the benefits of embedding smart building technology from the outset. Its principles can be applied to projects of all scales and scopes. More →

Lab rats – how the UK life sciences sector is struggling to find space to work

Lab rats – how the UK life sciences sector is struggling to find space to work

The UK wants to build on its already successful position as a globally important player in the life sciences and pharma sectors. Yet it is struggling to create enough space for growth in the right places and having to rethink wher research and innovation takes place In November 2023, plans to turn part of a golf course next to a motorway into a £340 million science park were refused by South Oxfordshire District Council. Although now classified as greenbelt, the location was the site of a landfill as recently as the 1990s and is just a stone’s throw from both the A40 trunk road and M40 motorway. The developers are expected to appeal. Whatever the details of this story, it is an example of how challenging it can be to meet demand for lab and life sciences space in the so-called Golden Triangle of London, Oxford and Cambridge in the South of England. This lack of supply is acting as a brake on the UK Government’s dream of making the country a “science superpower”. More →

The final word on … responsibility

The final word on … responsibility

There have been many experiments  over the years that expose the darker aspects of human nature. One of the most telling of these was carried out by two American researchers called John Darley and Bibb Latane in 1968. The two men’s work was partly inspired by a notorious 1964 murder in which a woman called Kitty Genovese was stabbed to death in public. The murder took place over a period of around half an hour, during which a number of witnesses who watched the crime from their windows failed to help the victim.

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