July 24, 2019

Agile working? This is Frank’s World and the rest of us just live in it

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Facilities management, Flexible working, Technology, Workplace design

James Joyce had a word for moments of insight when we see right through convention and suddenly appreciate how things really are. He called such moments epiphanies. Such a flash of insight happened to me three or four years ago in Texas. I had been explaining to the partners of a very large international client how they could use their office space more effectively. Since these partners were rightly concerned with driving down occupancy costs, including rent, property taxes, service charges and energy costs throughout all their operations everywhere, my proposals were very acceptable. (more…)

July 24, 2019

Organisations upskilling to make sense of people data

by Jayne Smith • News, Workplace

New research claims that there has been a huge rise in the number of people analytics teams as HR is called on to take an increasingly strategic role in shaping business performance. Innovation generation: the big HR tech disconnect, a report released by Thomsons Online Benefits, claims there has been a significant increase in the proportion of UK-based global organisations building people analytics teams, rising from 8 percent to 43 percent in just three years. With tech talent in short supply, the survey of 60 HR decision makers from UK-based companies suggests that employers are looking to upskill existing HR team members to make sense of the data now available to them. (more…)

July 24, 2019

Commercial property sector shifts focus to wellbeing in response to tenant demands

by Mark Eltringham • News

A new report from the Urban Land Institute (ULI), claims that the wave of interest in wellbeing in the UK is expected to translate into significant investment from the commercial property sector over the next three years. The report, Picture of health: the growing role of wellbeing in commercial real estate investment decision-making, has been published by the ULI UK Sustainability Forum to highlight the rise of wellbeing investment in commercial buildings. The report from ULI UK was sponsored by E.ON and addresses questions about the investment case for incorporating wellbeing into buildings and how to measure its impact. (more…)

July 24, 2019

New government has unprecedented chance to transform buildings

by Neil Franklin • Environment, News, Property

The new UK government led by Boris Johnson has an unprecedented opportunity to dramatically shift policy on the built environment and deliver higher standards of safety, sustainability and social justice, according to the Building Engineering Services Association (BESA). It urged the new administration to back up rhetoric around climate change with robust legislation; to enshrine the recommendations of the Hackitt Review to improve fire safety in buildings; and tackle the scourge of late payment that is undermining thousands of SME and driving many into insolvency. (more…)

July 23, 2019

Office design should take account of the quality of interactions as well as quantity

by Jonathan Hindle • Comment, Workplace design

Ever since technology first made it possible for people to work remotely from their colleagues, there has been speculation not only that office design should change but even that the physical office could be dispensed with entirely, and with it the idea that people should come together to work in the same place at the same time to achieve common goals and to share in a common identity.

(more…)

July 22, 2019

A new generation of smart cities is with us

by James Ransom • Cities, Features

An abandoned mine shaft beneath the town of Mansfield, England is an unlikely place to shape the future of smart cities. But here, researchers from the nearby University of Nottingham are planning to launch a “deep farm” that could produce ten times as much food as farms above ground. Deep farms are an example of what the latest wave of smart cities look like: putting people first by focusing on solving urban problems and improving existing infrastructure, rather than opening shiny new buildings. (more…)

July 21, 2019

Sleeping on the job is now acceptable behaviour

by Colette Wade • Comment, Wellbeing, Workplace design

Recently, Cornerstone OnDemand tested which learning and training courses are of most interest and truly matter to employees to help them navigate the world of work. Among the top five most popular courses, there was a resounding demand for those that centred around wellbeing. And the training that claimed the top spot was ‘The Science of Sleep: Sleep hygiene’. (more…)

July 19, 2019

The Age of Blorp, a dead tulip, no muggles allowed and some other stuff

by Mark Eltringham • Architecture, Features, Technology, Wellbeing, Workplace design

First the good news. Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has rejected the proposals for Foster+Partners’ godawful 300 metre tall ‘Tulip’ viewing tower in London. The reasons given for the refusal from the Mayor’s office include the fact that the thing didn’t represent the sort of “world class architecture that would be required to justify its prominence”. A nicely dressed up way of saying it’s a terrible idea, a terrible piece of architecture and has absolutely no place in London. (more…)

July 18, 2019

Ergonomics regulations are no longer fit for purpose

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Legal news, Technology, Workplace, Workplace design

The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there. We can apply LP Hartley’s legendary opening lines from his novel The Go Between to many of the ways the world of work has changed over the last quarter of a century. And perhaps especially to The European Display Screen Equipment Regulations which were first introduced in 1992 as a way of improving the posture and wellbeing of people working with computers in the office.

(more…)

July 18, 2019

Demand for four day week continues to rise

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News

With a recent report from Henley Business School highlighting that a shorter working week could add to businesses’ bottom lines through increased staff productivity and uplift in staff physical and mental health, a study from ADP (registration) has further emphasised these findings. ADP’s research claims almost two-thirds of UK workers (61 percent) would opt for a four day week at work if they had the choice. (more…)

July 18, 2019

Govt scheme to retrain people in the age of automation

by Neil Franklin • AI, News

The UK Government in partnership with the CBI and TUC has launched a new scheme to help workers whose jobs change or become obsolete because of advances in technology. Workers will be offered help in retraining or finding a new career amid suggestions that up to a third of jobs could be at risk of changing because of automation in the coming 10 to 20 years. The National Training Scheme will be trialled in Liverpool before being rolled out across England. The CBI and TUC are both backing the initiative as a way of boosting productivity, pay and workers’ skills. (more…)

July 18, 2019

Construction sector loses patience with Brexit indecision

by Neil Franklin • News, Property

Activity in the construction sector rose in the second quarter of the year, despite concerns that political uncertainty surrounding Brexit was holding back investment. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors claims that the market has lost patience with the lack of clarity over Brexit and that clients were beginning to push ahead with projects, albeit tentatively. In its construction and infrastructure survey, a balance of 16 per cent of respondents reported an increase in work, up from 9 per cent in the previous quarter. (more…)