Search Results for: collaboration

Dull workplaces can hamper creativity, claims new report

by • Furniture, Knowledge, News, Workplace design

Broken light bulbA new report from London based fit-out company Overbury claims that dull and demotivating workplaces are holding back creativity in UK organisations. The study of 2,000 employees from across the UK, found that although staff consider idea generation crucial to their employer’s performance, many feel unable to work creatively together in their offices. Between half and two thirds of employees (59%) state that the development of new ideas is vital to their organisation. However, many respondents also stated that their working environment is thwarting creativity,with the majority (52%) of UK offices lacking common or social areas.

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Google and Yahoo office strategies teach us the value of the velvet glove

by • Comment, Facilities management, Technology, Workplace, Workplace design

Velvet gloveIt’s a week now since the whole Yahoo-ha kicked off and since that time everybody has had their say on the matter including – refreshingly – those in the mainstream media. The story has followed its own narrative arc, from the initial gasps of horror at Yahoo’s audacious challenge to a cherished piece of contemporary received wisdom (coupled with the reminder that Yahoo still exists) to something more thoughtful and circumspect as we learned more about the thinking behind the decision.What has become apparent is that Yahoo’s actions were based on a tacit understanding that people work better on certain tasks when they are together.

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American Institute of Architects opens design and health project

by • Architecture, News, Workplace design

Via Verde

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is working with the Clinton Global Initiative and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Center for Advanced Urbanism (CAU) to examine the relationships between design, urbanism, and public health. The collaboration is part of the AIA’s Decade of Design Commitment to Action, which aims to make positive changes through design in the global urban environment. Alexander d’Hooghe, director of the MIT CAU explained: “We are investigating the scale of urban design, architecture, as well as planning, in relation to health today, whether related to obesity, or to climate change.” (more…)

Industry collaborates on revised Design Review guidance

by • Architecture, Knowledge, News, Property, Workplace design

design_review_117

New guidelines aimed at ensuring the consistency and quality of advice offered by design review panels across the UK have been published by the Cabe team at the Design Council in collaboration with the Landscape Institute, the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) and the Royal Institute of Architects (RIBA). Welcoming the launch of the revised guidance; ‘Design Review, Principles and Practice’ RIBA President Angela Brady said: “Design review is a hugely valuable tool, which has had a proven track record of improving the quality of schemes.”

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Video: Why designers need to design for our ears too

by • Architecture, Comment, Facilities management, Workplace, Workplace design

A subject too often ignored but about which we now have a great deal of research is that of acoustic comfort. Insight has covered the subject before, but the fact remains that too often we design for our eyes far more than our ears. What we also know to be true is that we are becoming more acutely aware of the issue as our workplaces change both in terms of the space each of us is allocated and our exposure to others in the name of collaboration. In this TED talk Julian Treasure of The Sound Agency considers how we might design our surrounding in ways to improve our acoustic comfort.

MIT survey shows link between sustainability and profitability

by • Environment, Knowledge

money-grows-on-treesA report published today by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Sloan Management Review and The Boston Consulting Group has found that more than half of companies see a rise in profits when they embrace a more sustainable business model. In addition to the link between sustainability and profitability, the number of companies reporting a profit from their sustainability efforts rose 23 percent last year, to 37 percent of the total, according to the report entitled The Innovation Bottom Line. The survey of 2,600 managers and executives around the world, also found that nearly half of respondents said their companies had changed their business model as a result of sustainability opportunities.  (more…)

Better Buildings challenge for sustainable innovation

by • Architecture, Environment, News, Property, Technology, Workplace design

BPP

A competition to find green solutions that help to improve the performance of commercial buildings has been launched by the Institute for Sustainability, in partnership with the Climate Knowledge and Innovation Community (Climate-KIC) and the Better Buildings Partnership (BBP) – a collaboration of leading London commercial property owners and investors. Because energy efficiency improvement works have focused primarily on mechanical and electrical control upgrades and plant replacement, the competition focuses on innovations which could help improve the environmental performance of the building envelope. (more…)

Cost cutting measures are on the agenda, but may prove risky

by • Knowledge, News

SawingTreeLimbHeisSittingOnThe latest Office for National Statistics figures released today which show that the UK economy has shrunk might suggest that firms need to cut costs as they try to weather the economic storm. This idea is given credence by a major study into the procurement strategies of organisations which found three quarters doing exactly that. However another study suggests that we may be approaching the point at which further cost-cutting measures will destabilise supply chains, making price reductions counter productive and exposing buyers to a greater degree of risk.   (more…)

Designing for productivity means creating space for us to be alone

by • Facilities management, Furniture, Knowledge, Workplace design

WilkhahnOn the face of it, the case for working in open plan offices is clear cut. Not only are they  more conducive to collaborative work and less bound by ideas of that great no-no that we used to call ‘status’, the economic case is seemingly open and shut. Open plan workstations not only take up around half the space of cellular offices, the fit-out costs are typically 25 per cent lower. And yet there are clear signs of a backlash, at least to the idea of them fostering collaborative work.

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Consensus in property industry for green agenda

by • Environment, News, Property, Public Sector

UKBC

The UK Green Building Council, backed by a wide range of trade and professional organisations across the construction and property sector, has sent an open letter to the Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne demanding a suite of policy changes to make the most of the green growth opportunity. The level of collaboration and consensus from within the industry is unprecedented, and includes, among others, support from the British Property Federation, Construction Products Association, British Council for Offices and Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors.

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WWF launches Green Game Changers Report

by • Environment, Facilities management, Knowledge, Legal news, Lighting

When it comes to the development of meaningful and innovative approaches to the environment, companies are often way ahead of legislation and prepared to do far more than is expected of them by Governments. Best practice is lauded by the WWF in its Green Game changers initiative which has just launched a new report highlighting those organisations that have pushed the envelope on environmental thinking. The latest Green Game Changers Report can be viewed and downloaded here. (more…)

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