October 9, 2020

New Union Park data centre offers a digital update for Hayes

Bruceshaw has been appointed by Ark Data Centres as Project Manager and Cost Manager on its Union Park project, a new data centre campus on the Bull’s Bridge Industrial Estate in Hayes, London. With consumers, businesses and the public sector becoming increasingly reliant on the digital economy, the demand for data centres continues to grow. The project promises to use the latest sustainable technology and invest substantially in ecological improvements to deliver a scheme which responds efficiently to the needs of Hillingdon Council and its residents. More →

October 5, 2020

Coronavirus will lead to a permanent change in the way we work

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News

Coronavirus will have a lasting impact on office use and levels of remote and flexible working, new figures from the Institute of Directors suggest. That is the unsurprising findings of a survey of close to a thousand company directors conducted in September. The poll claims nearly three quarters (74 percent) of respondents said their firms would maintain increased levels of remote and flexible after the pandemic ends. More →

October 2, 2020

Two thirds of people believe their work travel patterns have changed permanently

by Jayne Smith • Environment, News, Technology

Alphabet (GB) has published a new report examining how the pandemic has accelerated changes to travel and transport, altering consumer and business travel habits in UK cities. With mass migration to working from home, in March, road traffic travel dropped to levels not seen since 1955 and journeys on the London Underground fell by 95 percent. The report suggests that only six percent of those travelling to work by train feel comfortable, dropping to just four percent for tube users. More →

September 30, 2020

People still prefer permanent jobs despite rise in number of freelance roles

by Jayne Smith • Flexible working, News, Working lives

Workers (82 percent) would rather have permanent jobs than “be their own boss” in a freelance or contract role, even as the self-employed and gig economy has grown rapidly in recent years, claims new research from the ADP Research Institute. Many workers believe that permanent work is preferable for a host of reasons including regular hours, better pay, timely payments, and the ability to get credit. More →

September 28, 2020

One way businesses can help employees get back to the office

by Freddie Steele • Company news

One of the many unprecedented things about 2020 is the way that the global COVID-19 pandemic has led to millions of workers around the world staying away from their office or workplace. Either through furlough schemes or temporary ‘working from home’ measures, many people across the job spectrum have had to adapt to a new way of doing things. More →

September 25, 2020

Office space costs fall for only the second time

by Jayne Smith • News, Property

Lambert Smith Hampton (LSH) has published the results of its annual Total Office Costs Survey (TOCS), claiming that the average outlay of occupying office space in the UK fell by 1.3 percent over the 12 months to June 2020 for new build accommodation and 1.6 percent for 20-year old buildings. This is only the second time costs have fallen in the survey since the global financial crisis in 2008 and contrasts sharply with the 3.6 percent increase in costs in 2019. More →

September 24, 2020

The magical limits of workplace design

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Workplace, Workplace design

Derren Brown is clearly on to something. And if you’ve read his books you’ll know that what he’s on to is finding ways to tap in to our fascination with how our thoughts and actions can be manipulated using some well-defined and researched techniques and principles. Add in some showmanship and what you have is something that is indistinguishable from magic. It also gas something to say about some of the ways we think about workplace design and management.

September 21, 2020

Commercial property market in Oxford-Cambridge Arc proving resilient

by Neil Franklin • News, Property

Take-up of office and laboratory space in the Oxford-Cambridge Arc has remained resilient during the first half of 2020, according to a new report from property consultants Bidwells. The firm claims that 117,600 sq ft was taken in Oxford between January and July, reaching 85 per cent of the city’s ten-year average despite the Covid-19 pandemic. More →

September 14, 2020

Redundancies set to double the peak reached in the 2008 recession

by Jayne Smith • News, Working lives

New analysis of official data released to the Institute for Employment Studies (IES) claims that between May and July 2020, employers notified government of nearly 380,000 potential redundancies. This is more than double the peak reached in the Great Recession, when 180,000 staff were notified as being at risk between January and March 2009. More →

September 11, 2020

The next chapter for office life, remote work and the stories we tell about it all

by Mark Eltringham • Comment

One of the few interesting things about the deluge of tedious work-related stories over the last few months has been watching the narratives about remote work, office life and all the rest of it develop. Of course, you’ll still get the odd piece like this, a rambling, lazy string of unexamined clichés that could have been written by a bot. And soon will be. More →

September 9, 2020

Resilience is missing for many employees

by Jayne Smith • News, Wellbeing Matters, Working lives

A new report from Aon,examined the views of employers and employees across five major countries in Europe and claim that just 30 percent of employees are resilient while also suggesting that resilience can triple when employers adopt a well-rounded programme of support. Employees with poor resilience have 55 percent lower engagement at work and are 42 percent less likely to want to stay with their employer. In the UK, 29 percent of employees are resilient, and those with poor resilience have 59 percent lower engagement and are 43 percent less likely to want to stay with their employer. More →

September 7, 2020

Homeworkers supporting local economies through Covid-19

by Jayne Smith • Flexible working, News

While city centres are taking time to recover, there’s better news elsewhere, suggests Vodafone research into small business employees. Local economies are benefitting from the rise in homeworking, with 25 percent of homeworkers spending at least once a day at their local coffee shop or café. The research, which surveyed 1,003 small business employees, also claims that working from home has not hindered Brits’ productivity, with 40 percent of workers putting in an average of 642 additional hours, equal to 26 extra days, since lockdown began back in March. More →