Search Results for: environment

May 13, 2013

Green responsibilities of the built environment highlighted by CIBSE

by Sara Bean • Environment, Facilities management, News

We’ve already focused today on the role individuals can play in supporting the green agenda of their employers, but for those working within the built environment they may have particular responsibility when it comes to helping to reduce energy consumption and provide for the adaptation of buildings that respond to the challenges of climate change. This is the message from incoming CIBSE President, George Adams Engineering Director for Spie Matthew Hall, in his Presidential address, “Whole Life Thinking” where he stresses the need for a new energy engineering conscience and calls for an increased pace of action to improve the industry and reduce its environmental impact.

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May 3, 2013

BIM provides opportunities for the built environment finds report

by Sara Bean • Architecture, Facilities management, Knowledge, News, Public Sector

Building Information Modelling (BIM) will raise productivity, provide better buildings, faster and cheaper and represents opportunities for the built environment to become a powerful international player. This is according to a major new report, Growth through BIM produced by Richard Saxon, the UK Government’s BIM Ambassador for Growth who concludes: “No wonder it has been mandated as government policy“. The Built Environment sector, for the purposes of his report, is defined as Property, Construction and Facilities Management, which accounts for about 15 per cent of GDP, and which he describes as: “an enabling sector, facilitating the performance of most other sectors”. (more…)

May 2, 2013

UK Green Building Council sets out its plans for the built environment

by Sara Bean • Environment, Facilities management, Knowledge, News, Property

The built environment is an engine for green growth and UK Green Building Council (UK-GBC) intends to demonstrate how, says the sustainable buildings campaigner today as it outlines specific areas of focus to promote green building over the next 12 months. This follows the publication of its Impact Report earlier this week which reflected on some of its key initiatives over the past year, including the launch of Pinpoint, a new search engine for information on green building, the publication of a plan for growth strategy and its work to influence government policy regarding the built environment.

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March 27, 2013

BIM task force group to represent built environment

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, News, Property, Public Sector, Technology

Building Information Modelling (BIM) is of as much importance to those tasked with using and managing buildings as those involved in their design and construction and has led to the formation of the BIM4FM group, which represents institutes, trade associations and professional bodies within the built environment. Supported by the Cabinet Office Government Property Unit, the BIM4FM group will provide input into the on going development of BIM and work being developed through the Government Property Unit and BIM Task Group. Geoff Prudence, Chair of the BIM4FM group said: “Although BIM has long been discussed at the construction end of the supply chain it has only recently and repeatedly started to raise its profile with those operating and using buildings.” (more…)

March 21, 2013

Muted response from built environment sector to Budget 2013

by Sara Bean • Environment, Facilities management, News, Property, Public Sector

There’s been a muted reaction by the building and construction sector to the Budget announcement of a boast to infrastructure investment and relief that revised energy management regulations are likely to be pushed through. CIBSE has welcomed the news that the Government will be giving a detailed response to last year’s Consultation on changes to Part L of the Building Regulations, which covers energy efficiency, by May 2013. The body which represents building services engineers had raised concerns that delays in changes to Part L of Building Regulations in England should not hold up much needed, cost beneficial changes to Part L for the non-domestic market.

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November 28, 2025

Time to admit we were wrong about Canary Wharf and other business districts

by Mark Eltringham • Features, Flexible working, Property

There was a time during and after the pandemic when it looked like time was up for the world’s major business districts. For a start Canary Wharf looked like it would need to completely reinvent itself as firms started to relocate to smaller more central premises. Instead of housing tenants such as HSBC it would focus on becoming a mixed-use space with more homes and leisure facilities. Hell, we even published a feature setting that all out ourselves. But it’s funny how things turn out. The latest news is JP Morgan’s announcement of a vast new headquarters building in the area. The bank, already one of the largest employers in the UK financial sector, has confirmed plans for a three million sq ft tower on the waterfront that will accommodate 12,000 staff and represent an investment estimated at £3 billion. (more…)

November 28, 2025

The UK’s most influential workplace design event is open for registration

by Freddie Steele • News, Workplace design

Registration is now officially open for Workspace Design Show London, returning to the Business Design Centre on 25–26 February 2026 with its most forward-thinking edition yet. The 2026 show will push even further under its new theme, Connected Realities, exploring how physical spaces and digital layers are increasingly merging to shape the workplaces of tomorrow. Across two days, the event will transform the BDC into a dynamic landscape of ideas and innovation, featuring leading UK and international brands unveiling the latest in furniture, lighting, acoustics, flooring, sustainability, digital workplace tools and materials for next-generation environments. Visitors can expect a show floor rich with new launches from companies including König + Neurath, Sedus, Kvadrat, Pedrali, Interface, Forbo and more, alongside a wider range of workplace product innovators shaping the future of work. (more…)

November 28, 2025

Are you a leader of the first workplace?

by Freddie Steele • Company news

If you work with young people, whether you’re in the classroom, in district leadership, or pursuing an educational doctorate degree, you’re already shaping how they’ll experience work for the rest of their lives. The first real workplace they know isn’t a cubicle or a Zoom call, it’s the classroom, and when leaders get the learning culture right, students become more hopeful, more engaged and more ready for what comes next. You’re effectively running their first organisation, with norms, expectations and feedback loops that feel very similar to what they’ll encounter later in their careers. (more…)

November 26, 2025

AI and robotics could replace as many as 40 percent of US jobs, McKinsey report suggests

by Neil Franklin • AI, News

A new analysis from the McKinsey Global Institute suggests that about forty percent of jobs in the United States could be carried out by artificial intelligence (AI) and robots if organisations chose to redesign how work is done. The report claims that existing technology is already capable of automating more than half of all work hours across a wide range of roles, spanning both manual and cognitive tasks. (more…)

November 25, 2025

Many people lack the confidence to use life-saving defibrillators at work. Here’s what you can do

by Neil Franklin • News, Wellbeing

Research from health charity St John Ambulance shows that a quarter of UK adults have experienced a cardiac arrest incident in some way, either as a first aider, bystander or patient. With more than one in seven cardiac arrest incidents occurring in the workplace, access to defibrillators is critical. To address workplace cardiac emergencies, St John Ambulance has launched its easy-to-use HEART defibrillators at work to empower employees to act quickly to save lives. Prompt CPR and defibrillation – which delivers an electric shock to restore someone’s normal heart rhythm – can more than double survival rates during cardiac arrest. Yet, over half of people don’t know how to give CPR, while almost two-thirds lack confidence to use defibrillators at work. (more…)

November 24, 2025

For the first time in its history, ORGATEC has an overarching theme

by Neil Franklin • News, Workplace design

ORGATEC, the biannual international trade fair for the workplace sector, has announced the first central theme in the event’s history as it prepares for its 2026 edition. Under the title From rooms to relationships: designing spaces in an ever-changing world, the fair will shift its focus towards the role of human experience in the design of work and contract environments. The event, which takes place in Cologne from 27 to 30 October 2026, aims to highlight how functional settings can evolve into places that support connection, collaboration and a sense of belonging.

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November 20, 2025

Stress accounts for a quarter of UK short term workplace absence

by Neil Franklin • News, Wellbeing

Stress now accounts for more than a quarter of short term workplace absence in the UK, according to new research from Simplyhealth and the CIPD. The latest edition of the Health and Wellbeing at Work report, one of the most extensive surveys of its kind, shows that 26 percent of short term absences are attributed to stress. The authors also suggest that almost two thirds of HR professionals reported stress related absence in their organisation during the past year. (more…)