May 8, 2024

Peace and quiet at work? Here are ten of the best and most far out solutions

by Neil Franklin • Features, Workplace design

Any survey that sets out to establish what people believe cuts their productivity and annoys them most about their workplace invariably throws up the same result; the noise and distractions generated by other people. So it will come as no surprise to learn that the same surveys usually find that employees believe that peace and quiet and freedom from distractions is the most important factor when it comes to getting some decent work done. More →

May 7, 2024

Scale AI announces plans for new European headquarters in London

by Neil Franklin • AI, News, Property, Technology

Scale AI has selected London as the location for its first European headquarters, reinforcing the company’s mission to accelerate the development of AI globally. Scale’s United Kingdom (UK) office will serve as the centre of its operations in Europe. The firm is an artificial intelligence company headquartered in San Francisco in the US State of California. The company provides labelled data used to train AI applications. The firm was founded in 2016 by Alexandr Wang and Lucy Guo who had previously worked at Quora. More →

May 1, 2024

BCO London Awards winners focus on sustainability, wellbeing and user-friendliness

by Neil Franklin • News, Property, Workplace design

The British Council for Offices Awards for London have gone to seven office buildings across the city. Held at the Park Plaza hotel, the BCO’s annual London Awards Lunch recognised projects that demonstrate best practice in office design, fit-out, operation and sustainability, setting the standard for excellence across the sector. More →

May 1, 2024

Hybrid working era means a boom time for workplace apps

by Helen Parton • Facilities management, Flexible working, Technology, Workplace design

Disseminating information about a building to the people who occupy it has come a long way from a basic, intranet desktop interface with warnings about wet floors or notices about charity fundraising. These days apps promise a much more sophisticated workplace experience, which can be accessed in the palm of your hand. Gartner has a useful definition of workplace apps’ capabilities, stating, “They are used to explore and reserve workspaces, navigate the workplace, find colleagues, plan the best days to attend the workplace, access services and ensure that employees could feel safe in a future post pandemic workplace.” More →

April 22, 2024

AI is not coming for your job. But it will make it better

by Barry Murphy • AI, Comment, Technology, Workplace

“Artificial intelligence will outsmart humans, resolve all IT and business problems, and humans will not be needed in the workforce!” These are some of the most common misconceptions that too many companies and workforces currently have around AI and automation. To date, workforces have been inclined to broach AI with apprehension due to concerns that it will negatively affect or eliminate their jobs. Conversations have skewed towards the technology as a disruptive force, here to steal jobs and ultimately leave people redundant. A study found that 60 percent of workers are concerned about job loss in regards to working with Gen AI. Additionally, a further third worried that, despite AI being unable to completely replace them, it could make them less useful in the workplace. More →

April 19, 2024

Most people want to work in jobs that have a positive impact on the world

by Jayne Smith • Environment, News, Workplace

A new poll from hiring platform Indeed suggests that people now consider working in jobs that positively impact society (57 percent) and the environment (55 percent) more important than they did when they started their careers. Just over a quarter (26 percent) say they would take a pay cut and 44 percent would consider retraining to enter the environmental sustainability sector. The survey of more than 1,000 workers and job seekers and 500 employers in the UK, highlights the ongoing green skills challenge. Despite the clear appetite for sustainability-related jobs among working people, 42 percent believe there are still too many barriers to entry. More than a quarter (27 percent) have been trying to transition to the sector but have been unsuccessful so far. More →

April 18, 2024

Majority of young professionals feel happy about embracing AI in their lives

by Neil Franklin • AI, News, Technology

More than half of young professionals feel comfortable or very confident about the increasing integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in various aspects of daily life, while only 15 percent reported feeling unsettled or scared about the prospect, according to new research from CEMS, the Global Alliance in Management Education. Half (50 percent) also stated that social media impacts their life positively, while only just over a quarter (27 percent) feel that social media has a negative impact on their lives. Overall, 70 percent of graduates said that they feel optimistic about the future. More →

April 18, 2024

A lot of young people don’t think their employers give a fig about sustainability

by Jayne Smith • Environment, News

Ahead of World Earth Day, a new poll from Zest, claims that workers across the UK are increasingly focused on sustainability and expect their employers to do more – particularly younger generations. Half (51 percent) of employees are keen to see their company invest more in sustainability, rising to 61 percent of younger workers aged 18-34. The survey from Zest also reveals that over half (53 percent) would like to see their company investing in more sustainable benefits such as electric vehicles, similarly rising to two-thirds (66 percent) of 18–34 year olds – and these demands are not going unnoticed. More →

April 16, 2024

Don’t worry, be ‘appy. IN Magazine issue 20 is here for you

by Mark Eltringham • Environment, Facilities management, IN Magazine, News, Premium Content, Property, Technology, Workplace design

The new digital edition of IN Magazine is now available to read online. In this issue: reviews of both MIPIM and the Workspace Design Show; a reappraisal of scientific management; what the new generation of workplace apps tell us about how we work; a case study that prompts the question of why office designers don’t make more use of reused products; the road to hell is paved with bad information; Domino Risch on the workplace’s Kodak moment; why facilities managers are the goalkeepers of the workplace; the final word on self-awareness; and much more. More →

April 15, 2024

West End gateway for Leeds takes shape with green light for McLaren’s mixed use neighbourhood

by Neil Franklin • Company news, Property

Leeds City Council has McLaren’s mixed use Wellington Square development of build-to-rent homes and commercial space in Leeds’ West End. The new neighbourhood, designed by Howells Architects, will transform a 2.47 acre site into a lively gateway to Leeds city centre with a landmark tower, high-quality new homes and innovative workspace in the city’s professional core and Innovation Arc, which establishes the area as a hub for research and innovation. More →

April 10, 2024

MIPIM has changed, and mostly for the better

by Anna King • Environment, Features, Property

With an estimated 27,000 delegates from 90 countries, MIPIM is still a force to be reckoned with when it comes to opportunities to network and learn as delegates, with organisations using the week to deliver news, insights and thinking. The theme for MIPIM this year was The Global Urban Community; and it really did feel more international than previous years, the majority of attendees are still from France, Germany and the UK, but there were significant delegations from the United States, Canada, Oman, Egypt and Hong Kong, more from Asia generally and a show stopper from Saudi Arabia, more of which later. More →

April 5, 2024

A just in time lesson about office design

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Workplace design

The nascent years of new ways of working in the late 80s and early 90s coincided with a widely held but soon to be discarded belief that the Japanese had cracked management practices. So it was perhaps inevitable that the principles of a process called just in time manufacturing – most famously applied in the factories of Toyota – should migrate to new forms of office design and the rapidly developing practice of flexible working.