November 27, 2023

Council employees working from home are committing fraud with second job

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News, Public Sector

The UK Government’s National Fraud Initiative is looking into a number of local authority employees who have been caught ‘moonlighting’ while they were supposed to be working from home for the council. The NFI considers this a form of fraud because it is seen as working multiple contracts without the knowledge of employers and contrary to their terms of employment. Multiple contract working is seen as fraud when people who are paid to work full time, split their days between two or more employers without their knowledge. (more…)

November 27, 2023

Appetite for hybrid working shows no sign of letting up at large firms

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News

The ongoing advancements in technology have made remote collaboration more feasible and seamless than ever before. Collaboration tools have become essential in ensuring the coexistence of the digital and physical workplace, both internally with employees and externally with clients. And in 2023, companies have been posting hybrid working related roles in record numbers, according to a new report from GlobalData. (more…)

November 10, 2023

The challenge for fit-out firms is to deliver best value despite supply chain challenges

by Kevin P'ng • Comment, Facilities management, Property, Workplace design

The past year has been a challenging one for London’s commercial fit-out market. Whilst industry supply and demand dynamics may have found a level of equilibrium since the pandemic, geopolitical tensions, economic disruptions, and an unstable domestic policy environment continue to have an impact. In tandem with this, the commercial fit-out market is adapting to changing needs; from accommodating hybrid working models to growing demands for sustainability and reuse, the workplaces of today are ever changing. (more…)

November 9, 2023

Economies need to cut carbon emissions by 7 percent annually to hit Paris target

by Neil Franklin • Environment, News

In the lead-up to the UN’s COP28 climate conference, the world’s largest CEO-led community committed to accelerating the net-zero transition is calling on businesses and governments to further slash global carbon emissions to meet the Paris Climate Agreement goals. According to a report by the Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders, in collaboration with the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), emissions must be cut back by 7 percent each year from now until 2030 to limit global warming to 1.5°C, as agreed in Paris in 2015. (more…)

October 16, 2023

London Real Estate Forum makes the right noises, but will be judged on action

by Helen Parton • Comment, Events, Property

This year’s London Real Estate Forum (LREF), held from 27-28 September at the Barbican, had a general air of optimism but tempered with the uncertainty of a general election in the next twelve months and elements of political and economic uncertainty globally. The day began with a state of the market discussion chaired by dRMM’s Sadie Morgan, with challenges facing the industry identified as the current valuation of the office market, the rate of housebuilding and the government’s lack of investment in infrastructure – the event coinciding with the furore over the cancelling of the northern part of HS2. (more…)

October 3, 2023

Investment and new powers essential to unleash the vast potential of UK cities

by Neil Franklin • Cities, News

Unleashing the potential of the UK’s cities is critical to boost growth, repair their social fabric and meet our net zero targets according to a new report, produced in partnership between the Royal Society for Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) and Core Cities UK. The report calls on the government to move away from the current trend of short-termism, witnessed in recent weeks in debates on HS2, net zero and the future of local government. (more…)

September 27, 2023

Act now on retrofitting if you want to boost commercial property values, new report argues

by Neil Franklin • News, Property

For European real estate owners and investors already on a journey to net-zero-carbon through retrofitting, upfront spending has the potential for long-term rent and capital-value accumulation, according to a new report from Colliers. Europe’s Renovation Wave [registration] explores the regulatory and societal pressures the authors claim is now driving an era of accelerated asset renovation, and the proactive actions investors, owners and occupiers can take to make sure their assets are not ‘left behind and stranded’ in the race to decarbonise the built environment by 2050. Retrofitting is also the subject of a special supplement published in the new issue of IN Magazine. (more…)

September 26, 2023

‘Levelling up’ development is new home for 1,400 civil servants

by Neil Franklin • News, Property, Public Sector

The UK government has purchased land for the permanent site of the new Darlington Economic Campus as a key part of its so-called levelling up programme. The Darlington Economic Campus (DEC) was established in August 2021 and currently houses 674 government staff. McLaren Property has now sold its option on a 7,926 square metres site on Brunswick Street in Darlington to the Government Property Agency for a permanent base for the Treasury’s second headquarters and Department for Business and Trade. (more…)

September 25, 2023

Report links economic growth with the idea of ‘good work’

by Jayne Smith • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

In advance of the main party conferences, the CIPD is calling for the next UK Government to develop a long-term workforce strategy to underpin a broader, bolder vision for economic growth. This is a central message in its new ‘Manifesto for Good Work’ which outlines the public policy changes needed to address the UK’s multiple challenges, for all the main UK political parties. These challenges include stagnating productivity, rising skills shortages and our ageing working population. (more…)

September 18, 2023

Smart technology needs to start with people if it wants to get smarter

by David Sharp • Features, Technology, Wellbeing

“My engineering students had come to class with technology on their minds.” So says artist and design researcher Sara Hendren, author of What a Body Can Do: How we Meet the Built World. It’s a fascinating book in which she consciously pushes back against the prevailing narrative that so-called smart technology has a fix for every problem. As a professor teaching design for disability at Olin College of Engineering, Massachusetts, Hendren draws attention to the assumptions that drive normative behaviours to define what is a ‘problem’ in the first place. (more…)

September 14, 2023

Is the Flexible Working Bill a game changer or paper tiger?

by Sam Ross • Comment, Flexible working

As LinkedIn data has shown, demand for work flexible working is high. And it outpaces the current availability of remote work offers. In the UK alone, listings for remote jobs have increased by 277 percent. Job postings for hybrid or remote positions received an increase in applications (189 percent) over in-office roles. People want to work remotely for various reasons. So they can live in their chosen home rather than in a tiny flat in London without sacrificing their career. So they can care for family – children, parents, grandparents. The demand for flexible work is driven by a desire for balance. The need has been clearly voiced – and the workforce is hungry for new modes of work. Looking at this background – the cheerful response to the passing of the bill is understandable. (more…)

September 13, 2023

Most workers are worried about poor indoor air quality

by Neil Franklin • Facilities management, News, Wellbeing

Most workers are concerned about poor indoor air quality and close to half think its damaging their health, according to a new survey conducted by Opinium for Spiralite. According to the poll, British workers are mostly concerned about the impact of air-quality on their health (64 percent concerned compared to 36 percent not concerned). (more…)