Search Results for: office design

Small business has no problem with flexible working – it’s just sceptical of legislation

by • Comment, Flexible working, Legal news

flexible working legislationAt the end of July, the UK Government introduced new legislation that allowed any employee with more than six months in a job to apply to their employer for some form of flexible working arrangements. Now, research from Sage claims that a third of small businesses are ignoring the legislation, a fact which might be interpreted as suggesting that the UK’s SMEs are not so keen on the idea. What other data suggests, however, is that they’re probably more likely to offer flexible working than larger firms. This can only mean that it’s the legislation that’s the problem, not the practice. Leaving aside the ten percent of SMEs who the Sage report claimed were unaware of the new rules, this still leaves a large number of smaller businesses open to litigation and industrial tribunals. But, as the Federation of Small Businesses warned ahead of the new law’s introduction, the right to request was always likely to lead to headaches for business owners anyway.

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Two fifths of workers ignore social media bans – and they’re right

by • Legal news, News, Technology, Workplace

We all remember the days, not that long ago, when companies actively discouraged the use of personal technology and social media at work. How quickly things change. Now many firms not only want people to use their own smartphones, they pretend that it was their idea all along by labelling it BYOD. Some even measure their employees’ social engagement and judge them on it. Even those firms who maintain policies to restrict the use of social media may be fighting a losing battle according to new research from Samsung Electronics, which found that British employees are most likely to ignore them. But then again, maybe businesses shouldn’t worry about it because a growing body of research suggests that people who use social media tend to be more collaborative and productive at work.

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We may not know what the future holds, but we can certainly be prepared for it

by • Comment, Facilities management, Furniture, Workplace design

unknown-futureGiven the track record of people when it comes to making predictions about the future, it’s easy to grow cynical, especially when it involves a profession as subject to the vagaries of technological and cultural change as facilities management. But while we should be wary of more fanciful and long term thinking, any natural scepticism shouldn’t blind us to those predictions that we know will largely come true, especially those based on what we know is happening already. For example, recent research carried out by Cass Business School and Henley Business School and presented in the book Future Work: How Businesses Can Adapt and Thrive in the New World of Work found that two-thirds of managers believe there would be a revolution in working practices over the coming ten years. Given what we’ve seen over the past ten years, it’s impossible to argue any different. In fact the only quibble we should have with this is that it won’t take another ten years for this to happen because the process is already well underway.

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RIBA announce Stirling prize shortlist for best new building 2014

by • Architecture, News

The Shard in the City of London, the Library of Birmingham, the Manchester School of Art, the London School of Economics, the Everyman theatre in Liverpool and the London Aquatics Centre have been named in the shortlist for the 2014 RIBA Stirling Prize for the best new building. The six shortlisted buildings will now go head-to-head for architecture’s highest accolade, to be awarded by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) on 16 October 2014. The six buildings will be judged by the same criteria: their design excellence and their significance in the evolution of architecture and the built environment. Stephen Hodder, RIBA President said: “The RIBA Stirling Prize is awarded to the building that has made the biggest contribution to the evolution of architecture in a given year. Every one of the six shortlisted buildings shows what great public architecture can do: it can transcend mere construction to something quite poetic.” (more…)

Three ways in which politicians display their ignorance of the workplace

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

Workplace bubbleThe recent Cabinet reshuffle in the UK Government won’t alter one fact; politicians simply don’t get it when it comes to technology, the workplace, the way people work and the needs of small businesses. Once you dismiss the paranoid idea that they DO get it but don’t care because they’re too busy looking out for The Man, you have to conclude that one of the big problems they have (this won’t go where you think) is that they don’t understand anything about technology and work, especially when it comes to emerging technology, the working lives of individuals, the needs and functions of small businesses and the fact the self-employed exist at all. These things exist outside the bubble. This is obviously a problem because they are implementing policies and making big, uninformed and anachronistic decisions about the things that shape every aspect of our lives, help to define us as people and determine how companies and individuals function. Here are just three examples.

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Book Review: Cubed: A Secret History of the Workplace by Nikil Saval

by • Comment, Furniture, Work&Place, Workplace design

Cubed: A Secret History of the Workplace

Cubed: A Secret History of the Workplace

Nikil Saval’s book Cubed: A Secret History of the Workplace pulls off that rare feat for a parochial business book of being intelligent and informed (which many are) as well as fascinating, entertaining and realistic, which is rather less commonplace. He pulls this off with plenty of references to pop culture including television series such as Will and Grace, films such as Office Space and The Apartment and, inevitably, the Dilbert cartoons. There is also a great deal of enjoyment to be had in the slightly jaded tone of his writing and brutal evisceration of the likes of Tom Peters who is singled out for special criticism. So too, his take on the very  idea of the ‘Office of the Future’ with its slides, basketball courts, pool tables and vivid colours.

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Mace to oversee Old Admiralty refurbishment for DfE occupation

by • Company news, News, Public Sector

Old admiralty building refurbishmentAs a direct result of the Cabinet Office’s programme to consolidate and modernise the government estate, the Grade II listed Old Admiralty Building is to be designed and refurbished for the Department for Education (DfE).  Mace is to oversee the project, which will see the modernisation of 18,000 sq. metres of office space to provide space for over 1,600 staff, who are currently working in leasehold accommodation. Old Admiralty Building (OAB) is currently occupied by staff from the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, who as part of the estate rationalisation strategy, will be consolidated into the Foreign Office’s King Charles Street Office in 2015. Refurbishment work is targeted to commence at the OAB late in 2015, following a design procurement process, including liaison with Westminster City Council planning and English Heritage, with the project due for completion in 2017. (more…)

Physical workplace should provide an environment in which people can thrive

by • Comment, Facilities management, Workplace, Workplace design

Physical workplace must provide an environment in which people can thriveIn these post-recession times, companies are investing heavily in their operations and the UK business community definitely has more of a spring in its step. Now, more than ever, it is important to have the right team on board and employers are now finding that their biggest challenge is how to attract and keep high quality personnel. It is becoming increasingly clear that an attractive salary package alone is simply not enough, even with benefits. More than ever before, workers are thinking about the quality of life which a job can provide and an intrinsic part of this is a working environment which will provide a sense of wellbeing. If companies are going to attract and retain the very best staff, they are going to have to think about how to provide this, because the physical workplace can be a powerful means of providing an environment in which people can thrive. Research has shown that there are six dimensions to be taken into consideration when striving to create a workspace which will provide a sense of wellbeing.

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Building conservation award goes to Sixty London gatehouse

by • Architecture, News, Property

Sixty London gatehouse awardA City Heritage Award for Building Conservation has gone to architects KPF and the City of London Corporation for the rebuilding of the Sixty London gatehouse and restoration of the adjoining Holborn Viaduct. The schemes, which were completed in the Autumn of 2013, were honoured for their high standard of craftsmanship and finish. Sixty London replaces Bath House, a former mixed-use development designed in 1967, and rebuilding the northeast gatehouse, destroyed during the Second World War, was a crucial part of the KPF design. The gatehouse re-establishes the original symmetry of four gatehouses which historically stood at the intersection. The new office building comprises 212,000 sq ft of office space from Basement to ninth floors and is designed to achieve a BREEAM ‘Excellent’ rating. It also won the ‘Best Large Commercial Building’ category at the London region Local Authority and Building Control (LABC) Building Excellence Awards in May. (more…)

Four regional winners named in competition to find world’s best tall building for 2014

by • Architecture, News, Property

best tall buildingThe awards programmes pile up at this time of year and following the announcement of RIBA’s best workplaces for the year, four buildings, from the United States, Australia, the Netherlands and the United Arab Emirates, have been named the best tall building in the world for 2014 in their respective region by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH). An overall winner for the “Best Tall Building Worldwide” will be named from the four regional winners, following presentations from the owners and architects of each building, at the CTBUH 13th Annual Awards Symposium, which will take place at the Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, on November 6. The symposium will be followed by the Awards Ceremony and Dinner in the iconic Crown Hall, designed by Mies van der Rohe. The 10-Year, Urban Habitat, Lifetime Achievement, Building Performance and Innovation awards will be announced in the coming weeks, and will also feature at November’s awards events.

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Deloitte increases flexible working rights to attract future female leaders

by • Company news, Facilities management, Flexible working, Workplace

Deloitte increases flexible working rights to attract future female leadersAs employers prepare for new flexible working legislation, which comes into place at the end of this month; Deloitte UK has announced it is to allow its 12,000 employees more say in where, when and how they work. The firm has introduced a range of new and adapted, formal and informal agile working arrangements to incite a change in the day-to-day culture at the UK firm. Deloitte already offers all employees the right to request a formal flexible working arrangement; it will now also enable them to request a block of four weeks unpaid leave each year, without reason or justification. These arrangements support its wider measures that encourage a more agile workplace, including the introduction of collaborative and adaptable working spaces, an environment that supports open conversations about agile working and improvements to technology that make it feasible. (more…)

Green light (at last) for nine acre Birmingham City Centre mixed use development

by • Architecture, News, Property

commercial propertyThe developer of a major new mixed use project on a 9 acre site in the centre of Birmingham has announced that work will begin soon, after nearly ten years of delays. The £500 million Arena Central scheme was initially announced in 2004, then significantly extended and revised in 2011 to double the amount of commercial property available as part of the development. The first impressions of the finalised plans were published earlier this year and featured open public spaces, an urban meadow, cascading water features, ramps and a pedestrian spine that connects the elements of the site and connects to the main shopping areas in Broad Street and city centre residential areas to the South.  All in all, landscape architect Gillespies has designed four acres of soft landscaping within the development, nearly half of its total footprint. The first office building for the site will be designed by Make Architects. The building, named Arena 1 will be a 144,000 sq. ft. set to complete in 2016.

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