Search Results for: office

Workplace design and the corrective force of rediscovery

Workplace design and the corrective force of rediscovery

rediscovering workplace designIt has become something of a preoccupation of mine to consider why so many of the conversations we hold about workplace design are largely about the rediscovery of old ideas. It may be because there are constants about how people interact with their surroundings and each other and the truisms underlying those interactions. Although these are often reframed by the amount of data we now have to support them, some things never change. More →

Lab rats – how the UK life sciences sector is struggling to find space to work

Lab rats – how the UK life sciences sector is struggling to find space to work

The UK wants to build on its already successful position as a globally important player in the life sciences and pharma sectors. Yet it is struggling to create enough space for growth in the right places and having to rethink wher research and innovation takes place In November 2023, plans to turn part of a golf course next to a motorway into a £340 million science park were refused by South Oxfordshire District Council. Although now classified as greenbelt, the location was the site of a landfill as recently as the 1990s and is just a stone’s throw from both the A40 trunk road and M40 motorway. The developers are expected to appeal. Whatever the details of this story, it is an example of how challenging it can be to meet demand for lab and life sciences space in the so-called Golden Triangle of London, Oxford and Cambridge in the South of England. This lack of supply is acting as a brake on the UK Government’s dream of making the country a “science superpower”. More →

Motherhood penalty means many women in tech leave due to care responsibilities

Motherhood penalty means many women in tech leave due to care responsibilities

Women who have flexible working arrangements have a significantly higher retention than those who didn't. These finding emphasise the damage that the 'motherhood penalty' has on the tech industry and its ability to keep women working within it.Almost 40 per cent of female tech leavers cited caring commitments as a decisive factor in their decision to leave the industry, according to research by Tech Talent Charter. Work life balance was ranked the most important consideration, as working parents are juggling careers and full-time caring commitments, prompting the Tech Talent Charter and MotherBoard Charter to join forces to address maternity retention in tech. Women who have flexible working arrangements have a significantly higher retention than those who didn’t. These findings emphasise the damage that the ‘motherhood penalty’ has on the tech industry and its ability to keep women working within it. More →

The final word on … responsibility

The final word on … responsibility

There have been many experiments  over the years that expose the darker aspects of human nature. One of the most telling of these was carried out by two American researchers called John Darley and Bibb Latane in 1968. The two men’s work was partly inspired by a notorious 1964 murder in which a woman called Kitty Genovese was stabbed to death in public. The murder took place over a period of around half an hour, during which a number of witnesses who watched the crime from their windows failed to help the victim.

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ARCHITECT@WORK set to welcome architects and designers to its March show

ARCHITECT@WORK set to welcome architects and designers to its March show

On 20th and 21st March ARCHITECT@WORK London will open its doors at the Truman Brewery and the team are ready to welcome the architecture and design community from London and everywhere else on both daysOn 20th and 21st March ARCHITECT@WORK London will open its doors at the Truman Brewery and the team are ready to welcome the architecture and design community from London and everywhere else on both days. Discover over 200 carefully selected product innovations brought to you by a selection of high-end brands. Register online and get your visitor badge. Admission is free for all trade visitors. More →

The final word on workplace wellbeing

The final word on workplace wellbeing

The final word? Of course not. Five years ago this month, we published an article that described how the quest for productivity had been supplanted almost entirely by a new emphasis on workplace wellbeingThe final word? Of course not. Nearly six years ago, we published an article that described how the quest for productivity had been supplanted almost entirely by a new emphasis on workplace wellbeing. It was the final nail in the coffin of scientific management and its central notion of the office as a factory, subject to rigid times and places of work and manufacturing’s culture of process, efficiency and productivity. The office a splice of factory and panopticon. More →

Senator Group opens new showroom in Dubai

Senator Group opens new showroom in Dubai

Dubai has long been the destination of choice to showcase the most iconic of British Designs, and now it is the home to The Senator Group’s newest showroomDubai has long been the destination of choice to showcase the most iconic of British Designs, and now it is the home to The Senator Group’s newest showroom. The 3700 square foot space is nestled in Dubai’s Marina Plaza, a 28-story tower with panoramic views of the marina, city, and desert. Visitors to the showroom will fully experience, ‘The Social Office’, which blends the Senator and Allermuir brands to create a fluid and flexible contemporary working space. The concept was developed to address the challenges of every organisation, how can we align people and space efficiently, to nurture productivity and culture? How can we create human-centred environments with the right mix of focus, privacy, and collaboration? More →

A hazy shade of Winter: Nigel Oseland sounds off on the Workplace Cocktail Hour

A hazy shade of Winter: Nigel Oseland sounds off on the Workplace Cocktail Hour

It’s bitterly cold outside but over a glass of hazy IPA, Nigel Oseland and Mark Eltringham warm to a conversation about fish guts, the sounds that make us cringe, what comfort means to different people and what it would really take to get them to spend more time in the office. And it’s not free fruit, corporate sanctioned togetherness or quirky office features. Nigel also explains why firms might be getting it wrong when it comes to managing which people use which spaces in agile environments. We also discuss how people overestimate their own productivity and underestimate that of their colleagues and what that means for the way we organise. More →

Entries now open for the Sustainable Design Collective Annual Awards

Entries now open for the Sustainable Design Collective Annual Awards

The Sustainable Design Collective (SDC) – a ‘think tank’ group of leading design professionals working in the office workplace sector - has opened entries for its annual awards.The Sustainable Design Collective (SDC) – a think tank of leading design professionals working in the office workplace sector – has opened entries for its annual awards. The announcement follows confirmation of the dates for the second SD Forum to be held on 25th April at the Crypt on the Green in Clerkenwell, London. Free to enter, the Awards are designed to champion ‘best practice’ and highlight innovations leading to greater sustainability within the office workplace. There are three categories: New build and retrofit projects; New products and materials; Innovation including new services or IT solutions as well as collaborations with not-for-profit organisations. More →

The average day off includes about two and a half hours of work

The average day off includes about two and a half hours of work

the average Brit will spend up to two-and-a-half hours working while technically having a day off on holiday or leave.A recent study by Forbes Advisor claims that a quarter (25 percent) of UK employees will work between three and four hours on days when they are officially “off the clock”. The survey found that the average Brit will spend up to two-and-a-half hours working while technically having a day off on holiday or leave. More →

Technology is stealing your time in ways you may not realise

Technology is stealing your time in ways you may not realise

Technology is supposed to make our lives easier. Smart phones provide a palm-size window to the world, enabling us to do almost anything at the touch of a button. Smart homes look after themselves, and virtual meetings mean that for many, time spent commuting is a thing of the past. So we should have more free time. Time which is now spent sleeping, relaxing or simply doing nothing – right? More →

Forget all the talk of Blue Monday; work is still (largely) good for us

Forget all the talk of Blue Monday; work is still (largely) good for us

blue mondaySo here it is. Blue Monday. Today. Officially the most depressing day of the year. We say ‘officially’, but like the idea of ‘Body Odour’ its common usage hides the fact that it was originally created as part of a PR campaign, in this case one for Sky’s travel channel in 2005. The whole idea of Blue Monday is couched in a pseudo-mathematical equation which includes factors like the weather, levels of debt, time since Christmas, low levels of motivation and, apparently, an unspecified variable known simply as ‘D’. More →