January 29, 2024
Lab rats – how the UK life sciences sector is struggling to find space to work
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…)




















Monica Parker joins Mark Eltringham to share an Old Fashioned while discussing how to find wonder in the everyday, the limits of workplace design, our renewed obsession with productivity, how to achieve flow states in a world of distractions and what it means to be truly happy. There’s not much workplace news around right now as people are still finding their feet after Christmas, so we also explore some lessons we might take from the Post Office scandal about how organisations go wrong and the role of human nature in creating toxic cultures. 
Named for its distinctive kinked leg bracket, KI’s new product, ‘KI-nk’, is the perfect addition to your office space. It’s available as part of a table system or as a bench and desk collection. The KI-nk Table System is available in a range of sizes and 3 different shapes – circular, square, and rectangular – so it’s easier to choose the right style for the area you want to fit out, whether that’s a meeting room, a breakout space, executive office, reception, or a café area. Worktops can be specified with either a square or chamfered edge. 

January 25, 2024
The final word on … responsibility
by Mark Eltringham • Business, Comment
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