February 1, 2024
A while ago, Antony Slumbers asked me why I thought firms had never done anything much about the underutilisation of their offices. This was in the first throes of lockdown-driven remote work hysteria, prompted by one of those headlines about how offices being half empty was some signifier of hatred for them.
January 30, 2024
The majority of UK travel managers (89 percent) say travel is a growing business priority in 2024, anticipating increased budgets driven by return-to-office policies, inflation and ESG requirements. This is a key finding in new research by Uber for Business which claims to reveal a resurgent demand for business travel. The research, drawing insights from over 250 corporate travel managers across the UK, sets out to explore the top business travel trends and challenges to watch in 2024. In this landscape of shifting dynamics, where emphasis on ESG requirements is intensifying, there is an increasing need for innovative travel management solutions, the firm says. More →
January 25, 2024
Virgin Media O2 Business’ first full-year Movers Index claims that 2023 was the year of the ‘Great Office Return’, with 40 percent of companies returning to a five-day office working week, despite more than half (55 percent) of workers experiencing public transport delays of an hour or more on their commute. The Movers Index claims that businesses and consumers alike are doubling down on getting the most value for every pound spent amid the cost-of-living crisis. More →
January 25, 2024
The British Council for Offices has unveiled its new research agenda, which will it says will aim to guide and inspire the office sector amid disruption. The BCO says the agenda is a direct response to the current and ongoing dynamics in the office sector. The publication aims to lay the groundwork for a new vision of the office as an economically productive, occupier-first, technologically enabled and sustainable part of our built environment. More →
January 24, 2024
The UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) has launched new guidance on retrofitting large office buildings. Setting out the most cost- and carbon-effective retrofit measures in the immediate and longer term, the guidance reframes retrofit as an iterative process rather than a standalone project. UKGBC has found that significant opportunities are being missed by office investors, owners, and occupiers who do not have clear strategies to retrofit offices in place. Firstly, through missing the “easy wins” –low cost, low disruption measures that reduce energy consumption – and secondly, through missing key “trigger points” in lease and maintenance cycles that facilitate easier, more efficient retrofit. More →
January 23, 2024
The City of Salford is now home to Eden, one of the UK’s most sustainable office buildings, containing Europe’s largest living wall. From the site of a derelict surface car park with no benefits to the people of Salford, English Cities Fund (ECF) has created a 115,000 sq ft development that will transform this neglected urban area into a diverse mixed-use destination and form a key part of ECF’s £1bn regeneration of the Salford Central area. More →
January 22, 2024
London’s office market continues to adapt to evolving workforce demands. The normalisation of hybrid and flexible working since the pandemic remains the biggest cultural shift that the office sector has witnessed in decades. In addition to the rise in demand for quality-as-a-must in 2023, collaboration, culture, and connectivity will lead the charge for office space trends in the year ahead. More →
January 18, 2024
In 2024, Wellworking celebrates 25 years of being in business, a milestone I’m proud of in such a competitive market. A lot has changed over that time, and I’m excited by just how much working habits will transform over the next few decades too. When I first established the company in 1999, it was called Home Working Solutions as I felt there were increasing numbers of people working from home that needed appropriate furniture to do that. It was important to me that they had access to quality ergonomic products as I felt that people working from home had very few options on offer at the time. More →
January 17, 2024
Organisations are having to rethink the form and function of their offices in ways unprecedented in their relatively short history. And perhaps the biggest challenge is to create places to work that reflect the organisation’s culture and the needs of the people who work there (some of the time). One possible framework for aligning an office design model with the culture of the organisation is presented in a supplement published in the current issue of IN Magazine called Gods of Work. Published in partnership with Modus, it draws on management and organisational theory and established models of office design to suggest solutions to some of the challenges facing organisations as they rethink the way they work. The office of the future for most organisations will be smaller, but much better and we hope this becomes an invaluable guide for those setting out on that path.
January 11, 2024
A new poll from Scalable Software of 2,000 UK knowledge workers claims more than a third (35 percent) resent being told they have to go into the office for a set number of days. Half (50 percent) of respondents say their employer has “productivity paranoia” over employees working away from the office, with 62 percent reporting their organisation has implemented a return to office policy within the last two years. More →
December 17, 2023
New research by the British Chambers of Commerce Insights Unit and technology firm Cisco, shows less than 30 percent of firms expect their workforce to be fully in person over the next five years. The survey of over 1,000 businesses, of which 96 percent were SMEs, found just 27 percent of respondents predict their staff will be fully in-person over the next five years. 47 percent anticipate their staff to be mostly in-person, 16 percent expect mostly remote and 8 percent fully remote. More →
February 4, 2024
The Kafka trap of return to office arguments
by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Flexible working