Search Results for: population

UK and other countries sign international pledge to cut carbon emissions from buildings

UK and other countries sign international pledge to cut carbon emissions from buildings

by • Environment, News

This declaration aims to facilitate a swift, equitable, and effective transition within the sector to lower carbon emissions from buildings.The inaugural Buildings and Climate Global Forum, organised by the French Government and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) concluded last week.  Representatives from 70 countries adopted the Declaration de Chaillot, a foundational document for international cooperation. This declaration aims to facilitate a swift, equitable, and effective transition within the sector to lower carbon emissions from buildings. (more…)

Major built environment institutes renew joint pledge to tackle global instability as cities boom 

Major built environment institutes renew joint pledge to tackle global instability as cities boom 

by • Cities, Company news, Environment

major built environment professional institutes, including architects, planners, structural engineers and landscape practitioners, have renewed their joint pledge to collaborate to tackle urgent global challengesWith almost 70 percent of the world’s population predicted to live in cities by 2050, major built environment professional institutes, including architects, planners, structural engineers and landscape practitioners, have renewed their joint pledge to collaborate to tackle urgent global challenges. Members of the UK Built Environment Advisory Group (UKBEAG), a group first launched in 2016 comprising the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI), the Institution of Structural Engineers (IStructE) and the Landscape Institute (LI), have committed to work together for at least another 5 years.  (more…)

Two in five architects say they are already using AI on projects

Two in five architects say they are already using AI on projects

by • AI, Architecture, News, Technology

New research by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) suggests that 41 percent of UK architects are already using artificial intelligence (AI) on at least the occasional projectNew research by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) suggests that 41 percent of UK architects are already using artificial intelligence (AI) on at least the occasional project, and of those, 43 percent think it has made the design process more efficient. The RIBA AI report includes the findings of a survey asking architects how they are using and plan to use AI. In the next 2 years, 54 percent of architects expect their practice to use AI, and 57 percent think it will improve efficiency in the design process. However, this ambition this doesn’t yet seem to be matched by investment, as 69 percent say their practice has not invested in AI research and development, and only 41 percent expect their practice to invest. (more…)

Employee wellbeing advocate shortlisted for Veuve Clicquot Bold Awards

Employee wellbeing advocate shortlisted for Veuve Clicquot Bold Awards

by • Company news, Wellbeing

Francesca Brady, founder of AirRated who advocates for employee wellbeing and cleaner air in the workplace has been named as a finalist in Veuve Clicquot’s Future AwardsFrancesca Brady, founder of AirRated who advocates for employee wellbeing and cleaner air in the workplace has been named as a finalist in Veuve Clicquot’s Future Awards, the international awards programme celebrating businesswomen. Previous winners include Professor Dame Sarah Gilbert, the inventor of the Oxford AstraZeneca COVID vaccine and Jo Whitfield, CEO of Co-Op Food. Francesca’s work highlights the dangers of a polluted workplace, as research shows the link between pollution, cognitive decline, dementia and poor employee wellbeing and mental health. (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

by • Features, Premium Content, Property

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…)

Age gaps between colleagues linked to lower productivity

Age gaps between colleagues linked to lower productivity

by • News

Employees who are much younger than their managers report lower productivity than those closer in age due to a lack of collaboration between employees of different generations, according to new research from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in collaboration with consulting firm, Protiviti.  An external survey conducted by LSE of 1,450 employees in the finance, technology and professional services industries in the UK and USA, found that friction between different generations was driving down productivity and that firms need to develop intergenerationally inclusive work practices. (more…)

Third of UK adults experience a high level of stress each year

Third of UK adults experience a high level of stress each year

by • News, Wellbeing

Over a third of adults experienced high or extreme levels of pressure and stress always or often in the past year (35 percent),Over a third of adults experienced high or extreme levels of pressure and stress always or often in the past year (35 percent), according to the new annual report from Mental Health UK. The report warns that the UK is at risk of becoming a ‘burnt-out nation’. Against a backdrop of rising levels of people out of work due to long-term sickness, the polling of over 2,000 UK adults by YouGov for the Mental Health UK reveals that one in five workers (20 percent) needed to take time off due to poor mental health caused by pressure or stress in the past year. (more…)

Number of self-employed falls, except for over-50s

Number of self-employed falls, except for over-50s

by • News, Workplace

the number of self-employed business owners aged 50 and over surged to 1.1 million in 2023 – 89,000 more than in 2020 – despite the total solo self-employed population falling by 154,000 in the same period.Tens of thousands more over 50s are now running their own businesses despite an overall decline in self-employment since 2020, new analysis of workforce statistics shows. The analysis, published by IPSE (the Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed), found that the number of self-employed business owners aged 50 and over surged to 1.1 million in 2023 – 89,000 more than in 2020 – despite the total solo self-employed population falling by 154,000 in the same period. (more…)

We are not blank slates and we don’t adapt to change in predictable ways

We are not blank slates and we don’t adapt to change in predictable ways

by • Features, Flexible working, Wellbeing

An idea that has never really gone away, but which seems to be enjoying a new lease of life is the tabula rasa. The conception of people as a blank slate is something that has crept back into mainstream political and social thought for a variety of reasons. Arguably, it is also behind many of the most misleading notions about work and workplace design, perhaps most importantly that a change to some single element or characteristic of a working environment will lead to a specific outcome in the behaviour of people. (more…)

A bit of alien thinking on coffee and some other BS

A bit of alien thinking on coffee and some other BS

by • Facilities management, Features, Technology, Wellbeing, Workplace design

I’ve sometimes highlighted how our perceptions of the workplace are subject to an apex fallacy. The daily consumption of narratives about campuses, tech palaces and ‘cool’ design can obscure the fact that most people don’t experience this stuff in their daily lives. They work in adequate or possibly nice offices. Some in shabby offices or horrible offices. Many travel into work at the same time each day and sit with roughly the same people and do roughly the same things. They may work from home more frequently now, but they have a routine there too. Most will work in a mundane or nice home that mirrors the mundane office that awaits at the other end of the commute. (more…)

From the archive: The role of workplace design in employee engagement

From the archive: The role of workplace design in employee engagement 0

by • Features, Wellbeing, Work&Place, Workplace design

A new report certainly raises the question of what more can be done, including in terms of workplace design, to boost engagement levels amongst these employees

Originally published six years ago, this feature is currently the most read story ever on the website with around 50,000 readers. A global study by my own firm Steelcase has found that one-third of workers across 17 of the world’s most important economies are actually disengaged. The findings make worrying reading for employers around the world, as engagement is so demonstrably linked to business critical outcomes such as employee retention, productivity and even profits. It certainly raises the question of what more can be done, including in terms of workplace design, to boost engagement levels amongst these employees. (more…)

Manchester is now a major draw for office design firms

Manchester is now a major draw for office design firms

by • Cities, Features, Workplace design

Way before the lockdown rewired the whole events scene in cities around the world, I was given a task by an old, now departed, friend. He wanted to explore the possibility of creating something like Clerkenwell Design Week in Manchester. The obvious problem was that, for some of its historic parallels, Manchester isn’t Clerkenwell and it certainly isn’t London. What it particularly lacked for this type of event was a hothouse of office design showrooms sharing space with a youthful community of architects and designers. The ecosystem for such an event didn’t really exist in the same way. (more…)

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