November 13, 2019

Drawing back the curtain on the new workplace

by Mark Eltringham • Features, Flexible working, Technology, Wellbeing, Workplace design

It’s a shame that Rhymer Rigby’s piece in The Times on creativity at work is behind a paywall because it says something perfectly obvious and demonstrable about workplace creativity that more people should read. The gist is that a cult has grown up around creativity that should be subject to more scrutiny and we should stop thinking about all work as the potential outlet for the creative instincts of people who may not have any, may not work in a job that involves them or who may not want to express them during their shifts in the Amazon warehouse. More →

October 11, 2019

Birmingham and Peterborough latest cities to benefit from government hubs

by Neil Franklin • Cities, News, Property, Public Sector

Sites in Birmingham and Peterborough are to be regenerated as part of a government programme designed to boost regional growth and save taxpayers’ money. The Government Hubs programme has so far seen the development of 14 office hubs around the country, which the government claims provide civil servants with state-of-the-art working environments designed to boost efficiency and drive savings by bringing together different departments under one roof – moving civil servants to inner-city sites located close to public transport connections, local amenities and shops. More →

October 8, 2019

WeWork, false narratives and the superstate of office design

by Mark Eltringham • Features

So, WeWork then. As the dust settles on whatever has happened, some lessons may be emerging. Many of them are presented in this comment in The Economist and this piece in The Intelligencer in which Scott Galloway of NYU Business School claims that the problems have been evident for a long time. He doesn’t hold back. More →

September 16, 2019

Flexible office space transforming US commercial property sector

by Neil Franklin • Coworking, News, Property

A new report from CBRE claims that the US market for flexible office space will generate significant growth over the next decade, even in the event of a recession, as flex operators consolidate and forge financial partnerships with building owners. More →

August 30, 2019

Back to workplace basics, the joy and pain of work, squeezing people in and some other stuff

by Mark Eltringham • Features, Wellbeing, Workplace design

Let’s get the inevitable WeWork story out of the way first. A supposed news item in Crain’s New York Business has claimed that WeWork is ‘squeezing’ people into half the space recommended in the BCO’s Specification Guide; “roughly the size of two standard doors laying side by side”. You can see the editorial cogs at work here, combining a story about WeWork with one about how people are crammed into the workplace like cattle these days.

July 23, 2019

New BT HQ will be one of the “largest workplace transformations ever”

by Mark Eltringham • News, Property, Workplace design

BT has agreed a deal to move into a headquarters in the Aldgate area of London after the £210 million sale of its current base. BT will move to the new 320,000 square foot, 18-storey building near Aldgate East station currently called One Braham. The move comes as part of the group’s sweeping shake-up announced last month that will see 270 offices closed. Its consolidation plan – the biggest of its type in the UK – will see 300 offices reduced to 30 by 2023, although BT stressed that no jobs will be lost as a result of the move. More →

July 11, 2019

HMRC extends deal for new London hub

by Neil Franklin • News, Property

Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) today completed the topping out at the 12-storey office where HMRC will establish a new Regional Centre. HMRC has also leased a further 58,000 sq. ft. to become the sole tenant of the 300,000 sq. ft. development next to Westfield Stratford City. The topping-out ceremony was attended by senior executives from Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, HMRC and Legal & General, which has funded the development. the offices are located above the shopping centre at Westfield Stratford City. Works continue with completion of the facade and internal works, in preparation for handover of office floors for final fit out by HMRC. More →

June 24, 2019

US workers do not want to work from home all the time

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News, Workplace design

Most US workers prefer to spend some time in an office (83 percent) over fully working from home, according to a new survey of full-time employees from Clutch. Respondents claim that office based work helps them collaborate with coworkers and feel included in the company’s culture. However, more than half of employees (52 percent) say they prefer a private office to a workstation in an open floor plan or cubicle office at work. More →

May 29, 2019

Biophilia in the corporate HQ: an historical perspective

by Guzman de Yarza Blache • Architecture, Environment, Facilities management, Features, Workplace design

In recent years, the concept of biophilia and the inclusion of greenery in the working environment has captured the media’s attention, which has depicted it as an important aspect of wellbeing in the workplace, seemingly the crucial indicator of a great office. For this reason, and beyond the superficial or cosmetic use of plants in the office, I would like to analyse the relationship between nature and the corporate world from a historical perspective in an effort to understand the role of greenery within the architecture of the corporate headquarters.

April 24, 2019

The meteor strike of coworking and the beasts that will remain

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Flexible working, Property, Workplace design

The concept of coworking has only been with us for a short time, but there are already signs that it is evolving into something rather different. The most common misperception about the way evolution works is that it is based on some steady progression, driven by the merciless principle of survival of the fittest, with the best adapted climbing towards the top of an evolutionary tree. This gives rise to one of the most common questions posed by sceptics: if we evolved from apes, why are there still apes?

April 9, 2019

UKGBC issues circular economy guidance for construction clients

by Marie Hillen • Architecture, Environment, Facilities management, News, Property

New guidance has been launched by the UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) to assist client organisations to include more ambitious circular design and construction best practices in project briefs for non-domestic projects. It addresses the commercial realities associated with making this practically happen and provides support and evidence to assist clients in setting clear strategies that ensure budget, project timescales and risks are all minimised and mitigated. The guidance may also be helpful for those in the supply chain looking to support construction clients on their journey towards specifying and practically applying circular economy principles.

December 17, 2018

Don’t be a turkey, get on the commercial property gravy train

by Jo Sutherland • Comment, Property

Last week, the RICS Commercial Property conference tackled the biggest issues impacting the built environment sector, arming delegates with fragments of the formula for future success. The morning CEO Question Time panel put a trio of CEOs in the spotlight. In addition to airing concerns about the current political climate, rapidly shifting societal attitudes, diversity and inclusion, the ageing population coupled with the ongoing housing shortage, climate change and the complexities involved in exploring new business models to drive and diversify revenue, they all zoomed in on the accelerated pace of change we’re witnessing, crowning it the key challenge for today’s C-suite.