May 4, 2021

New guidance to increase natural settings into urban spaces

by Neil Franklin • Cities, Environment, News

The UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) has published its ‘Principles for delivering urban Nature-based Solutions’ (NBS), to help developers and owners increase the incorporation of NBS within the construction and operation of built assets. The report claims that the development and function of the built environment has significant impacts upon both climate and biodiversity, locally and globally, and the pressure for our industry to be part of the solution is accelerating. The recommendations of the Taskforce for Climate-related Financial Disclosure (TCFD) have led to a growing requirement to measure and mitigate the physical risks to built assets from climate change, such as flooding and overheating. (more…)

May 4, 2021

Businesses prioritise tech and outsourcing to overcome front of house challenge

by Jayne Smith • Business, News, Technology

Swiss Post Solutions (SPS), has released new research that claims how the pandemic has impacted front of house strategies for UK businesses. Half (50 percent) of UK companies plan to introduce interactive technologies to help overcome new ‘front of house’ (FOH) challenges that have been imposed by COVID19. A further 41 percent of businesses plan to outsource FOH services altogether. (more…)

April 28, 2021

Employee wellbeing and business results directly linked, research claims

by Jayne Smith • Business, News, Wellbeing

A survey released by Aon plc (NYSE: AON) in partnership with IPSOS, suggests there is a link between wellbeing and company performance. (more…)

April 28, 2021

Global real estate CEOs plan for industry transformation

by Jayne Smith • News, Property

The real estate industry needs to transform to serve the needs of people and cities in the next decade, according to a new report released by the World Economic Forum. COVID-19 has revealed vulnerabilities throughout the real estate industry, ranging from indoor air quality problems to excess supply and accelerated underlying demand drivers, which need to be addressed for buildings and cities to be healthier, prosperous and more sustainable. (more…)

April 20, 2021

FUTURE Designs awarded the IMMUNE Building Standard

by Freddie Steele • Company news

FUTURE Designs, a UK based designer and manufacturer of luminaires and lighting solutions, obtains the first IMMUNE Building Standard certification in the world for an Industrial Building, awarded by Healthy by Design Building Institute (HDBI). The factory and headquarters achieved the label ‘IMMUNE – Strong’ following the company’s successful implementation of the health and safety set of measures for its employees. (more…)

April 12, 2021

Employee experience is top priority for CIO’s but UK held back by lack of tools

by Jayne Smith • News, Technology, Working culture

Elastic (NYSE: ESTC), the company behind Elasticsearch and the Elastic Stack, have announced a new study, claiming that employee experience has become a new priority for IT leaders as they reinvent their infrastructures to support remote workforces. The Changing Role of the IT Leader was conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Elastic in February 2021, one year into the global pandemic, and published in April.
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April 12, 2021

Companies use skills as the new currency for workforce transformation

by Jayne Smith • News, Working culture

Skills have become the new currency of workforce and talent strategies, as more than half of organisations that responded to the 2021 Mercer Global Talent Trends survey are targeting upskilling and reskilling of critical talent pools to drive workforce transformation. (more…)

March 30, 2021

New normal looking more and more like old normal, say facilities managers

by Neil Franklin • Facilities management, Flexible working, News

Workers across the UK could return to offices faster than anticipated, according to a new RICS survey of facilities managers. According to the poll, a growing number of respondents say that up to 80 percent of employees will head back once the pandemic is resolved. This is up from less than 60 percent expected in the same poll from the previous quarter ending November 2020. As evidence suggests the UK vaccination programme is taking hold across the country, results to the RICS UK Facilities Management Survey show more respondents starting to believe employees could return to the office in greater numbers than many initially expected in the previous quarter. (more…)

March 5, 2021

Half of employers don’t have a financial wellbeing policy

by Jayne Smith • Business, News, Wellbeing

Despite the financial hardship wrought by COVID-19, half of employers (49 percent) don’t have a financial wellbeing policy. This is according to the latest Reward Management Survey from the CIPD (which 420 employers responded to). (more…)

February 18, 2021

Four new companies join WorldGBC’s Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment

by Jayne Smith • Environment, News

WorldGBC has announced four new companies as signatories to its Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment (the Commitment), signalling global industry leadership to decarbonise the built environment and combat climate change. The Commitment now has a total of 132 signatories, with 98 businesses & organisations, 28 cities and six states & regions. The businesses and organisations signed up to the Commitment now account for over 5 million (tCO2e) of portfolio emissions. (more…)

February 17, 2021

Hybrid working is the new expectation of pressured employees

by Jayne Smith • Flexible working, News, Working culture

The past twelve months have proved to be a watershed year for workplace digital transformation and the urgent shift to remote working has seen the world experience two years of digital transformation in two months. New research from Microsoft Surface claims to examine the impact of this transformation on the UK workforce, suggesting that employees are happier, but under more pressure working from home – despite almost 9 out of 10 (87 percent) of employees reporting their businesses have adapted to ‘hybrid working’. (more…)

February 11, 2021

Flexibility and reskilling top priorities for UK employers in 2021

by Jayne Smith • Business, News

The COVID-19 pandemic is driving a fundamental shift in the way companies operate, accelerating the need for an adaptable and agile workforce to drive business success. According to Mercer’s 2021 Global Talent Trends study, the financial impact and work-life disruption caused by the pandemic is causing UK employers to focus on redefining flexibility and skills development to ensure their business and employees become more resilient and agile in the face of disruption.