Search Results for: risk

October 16, 2013

Business leaders’ taskforce presents Govt with bright ideas to cut EU red tape

by Sara Bean • Legal news, News, Workplace

A Government-appointed taskforce, which comprises six leading business figures, including M&S Chief Executive Marc Bolland, and Kingfisher CEO Ian Cheshire has presented the Cabinet with 30 ways of cutting back EU regulations that it says are holding back European businesses. According to the report, ‘Cut EU red tape’, the EU should promote enterprise and boost growth by sweeping away “poorly understood and burdensome rules and preventing similarly pointless legislation in the future”. The proposals, which followed a consultation with 100 businesses across Europe, says that cutting unnecessary and time-consuming health and safety regulations could save EU businesses around €2.7 billion, while reforming employment law would free up firms to create more jobs. (more…)

September 30, 2013

IPCC climate report: built environment has major role to play in cutting carbon

by Sara Bean • Environment, Facilities management, News

The built environment has one of the biggest roles to play in tackling global warming, said the UK Green Building Council following the publication of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report which confirms that there is at least 95 per cent certainty that human activities are its principal cause. The Summary of the Report for Policy Makers; prepared by 259 climate experts from 39 countries, warns atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane, and nitrous oxide have increased to levels unprecedented in at least the last 800,000 years, while CO2 concentrations have increased by 40 per cent since pre-industrial times. It advises that containing these changes will require “substantial and sustained reductions of greenhouse gas emissions”. (more…)

September 12, 2013

Growing commercial occupier demand set to price firms out of the City fringe

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, News, Property

A “west-to-east” migration, focussing predominantly on Clerkenwell and the western City core, is continuing amongst media and service sector businesses seeking more affordable London rents. But according to Cluttons’ latest West End Office Market report, many firms seeking the combination of value and idiosyncratic space are set to be priced out of the current City fringe. The area between the City and West End – branded Noho by estate agents – is attracting a new wave of private equity and extraction firms, willing to pay premium rents for new or pipeline space just north of Oxford Street. Meanwhile, prime office rents in Mayfair / St James’s have broken through the £100 per sq ft ceiling once again as a handful of tenants continue to favour location over quality. (more…)

September 6, 2013

Mobile apps will dominate workplace communications within next three years

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, News, Technology

The news this week that Microsoft is to purchase Nokia’s mobile phone business for £4.6bn is a reminder of how rapidly app-based communications tools have transformed mobile phones and computer devices. Within the workplace, fragmentation and lack of standardisation of the technologies have resulted in organisations often using multiple tools, including that of employees’ own consumer smartphones and tablets. According to analysts Gartner most collaboration applications will be equally available on desktops, mobile phones, tablets and browsers by 2016. Over the next three to five years it predicts, every business will be using mobile collaboration tools – boosted by BYOD, personal cloud file sharing and the increasing availability of mobile applications. (more…)

September 5, 2013

EU lags behind upward trend in the sustainability of global real estate

by Sara Bean • Environment, Facilities management, News, Property

There has been a clear and upward trend in the sustainability performance of global real estate, but despite the continued focus of EU regulators on the built environment, Europe lags behind other regions. According to the results of the GRESB (Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark) 2013 Report – based on sustainability data gathered from 543 property companies and funds, providing aggregate information on 49,000 properties across the globe – the real estate sector significantly reduced its environmental impact, decreasing energy consumption by nearly 5 per cent over the 2011-2012 period. Over the same period, greenhouse gas emissions decreased by 2.5 per cent, and water consumption by 1.2 per cent. (more…)

September 1, 2013

CBI calls on Government to incentivise businesses to invest in energy efficiency

by Mark Eltringham • Environment, Facilities management, Legal news, Property

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has published a new report calling on the Government to adopt a more streamlined and integrated approach to energy efficiency policies, including those relevant for the UK’s commercial buildings. The report also addresses a range of related benefits and obligations for companies to help them cut costs, manage risk and open up commercial opportunities. The report argues that energy efficiency has been neglected for too long, despite the fact that Government figures show a domestic industry that is growing at 4 percent a year, is worth £17.6bn in sales and supports 136,000 jobs.

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August 27, 2013

Employee engagement, not fear, behind the fall in staff turnover

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, Legal news, News, Workplace

Explanations for a marked fall in employee turnover have largely attributed it to the recession, which, it’s been suggested, has led cautious employees to prefer to stay put in a secure position, rather than risk losing their place in an uncertain job market. However new data published today from the CIPD’s Megatrends research project suggests a more positive picture. The proportion of workers leaving their employer at any given time fell by over two fifths between 1998 and 2012, long before the downturn took hold. And the good news for those concerned with improving the quality of the workplace environment is that increased job satisfaction and improved levels of employee engagement could play a significant role.. (more…)

August 14, 2013

Proceed with caution when using social media to recruit new talent

by Sara Bean • Comment, Knowledge, Legal news, Workplace

Time was, not so long ago that a job seeker could choose which aspects of their experience, interests and personality they wanted to reveal on a job application. For the employer this meant wheedling out the right candidates from a pile of written applications, then using the interview process to determine whether the applicant measured up to their requirements. Today, social media not only makes it easier for employers to reach a much wider universe of candidates – it also gives them the opportunity if they choose, to screen potential employees, and this is where legally, ethically and practically, new largely uncharted problems lie. (more…)

August 7, 2013

UK construction and manufacturing buoyant but mixed picture in global property market

by Mark Eltringham • Knowledge, News, Products, Property

There are signs that the UK’s faltering economy is on the road to recovery. Construction activity in the UK jumped sharply in July to hit its highest level in over three years, according to the latest Markit/CIPS survey of purchasing managers. This may have been driven primarily by a surge in house building, but even the recently moribund commercial construction sector saw an increase in activity. However a new report from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors has highlighted that while the UK may have reason to smile, the picture of global commercial property markets is very patchy.

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July 23, 2013

Government report highlights failings in UK public sector procurement

by Mark Eltringham • Furniture, Knowledge, News, Public Sector

In the wake of a number of recent procurement failures including the G4S and Serco overcharging fiasco, the UK Government has published a highly critical report of the way it buys some £227 billion of goods and services annually. The report from the Public Administration Committee (PASC) says that in spite of steps to improve procurement which include using better data, aggregating demand across departments and renegotiating with major suppliers, the number of failures remains conspicuously high. The G4S and Serco contracts with the Ministry of Justice, under which payments were made regardless of the service being delivered, are the most high profile examples but the report indicates that problems are widespread.

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July 19, 2013

Dual source lighting schemes illuminate the way ahead for office design

by Shane Cohen • Comment, Facilities management, Lighting, Workplace design

Too bright, too dull, too much glare – lighting (alongside air conditioning) is often one of the most contentious factors in a workplace. Office workers need illumination to read, write, type and interact. Yet many workplaces get it wrong and fail to consider the downsides of poor lighting, and as such staff will suffer from eye strain, headaches and postural problems, leading to sick days, not to mention lost productivity and mistakes. Eighty per cent of office workers experience at least one negative effect from poor quality lighting, according to researchers Bruskin Goldring, and 68 per cent of employees complain about the light in their offices, according to a study by the American Society of Interior Designers.