Our sector produces an enormous amount of content about change, and almost all of it is published after the outcome is known. Case studies of offices appear once the move-in has gone well. Award entries are written once the risks have been mitigated. What gets shared among us is, overwhelmingly, a library of polished endings. Work in Motion is an attempt at the complete opposite. It’s a six-part documentary podcast series following the inside story of Work Beyond Walls – a brand new event at the Boiler Shop in Newcastle on 9 and 10 September – written and presented by me, Ian Ellison, as plans unfold, rather than once the event has happened.
Work Beyond Walls is the brainchild of Paul Glaister, co-founder of Gateshead-based workspace interiors and design business Workpattern. Earlier this year he booked the Grade II listed venue, and what remains of Robert Stephenson and Company where Rocket was built, before the event had a name, a brand, a website, a speaker, a budget… or a single registration.
But that’s not where the story started. Philippa Lobb, Workpattern’s newest recruit, had been busy asking the region’s architects and designers what would genuinely help them. Beth Lawford, an interior designer at GT3 Architects who returned to Newcastle-upon-Tyne after working at Gensler and Fletcher Priest in London, suggested filling one of the railway arches near the station with furniture for a couple of days, “not really thinking about the logistics,” as she puts it in the first episode. Lobb’s description of what followed hints at where things have headed since: “It kind of escalated. I mean, it’s grown arms and legs and tails and everything at this point.”
Work Beyond Walls now involves well over twenty brand partners, a talks programme, a real-time data insights experiment, and is positioned as neither an expo, a trade show nor a conference. Glaister describes it as “the North East’s first ‘living workplace’ event”, where the building becomes a free-to-attend workspace visitors can settle into and work from across the two days.
His stated reason for doing it is one many readers will recognise. “Our industry is very good at talking to itself,” he says, “very good at saying how well it’s doing and the latest research, but we’re talking amongst ourselves. How do we get this outside of our bubble?”
Commissioned by Workpattern, it was agreed at the outset that the podcast it would not function as a glossy advert, and that the registration numbers would not be hidden. Work in Motion is the story of whatever happens, including whether the event will be back next year or not. When recording began in July, the event had one registration against a target of five hundred. By the time episode two was nearing completion, sign-ups had increased but remained a long way short of Paul’s target.
That willingness to be recorded mid-attempt is unusual. Very few organisations in this sector agree to be documented while outcomes are still in doubt, for reasons that aren’t hard to understand. It is also why there are so few honest accounts of anyone trying to change something for the better, as opposed to accounts of having already done so.
Work in Motion from Workpattern, series one: The inside story of Work Beyond Walls is available now, wherever you get your podcasts, written and presented by Ian Ellison and produced by Dave Crackles. Episode two, out shortly, also features Herb Kim (Thinking Digital), Dave James (Blokka), Terry McStea (RTC, Design Network North), Katie Richardson, Will Easton, and Workplace Insight’s own Mark Eltringham.
Image: From The Curious (1897), Eugen von Blaas (Italian, 1843 – 1931)
Ian Ellison is one of the UK’s foremost commentators on workplace and facilities management issues.
August 12, 2026
Work Beyond Walls is an event that promises to shift the way we talk about offices
by Ian Ellison • Comment, Facilities management, Workplace design
Work Beyond Walls is the brainchild of Paul Glaister, co-founder of Gateshead-based workspace interiors and design business Workpattern. Earlier this year he booked the Grade II listed venue, and what remains of Robert Stephenson and Company where Rocket was built, before the event had a name, a brand, a website, a speaker, a budget… or a single registration.
But that’s not where the story started. Philippa Lobb, Workpattern’s newest recruit, had been busy asking the region’s architects and designers what would genuinely help them. Beth Lawford, an interior designer at GT3 Architects who returned to Newcastle-upon-Tyne after working at Gensler and Fletcher Priest in London, suggested filling one of the railway arches near the station with furniture for a couple of days, “not really thinking about the logistics,” as she puts it in the first episode. Lobb’s description of what followed hints at where things have headed since: “It kind of escalated. I mean, it’s grown arms and legs and tails and everything at this point.”
Work Beyond Walls now involves well over twenty brand partners, a talks programme, a real-time data insights experiment, and is positioned as neither an expo, a trade show nor a conference. Glaister describes it as “the North East’s first ‘living workplace’ event”, where the building becomes a free-to-attend workspace visitors can settle into and work from across the two days.
His stated reason for doing it is one many readers will recognise. “Our industry is very good at talking to itself,” he says, “very good at saying how well it’s doing and the latest research, but we’re talking amongst ourselves. How do we get this outside of our bubble?”
Commissioned by Workpattern, it was agreed at the outset that the podcast it would not function as a glossy advert, and that the registration numbers would not be hidden. Work in Motion is the story of whatever happens, including whether the event will be back next year or not. When recording began in July, the event had one registration against a target of five hundred. By the time episode two was nearing completion, sign-ups had increased but remained a long way short of Paul’s target.
That willingness to be recorded mid-attempt is unusual. Very few organisations in this sector agree to be documented while outcomes are still in doubt, for reasons that aren’t hard to understand. It is also why there are so few honest accounts of anyone trying to change something for the better, as opposed to accounts of having already done so.
Work in Motion from Workpattern, series one: The inside story of Work Beyond Walls is available now, wherever you get your podcasts, written and presented by Ian Ellison and produced by Dave Crackles. Episode two, out shortly, also features Herb Kim (Thinking Digital), Dave James (Blokka), Terry McStea (RTC, Design Network North), Katie Richardson, Will Easton, and Workplace Insight’s own Mark Eltringham.
Image: From The Curious (1897), Eugen von Blaas (Italian, 1843 – 1931)
Ian Ellison is one of the UK’s foremost commentators on workplace and facilities management issues.