Places for people
Over 40 per cent of the world’s top companies are in London; the biggest names in business are choosing London over other European cities. At the heart of this are people: any organisation’s most important asset.
How people work is being shaped by three significant trends:
- Digitisation of work
- Mobility that digitisation allows
- Consumerisation of IT
While we believe the office will continue to play a vital role in workers’ lives, the virtual world in which it sits means that it has to work harder to draw people in. It also needs to provide an environment that remains adaptable, flexible and encourages a shared, professional culture that attracts and retains the best talent.
Work has left the building
Our workplace strategy and design practice works with clients to understand and capitalise on a vital dynamic that drives organisational performance: the relationship between people and design of physical space.
As renowned thought leaders in the strategic use of space for over 40 years, we know that how people work is being shaped by three significant trends: the digitisation of work, the mobility this allows and the consumerisation of IT.
The development of wireless networks means that people can now work anywhere. Lightweight laptops and smartphones, and the option for people to bring their own devices are enhancing mobility and, as a result, lessening people’s reliance on the anchored desktop computer.
The combined effect of these trends opens up the possibility of working from multiple locations within the office, as well as from other places such as partner and client sites, cafés, on the train and from home; in a sense, work has left the building.
The changes we’re seeing are culminating in an office that is more social, more domestic, more about building a sense of culture and a feeling of belonging to a community of like-minded people.
The changes we’re seeing are culminating in an office that is more social, more domestic, more about building a sense of culture and a feeling of belonging to a community of like-minded people.
While the office building is the largest physical canvas for an organisation to express its brand, the once commonplace open-plan workplace isn’t providing enough variety for the range of tasks people now perform: from engaging in team discussions in a collaborative space to concentrated individual work in a quiet booth.
Measuring space over time
Our global Time Utilisation Database contains 25 years of data observing and measuring hourly office space use over time, and shows that the average workspace is only occupied 42 per cent of the typical working day. Surely there is a better way to utilise the second-largest cost to most businesses?
With more people to provide for in the same amount of space and with growing pressure on developers to build offices that can be adapted as quickly as their tenants’ changing needs, we are already seeing occupiers seeking out shorter leases and expecting more from the developer in terms of driving existing space harder.
Just as the location and quality of the fit-out of London’s workplaces are becoming more important than the base build itself for the occupier, we also anticipate a demand for longer-term investment in the services and experience of occupying a building. Over time, this could decrease the initial capital expenditure needed and increase operating costs. We also predict that the market will start to shift from today’s metre-squared metrics to a per-person charge.
Retention, recruitment, productivity
Our client-focused insight into the marketplace reveals that while 10 years ago occupiers were mostly concerned with savings and efficiency, they are now increasingly concerned about retention, recruitment and productivity of people. As they fight harder to recruit and retain their staff, especially in a talent hub like London, the role of the office is becoming more important; people are increasingly looking at the quality of their working environment, wellness, journey to work and local amenity provision as part of their benefits package.
According to the BCO 2014 Technology, Media and Telecommunications Executive Summary, co-written by our workplace team, approximately 50 per cent or more of floor space in headquarter buildings could be allocated to spaces other than desks. While this reflects the changing office landscape, from command and control to knowledge working, there is a lot more that can be done to better connect people in the capital.
NATIONAL GRID, WARWICK, UK
Our development of National Grid’s Smart Workspace Programme transformed the electricity and gas company’s Warwick headquarters and workplaces across the UK: through the radical redesign of over 22,000 square metres of floor space and change management support, the company has experienced significant benefits: – 5% increase in collaborative activity per-person
- 5% increase in desk utilisation
- £8 million savings per annum in operating costs
- 5% gain in employee productivity due to easy access to meeting spaces
- 16% reduction in energy use
We see tomorrow’s office defined more by mixed-use space, with compressed floors that create openness and sit above a more permeable ground floor, creating an environment that gathers people and allows them to connect with their surroundings.
While today’s headquarters and typical city block includes separated entrances, a fragmented ground floor, hard boundaries between occupiers and uses, and is of mostly single use, companies are starting to desire smaller, more personable headquarters that provide immersive environments that encourage employees, clients and customers to interact and share ideas.
Immersive, mixed-use environment
To achieve this growing culture of more creative, inclusive working, we are constantly looking ahead. We envisage tomorrow’s headquarters with ‘wrap around’ public realms at ground level and at the skyline, soft internal boundaries, mixed use of space and ownership that make better use of the spaces in between such as corridors, courtyards, cafés and people’s homes, as this is where a lot of work is currently done.
With the increasing significance of these spaces in the overall happiness of people, the appeal of the next generation public squares will lead to a developers’ market that is no longer defined by corporate glass and steel structures, but by skyline gardens, access to open and green spaces, and facilities such as Transport for London’s increasingly popular cycle hire scheme.
As industry thought leaders with workplace strategy and design experts across three continents, we’re helping to provide a vision for the future of London’s workplaces. Through our Strategy Plus projects, we see tomorrow’s office defined more by mixed-use space, with compressed floors that create openness and sit above a more permeable ground floor, creating an environment that gathers people and allows them to connect with their surroundings. At the core of this is people — the benchmark of design. Creating innovative workspaces for people is imperative to our planning for the future, making the most of our IT-mobilised world and getting the best out of our talent.
Heinz Innovation Centre, The 57 Building Nijmegen, Netherlands
Our development of a new workplace strategy, interior design and change management programme for Heinz created a building that is seen as a future magnet for high-calibre recruits and international staff. The merging of boundaries between technical space and workspace on all levels has helped to drive high levels of innovation, collaboration and knowledge-sharing among the company’s 200 research and development employees at the circa-8000- square-metre professional research and development facility. While the ground floor has been designed to act as a funnel, drawing people through the building, the main workspace has a high ratio of easily accessible, open project and team working space, quiet study rooms and enclosed meeting rooms.