Wellbeing and the future office

This is from independent UK law firm Burges Salmon LLP considering issues that will shape the future of the headquarter office and which are identified in our research paper: 'The Future of Corporate Headquarters: Is London's Dominance Waning?'. You can follow the discussion on the future of the headquarter office by using #futurehq on Twitter. 

Yoga, pilates, French-speaking (basic), sewing bees…all pastimes safely confined to the local library on a Monday night, right? Umm no actually… wrong…they’re all activities happening right now in an office near you. 'Nose to the grindstone', 'lunch is for wimps'…now as outdated as Gordon Gekko’s striped braces – all over London and beyond employers are embracing the concept of employee wellbeing. And it makes good business sense to do so.

Stress and mental health issues remain a constant as top causes of long-term employee absence and, as any HR professional will affirm, managing long-term sickness absence is one of the most expensive and disruptive employee issues to deal with. So it follows that an employer that takes positive steps to help reduce the pressures on its employees by improving both their mental and physical wellbeing stands to benefit. As employee engagement and productivity increases, so staff turnover will go down.

A focus on employee wellbeing is also a powerful recruitment tool. With London housing costs forcing people into increasingly long commutes, the prospect of working for an employer that recognises and takes active steps to offset the negative effects of this, is highly attractive. A comfortable, well-designed working environment with the opportunity to participate in activities that the commute would otherwise rule out makes for a winning combination.

Health and wellbeing is one anticipated change to the headquarter office over the next five years.  If an employer fails to take heed it could find itself out in the cold.

Flexible working and the future office

This is from independent UK law firm Burges Salmon LLP considering issues that will shape the future of the headquartered office and which are identified in our research paper: 'The Future of Corporate Headquarters: Is London's Dominance Waning?'. You can follow the discussion on the future of the headquarter office by using #futurehq on Twitter.

People are demanding to work differently – the ‘9-5, job for life’ model is fast becoming outmoded and no more so than in London, where agile working, flexibility and portfolio careers are the buzz words ‘du jour’. So for employers keen to win in the war for talent, an enthusiasm for looking imaginatively at how and where their employees work is key.

With housing costs making central London living out of reach for most, many employees are looking to work for employers who are willing to embrace regular home-working and have in place the technology to allow this.  Cutting out the commute can be a win:win for all; offering opportunities for the employer to reduce/reallocate office space and, for the worker, the benefit of valuable time-savings.

However, beware the bear trap that is ‘out of sight out of mind’. Employers’ responsibilities towards their employees don’t stop at the revolving doors in the HQ atrium and the contract of employment may need to be updated accordingly. For example, care needs to be taken to ensure that the home environment offers a safe place of work for the employee and Working Time obligations and data protection requirements must continue to be met.  Equally the employer will want to ensure that acceptable confidentiality standards can be maintained and that expectations as to required levels of productivity are clearly understood by the worker.

However, with employees increasingly welcoming the opportunity to work from home on a regular basis, employers who are able to offer this should reap the rewards from this competitive advantage. 

Video: BCO's Junior VP, Katrina Kostic Samen, on why BCO is taking wearables seriously

BCO's Junior Vice President, Katrina Kostic Samen, shares why wearable technology is such an area of interest for the BCO and its members.

The managing partner of KKS Strategy, speaks from the launch of our Wearables in the Workplace report on some of the key issues wearables raise around big data and privacy.

For more highlights from the launch, view our round up of live tweets from the Wearables in the Workplace launch on Storify and we invite you to join the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #wearableswork.

Download the full Wearables in the Workplace report on the BCO website

Video: BCO launches Wearables in the Workplace report

Technology moves fast with wearable technology now having an increasing influence on daily life, but what exactly does that mean for the future of offices? How will the increased awareness of health brought by wearables impact employees and employers? And what are the legal and ethical implications?

BCO's Wearables in the Workplace report, produced by Arup and Professor Derek Clements Croomes of Reading University, tackles these questions whilst summarising the benefits of wearable technology and its influence on the future of work.

Watch highlights from the report launch hosted by Wedlake Bell with key insights from Helen Garthwaite of Wedlake Bell, Katrina Kostic Samen of KKS Strategy, Richard Isham of Wedlake Bell and report authors Professor Derek Clements-Croomes of Reading University and Mallory Taub of Arup.

For more highlights from the launch view our round up of live tweets from the Wearables in the Workplace launch on Storify and we invite you to join the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #wearableswork.

Download  your copy of the full Wearables in the Workplace report from the BCO website.

60 seconds with...Simon Sturgis and Gareth Roberts, Sturgis Carbon Profiling

Simon Sturgis

We spent 60 seconds with Simon Sturgis, Managing Director, and Gareth Roberts, Partner at Sturgis Carbon Profiling, members of our Environmental Sustainbility Group (ESG) and contributors to the recently published BCO On-site Renewables report. 

The On-Site Renewables report is a follow up to the BCO's 2007 report on the Greater London Assembly's (GLA's) target for acheiving emissions reductions through on-site renewables from 10% to 20% of a building's regulated energy demand.

Whilst investigating our original concerns that the policy would not be effective, the research also offers an insight into:

• the implications of using on-site renewables
• identifying the factors driving performance
• the potential to cut costs and increase environmental benefits from reduced emissions in the future.

Gareth Roberts

What led to the On-site Renewables report being commissioned?
Previous to this report no quantitative work has ever been undertaken examining the actual costs and benefits of on-site micro-generation in the UK and Sturgis Carbon Profiling felt that given the large amounts of money being spent on this it was worth trying to understand if value to environment and developers was being achieved.

What do you think the commercial property industry can learn most from this report? 
That you need to think holistically about carbon emissions to achieve accurate, comprehensive results. That Government and Local Authorities when developing policies to promote carbon reduction need also to look at the indirect losses that take place before considering if a policy is effective.

Are there any findings in the report that surprised you?
The aggregate scale of the inefficiency of the use of renewables in London Offices is quite staggering, in that for every £10 spent by developers and taxpayers to provide benefit to the environment through micro-generation less than £1 is actually being delivered.

Where should we be looking to for best practice at present? 
Us!

Who/what most inspires you in the world of commercial property? 
Anyone who is thinking ahead and looking to a more efficient future in office design.

What couldn’t you live without in your daily routine?
Simon - Lunch
Gareth - Coffee

Join Simon and Gareth on Thursday 7 February 2013 for the BCO ESG Breakfast, where they will be discussing and debating the findings of the On-site Renewables report with a response from Celeste Giusti from the London Plan Team at GLA. Click here to find out more and book your place.

The BCO and Intelligent Buildings

Neil is the Head of Sustainability & Engineering for Land Securities PLC. As chairman of the BCO's Technical Affairs Committee Neil has overseen the production of the latest edition of the Guide to Specification and Guide to Fit Out. 

He is the man behind IntelliBuild (Wednesday 21 November) and we find out more about the conference and what it will cover.

Why have do you feel it’s important to have IntelliBuild, a half day conference on the subject of smart cities and intelligent buildings?
It’s important to give people an insight into the benefits of intelligent building design and use of integrated networks in commercial developments. It’s an area that’s not that well understood but in my view is vital for the future sustainability of buildings.

It’s the next big step forward!

The use of intelligence in the process of design and management of buildings makes sure efficiencies are achieved so that property can deliver against the original aspirations for the end users.

We’re seeing a significant increase in new materials that are coming through which we can use in the construction of buildings. The new materials will improve sustainability performance and operating efficiencies, reduce costs and ultimately create a better end product.

A lot of research has gone into nano technology and self healing coatings. These technologies show great promise and I am sure they will soon be move into mainstream construction.

The purpose of the BCO is to research what’s currently going on and provide advice to our membership on best practice so it’s really important that we understand the impact intelligent networks, intelligent design and innovative technologies will have in the office sector.

This event will be looking at what’s going on in the laboratory and working out whether we can bring it into the real world.  

On a personal level, what are you looking forward to most at this event?
We have a great line up of speakers who will bring their own personal experiences from a broad range of elements within intelligent buildings.

We’ve deliberately set up the format of the conference to be interactive with the audience. I’m keen to see what questions come from the audience throughout the breakouts and Q&A elements. It will be great to learn what others are doing in this area.  

Are intelligent buildings all about new technology or is there more to it than that?
Ultimately buildings are for the people and it’s important that the environment we create can respond to the needs of people and business requirements now and in the future.

The more sophisticated the building, the more likely it will meet the changing needs of the occupier in the future. Intelligent building management systems are all about bringing the right information to the right people at the right time enabling the building to operate at its best at all times. There is a growing need to embed intelligence into all aspects of the wider built environment.

Intelligent buildings are not all about technology they are about good design and meeting the needs of the building users.

An intelligent building from a developers’ perspective is one that is fully let and profitable!

What do you think is the most exciting prospect about a future where intelligent buildings are seen as the norm?

It will be great to see a seamless integration of the building and the individuals that use it. Buildings will be able to recognise the individual and adapt to their needs in an easy and intuitive way.

Being able to produce a building that is truly sustainable where waste, in the construction process, has been minimised and where the end product fulfils the needs of the ultimate users for an extended period of time without needing significant changes throughout its life.

Are there any good examples of intelligent buildings now or have we still got a lot to learn?
There are a growing number of examples in the office sector. In our own portfolio One New Change is probably the best example. We have a fully integrated network supporting all the main building control systems in both the retail and office elements of the scheme. And we have a number of other new developments where common network systems are currently being installed.

The new developments proposed for the Greenwich Peninsula are adopting a “Smart City” approach to their adoption of new technology in the buildings.

Office building have probably been a little slower to adopt the integrated network technology than other sectors such as retail, leisure, aviation and major sporting venues where there are many good examples of the application of converged networks that commercial office buildings can take inspiration from.

In terms of the influence of users we’re already seeing the growing use of information technology in business which is driving changes in the way people use the working environment. The social media explosion is part of that, as people use new ways of communicating with each other and we need to look at the impact this will have on the design of the workplace going forward

In the Intelligent Building workshop at the Manchester Conference earlier this year, Keith Priest of Fletcher Priest architects showed an example of a building they are designing which uses a titanium oxide coating which will pull carbon dioxide out of the air to improve the local environment around the building. 

Where should we be looking at for best practice at present?
We have some of the best examples of intelligent building design in the world in the UK.

In terms of the use of integrated networks a lot of work has been done already in the retail, leisure and sports sectors but the office sector is catching up fast. Around the world the application of smart building technology is particularly advanced in the Far East and North America.

Who, or what, most inspires you in the world of commercial property?
What I really like about working in the industry is that nothing remains constant & everything changes so there’s always a new challenge. You’re always learning. There’s nothing better than being involved in a new building, I get great satisfaction once the building is there and you know you played a part in creating it. That’s what enthuses me to get out bed in the morning.

What couldn't you live without in your daily routine?
My alarm clock.

The BCO's IntelliBuild Conference takes place on Wednesday 21 November at Arup, 8 Fitzroy Street London. Find out more at www.bco.org.uk/events