Julie Anderson, Director of Rap Interiors, considers what trends will be sweeping office spaces in 2021
THE
COMING
TRENDS RAP INTERIORS ARE 30 YEARS ESTABLISHED IN OFFICE AND WORKSPACE DESIGN AND KEEP UP TO DATE WITH EVER CHANGING WORKSPACE.
30
NETWORKS
A
s with anything else in design, there are always trends when it comes to fitting out office spaces. Moods change and businesses become infatuated with different ways of working and of boosting staff efficiency. 2020 saw offices across the UK and Ireland become empty or running at low capacity, the once exciting and collaborative workspaces becoming dormant and quiet. This forced social experiment made people work from home and rely on technology, rather than face to face communication, to get work done and now the question remains; what will become of all the office space? Despite expectations to the contrary, across many industries remote working has been a success, resulting in a culture shift that favours employee wellbeing and
a better work/life balance. We expect to see office designs that lend themselves to this change. Spaces are likely to be more agile in their design to give employees the freedom to choose how they want to work, with multiple work zones replacing seas of desks. An increase in flexible working will also see the introduction of technology to facilitate communication between those in the office and those at home. There is confidence in the market; legal firm Hardwicke Chambers has already taken steps in creating an agile, pro-wellbeing workspace. The new office includes a flexible “hub” for people to enjoy, two roof terraces and state of the art IT to enable people to “plug in and play” in different areas of the office. Meanwhile Google has confirmed plans for a new, £1billion, 11-storey headquarters in Kings Cross.
