Mix Interiors 183
April 2018
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INSIDE UPFRONT 10 Perspective 23 Seven... 24 Forward Thinking 26 Material Matters 29 Deser t Island Desks 30
SPOTLIGHT 33 Big Question 34 The Technology Repor t 36
70 XTX MARKETS 70 Yes, that is an Apollo landing module – and we found many more amazing features throughout X T X 's out-of-thisworld new workplace.
ROUND TABLE 56 Engineering Works? 56
56 CASE ST UDY 70 X T X Markets, King's Cross 70 Mindspace Aldgate 80 NCC Group, Manchester 88
RE VIE W 62 MixInspired London 62
THE L AST WORD 96 Opinion – Glenn Elliott
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Upfront | Welcome
THE COVER The logo This particular font is playful and was chosen to complement the curvature and motion of the chairs whilst working in harmony with the photograph, using simplicity to show off the title.The text also picks up on the subtle warm hues of pink in the background. www.tpbennett.com
The cover The Red Dot Award-winning Trea teams a timeless, clean aesthetic with high-performance function. Created in collaboration with visionary designer, Todd Bracher, Trea offers intuitive comfort by mimicking the instinctive recline of the human body and embracing the sitter in a supportive shell. www.uk.humanscale.com
It always makes me smile when people who’ve followed us over the years say, ‘What I really like about Mix is that it has never changed’. And you’d be surprised how many times we’ve heard that. Of course, those people don’t mean anything disrespectful by that – in fact I’ve told teammates (on a few occasions now) that they mean it as a compliment. If you take a look at the very first issue of Mix, back in 2000, and then look through this, our 183rd issue, you wouldn’t believe they’re the same title. Only the word ‘Mix’ and (gawd knows how) the Editor have remained constant. The reason people tell us that little has changed is because we’ve made those changes – many of them desired, a few others enforced – incrementally. We’ve never paid some ‘cool’
agency a shedload of money to completely redesign everything. We’ve listened to our readership and our advertisers and tweaked and changed gently and gradually – and always with the best for the magazine and our readers in mind. Some used to describe Mix as a furniture mag. Of course we still love a bit of furniture, but we’ve gradually grown into something quite different. What we really do is talk about workplace change – and as you read through this issue, just make a mental note of how often this becomes the focus. What we’re incredibly proud of is that we’ve (maybe inadvertently at times) managed that change. As those of you involved in major workplace projects will be all too aware, that’s not always an easy thing.
GET IN TOUCH BACK ISSUES Contact us to buy back issues: rebecca@mixinteriors.com
Editor Mick Jordan mick@mixinteriors.com
Contributors Steve Gale Glenn Elliott
Editorial support Rebecca Sabato rebecca@mixinteriors.com
Address Mix Media Limited 2 Abito 85 Greengate Manchester M3 7NA
Sales director Gary Williams gary@mixinteriors.com Director David Smalley david@mixinteriors.com
Y
Designer Georgina Nicklin georgina@mixinteriors.com Managing director Marcie Incarico marcie@mixinteriors.com Founding publisher Henry Pugh
JANUARY 2018
t: 01709 385470 e: sales@cmd-ltd.com w: www.cmd-ltd.com
RA NT
January 2018
2017 REVIEWED
use Street
RANT
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Contacts
AR
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Mix Interiors 180
PEAKS & PLAINS CLARION HOUSING GENSLER WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS
W
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MIX INTERIORS 180
This stylish monitor arm, arguably one of the slimmest of its type on the market today, has been awarded FIRA’s prestigious Ergonomic Excellence Award and is now supplied with a 10 year extended warranty.
howroom
om 51 7080
A WORD FROM MICK
16/01/2018 09:11
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Telephone 0161 946 6262
GET YOUR OWN! To ensure that a regular copy of Mix Interiors reaches you please call 0161 946 6262 or e-mail: G rebecca@mixinteriors.com Annual subscription charges UK single £45.50 Europe £135 (airmail) Outside Europe £165 (airmail)
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Printed by S&G Print ISSN 1757-2371
Upfront |
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Upfront | House, Dublin Project: AerCap
Project: London Business School
invest workplace Project: Senate House Library, University of London 4 | Mix 183 April 2018
Upfront |
For over thirty years we have delivered inspiring workplaces. In that time our own workplace has evolved accordingly. We are proud to announce that in our 30th year we have yet again invested in our own home, transforming it into a workplace fit for the next 30 years.
2016
1988
Green Energy Initiative installation of upgraded biomass boiler and solar panelling
e
Original factory 20,000 sqft.
1995
Main factory phase 1 40,000 sqft.
2013
Main factory phase 2 80,000 sqft.
Our new state-of-the-art production facility has grown from the modest roots
2018
Main factory phase 3 80,000 sqft.
established in 1988 to become one of the UK and Ireland’s leading manufacturing sites.
View more workplace projects: Background Project: DBRS HQ, London
www.sjg.co.uk
Mix 183 April 2018 | 5
Upfront |
SOFT CONTRACT & TEXTURES
crona lounge
6 | Mix 183 April 2018
Upfront |
w w w.brunner-uk .com Mix 183 April 2018 | 7
Upfront |
ANNOUNCING YOUR MIXOLOGY18 DJ
RESIDENT DJ AT ONE OF THE UK’S LARGEST NIGHTCLUBS, CREAM A TRUE PIONEER OF THE BBC RADIO ONE DANCE MUSIC MOVEMENT ONE OF THE MOST RECOGNISED DJS ON THE INTERNATIONAL CLUB SCENE
A CREAMFIELDS LEGEND
Thank you to our sponsors: 8 | Mix 183 April 2018
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Upfront |
21st June Old Billingsgate
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Mix 183 April 2018 | 9
Upfront | News
COLLECTIVE RESPONSIBILITY Mix Design Collective (MDC) is a brand new three-day design experience created as part of Mix Week Manchester. The event will celebrate the best national and international design experiences and is aimed at all those who ply their trade in workplace design. So ,whether you're a designer, property professional or a client with a keen interest in the best in workplace design, this is the 2018 event for you. MDC is brought to you by the Mix team and is this year driven by the following six wonderful design practices. We will continue to make announcements and keep you up to date with their progress. If you're lucky enough to be at Mixology in London on the 21st June, the six design concepts will be formally announced – otherwise keep an eye for updates on our social media platforms. To register or for more information visit: www.mixdesigncollective.com PLACE: INNSIDE, MANCHESTER DATE: 4TH-6TH DECEMBER 2018
FAULKNERBROWNS (ENGAGE)
MICHAEL LAIRD (SMART + CONNECTED)
FaulknerBrowns are an award winning international architectural practice who delight in understanding people’s behaviour. Our approach is to question traditional typology, to challenge aesthetic judgement and invigorate social impact. This approach has helped us to deliver some of the most imaginative projects, including the British Council of Offices ‘Best of the Best’ project for No.1 Riverside and the internationally acclaimed multi-awarded building, The Word. It’s our desire to understand behaviour and social change, which excites us about Mix Design Collective and especially our design work for Engage. We are all stronger when we understand and share the drivers for a better workplace. The creative opportunity to prove value, develop exciting solutions and improve effectiveness has never been greater.
MLA are one of Scotland’s leading architectural and design practices, with more than 60 years of experience, delivering bespoke projects that provide real value to our clients. Our workplace and interiors team are passionate about design and aim to produce the ideal design solution for each client. We have recently completed a unique fit-out out for a global tech company, which is uplifting, functional and inspiring. We worked closely with our client to fully understand their current and future needs and holistically incorporate their brand values. MDC is the perfect opportunity to explore the meaning of Smart + Connected with our wider design community. It is already stimulating interesting conversations about the dynamics between technology, the user experience and the design of space in the future.
TP BENNETT (ESCAPE)
INCOGNITO (HEART SPACE)
It has been 20 years since the specialist interiors division of tp bennett was established. With designers recruited from around the world in order to foster the very best in creativity, our portfolio is incredibly diverse and we have worked and continue to work with fantastic brands and amazing clients across many sectors. Working with progressive client, Freshfields, we recently delivered their new premises at One New Bailey in Salford – their first longterm UK property outside of London. Our design spurns the traditional office blueprint to create a healthy and agile working environment that enhances communication and creates opportunities to bring staff together. We are embracing the challenge to design the Escape space for Mix Design Collective, designing an exciting area in which visitors can have their own personal ‘escape’.
Incognito is making a rare outing from the shadows. The studio, which generally shuns the limelight, delivers pioneering workspaces in New York, Amsterdam, Oslo, London and its hometown of Manchester. Its client base will certainly be familiar to those who have watched the team’s career develop over the last two decades – in the pharma, tech and media sectors – with a healthy dose of CAT A environments for some of the largest global investment funds. The award-winning team has been instrumental in the formation of MDC and is passionate about the promotion of health and wellbeing in the workplace, as well as the chance to facilitate collaboration between some of the greatest minds in our industry. The Heart Space has been meticulously planned out by Incognito’s Design Director, Simon Millington: ‘It is a huge honour for our studio, and our showcase partners, to be trusted with the Heart Space. It is the first area delegates will come into contact with when they arrive and will therefore provide a variety of sights, sounds, smells and textures to ignite the senses and prepare individuals for the experience ahead.’
HASSELL (HEALTH + WELLBEING) HASSELL is a leading international design practice with studios in the United Kingdom, Australia, China and South East Asia. An integrated team of architects, interior designers, landscape architects, urban designers, planners and specialist consultants, HASSELL partners with clients to design some of the world’s healthiest and most sustainable places. HASSELL has delivered more than 3 million sq m of workplace and commercial space for more than 1,000 clients around the world. This includes the multi-award winning workplace for Sky Central in West London, and Lendlease’s head office in Sydney. The Mix Design Collective is an exciting opportunity for HASSELL to push the boundaries of design for Health and Wellbeing, it will spark fresh conversations and facilitate new collaborations that will mark a new era of workplace and commercial design.
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GENSLER (NEW ANALOGUE) At Gensler, we believe in creating meaningful and sustainable environments through thoughtful, considered design. By merging the magical with the practical, we craft projects that positively impact and transform people’s everyday experiences. Through working with clients such as Microsoft, P&G and Etsy, we’ve honed our design philosophy – truly understanding a person’s intentions, expectations and behaviour in the context of a space, to define exceptional experiences. We believe that a big part of that ‘exceptional experience’ is human interaction. So, at MDC we want to create destinations that reconnect employees, collaborators and other folk through face-to-face interaction, away from today’s digital noise.
Mix 183 April 2018 | 11 www.flexiform.co.uk/credenza
Upfront | News
GETTING A SENSE OF WHAT YOU MEAN
Accountancy and business advisory firm, BDO LLP, has collaborated with Workplace Fabric to roll out the FREESPACE service into its offices in London and Reading. FREESPACE is a sensor-based service platform that informs office users of available spaces in real time. The digital desk availability system, combined with BDO’s investment in its agile working programme, supports the firm’s collaborative culture and digital mindset. The intuitive solution required no end user training, login or mobile app download. Users simply use screens to locate free spaces in their dedicated team zones. The system automatically identifies vacated desks after a period of inactivity, making it available for others to use.
The facilities management team at BDO was trained to extract valuable aggregate space usage information from the analytics dashboard. Daily usage information from over 1,500 spaces is giving the CRE team a powerful new tool to chart strategic real estate plans for the future. Andy Butterworth, Chief Operating Officer at BDO, says: ‘We have undergone a significant agile working programme within our London headquarters and in our new space at Thames Tower in Reading. We were keen to ensure that we created spaces that work for all our people. As busy professionals, our people are often in meetings, at client sites or working on team projects. Rather than being tied to an allocated desk, people can choose the workspace that best suits them for the activity they are doing. Having the right space and
MIXINSPIRED COMES TO MANCHESTER Calling all architects, designers and property professionals; following the hugely successful MixInspired, which took place in London last month, we are putting together the final pieces of our popular series of MixInspired seminars for 2018, with MixInspired Manchester taking place on Wednesday 6th June. As well as providing you with sustenance, we can promise that the event will deliver its usual great insights from our amazing panel. We'll deliver a quite inspirational evening and a workplace perspective that will give you food for thought. Our current confirmed panellists are Tim Pinder, Chief Executive at Peaks & Plains Housing Trust and Nick Atkin, Group Chief Executive of Halton Housing. The focus of discussion will be ‘The People Shaping Tomorrow’s Workplace’. If you think this will be public sector focused, then think again. This is the sharp end of some of the best workplace transformation you will have seen! Announcements will be made about further panellists to join Nick and Tim in the next few weeks. If you have a burning question for them or simply want to be inspired, come along on 6th June. If you would like to join us at the event, get in touch with the Mix team by emailing rebecca@mixinteriors.com. This event is free of charge for you, courtesy of our sponsors, Colebrook Bosson Saunders and Spatial Office Environments.
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technology in place creates a more adaptable, efficient and modern way of working that optimises business performance. FREESPACE has been instrumental in engaging staff into the workplace conversation and significantly increasing space productivity.’ Raj Krishnamurthy, CEO of Workplace Fabric, comments: ‘FREESPACE has been deployed with ease on a global scale while seamlessly integrating into the existing IT infrastructure. FREESPACE is offered as an ongoing service to help dynamic organisations respond to continuously changing space demand; be it the needs of an individual employee during a given day or due to strategic organisation shifts throughout the year. We are proud to work with BDO on its journey to creating the best workplace experience for its people.’
Nick Atkin
Tim Pinder
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Upfront | News
a d k …
… a table that works really hard. So we called ours, ‘Worktable’.
Rawside Furniture is a London-based, designer, builder and lover of the most practical office furniture on planet Earth. www.rawside.co ~ hello@rawside.co ~
@rawside
Rawside, The Undercroft, Kennington Park, 1-3 Brixton Road, London, SW9 6DE 14 | Mix 183 April 2018
Upfront | News
OVERBURY COMPLETES PROPERTY GIANT’S BIRMINGHAM HQ
TRUE TO LIFE SURFACES WITH UNILIN DIVISION PANELS
International real estate advisor Savills has completed its move to Birmingham landmark office building, 55 Colmore Row, after the fit-out was completed by Overbury. Overbury was tasked with delivering the new offices on the building’s sixth floor, which has enabled Savills to relocate circa 160 employees from its two existing offices at Birmingham’s Innovation Court and The Exchange. The fit-out has created a modern working environment with open plan offices, collaborative working areas and client meeting spaces to house the growing business. The space was designed by Square Dot – a specialist office interior design practice based in Stratford-Upon-Avon. Andrew Wood, Managing Director at Overbury in the Midlands, said: ‘We have worked with clients of Savills in the past, but for this major firm to choose Overbury to deliver its own office fit-out is a real coup for us. ‘After completing the fit-out for law firm Pinsent Masons in the same building, we are delighted to have now completed 17,000 sq ft of office space for Savills. The works we have completed in 55 Colmore Row demonstrate our expertise perfectly.’ The fit-out and relocation was project managed by Paul Higman, a Director in Savills Birmingham’s building and project consultancy team. Paul said: ‘The project was delivered within a tight programme and to an exceptional standard, without compromising the designs developed by Square Dot and Cundall (M&E designers). The delivery team has worked extremely closely together and in a communicative and cooperative manner. This has delivered a working environment that the whole project team and the Savills Birmingham office should be very proud of.’ Simon Farrant, Head of Savills Birmingham, said: ‘The new office reflects the quality and status of the Savills brand and also provides a wider variety of environments, which support the changing way that we work. We are delighted with the result.’
UNILIN division panels is part of the UNILIN-group, a subsidiary of MOHAWK Industries, the world’s largest floorcoverings group. UNILIN's division panels provides designers, fabricators and manufacturers with a collection of decorative boards and panels that utilise the company’s expertise in creating true-to-life surfaces entirely in-house. With many of the 168 décors in the UNILIN Evola collection completely exclusive, UNILIN develops products inspired by everything from reclaimed wood, through to trending colours, concrete and brushed precious metals. Through proprietary technologies and an innovative approach to product research and development, UNILIN Evola stands apart for its incredible authenticity with surface finishes almost imperceptible from the materials they replicate. Whether taking on the imperfections of craft and nature in texture or employing technology to reduce light reflectance for a better black, Evola introduces a true-to-life look and feel that is unparalleled. UNILIN also manufactures ready-to-paint panels, raw chipboard, doors, shelves and the innovative ClicWall MDF wall panelling system. Using patented Uniclic technology, ClicWall is simple-to-fit and comes in a range of 105 true-to-life decors. Ideal for use in fast-track refurbishment projects, the system is also available in a special fire-retardant specification, ClicWall FR, as well as ClicWall Deco, ready for finishing with paint, fabric, wallpaper or digital print.
Upholstery
Aviation
Hospitality
Office
Automotive
Healthcare
Marine
Yarwood Leather has you covered. sales@yarwoodleather.com
Mix 183www.yarwoodleather.com April 2018 | 15
+44 (0) 113 252 1014
Upfront | News
ISLE OF DOGS The increasingly challenging task of drawing in the target audience to your showroom was grasped by Lucy Storey and the wonderful team from Connection. They used stop motion as their activity of choice and, by the looks of things, guests to their London and Manchester showrooms had a ball. Stop motion is a method of animation that uses physical objects to create the illusion of movement, taking multiple photographs and playing them back at speed, so that it appears your object or puppet moves with a life of its own. Connection worked with the incredibly talented Tim Allen, who had just spent 17 months with the great Wes Anderson on his new film Isle of Dogs. ‘The craft and the challenge is to make your puppet feel like it's believably alive, thinking and feeling as its tale unfolds for the audience to watch, little knowing of the painstaking work behind the scenes. You can call stop motion animation an art form, but I prefer to think of it as a medium for communicating ideas, emotions and ultimately telling stories.’
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AWARD WINNING After winning 11 Good Design awards in January, VitrA returned from the 2018 iF award ceremony in March with eight iF awards, including a ‘Gold’ – the gold prize winner being the Stix ceramic tile range, which has a natural stone appearance that will never go out of style. Several ranges created by the VitrA Design Team also won iF awards, including the Sento bathroom range and the Suit brassware range. The Tech-slate tile range also received iF awards, as did the exhibition containers that VitrA used to display its new products and highlight its sustainability approach at the 2018 Unicera fair. This year, the iF Award international jury of 63 design, industry and architecture experts evaluated more than 6,400 products from 54 countries. Among the many criteria they consider are the innovative, functional, aesthetic and environmental attributes of new products. Including this year’s awards, VitrA has won 22 iF awards to date. It has also won numerous other prestigious design and innovation awards, including EDIDA, Design Innovation, Design Plus, Iconic Awards, Interior Innovation, Plus X, Red Dot and Wallpaper awards.
GETTING WIRED We’re looking forward to seeing the new Ultrafabrics showroom in Clerkenwell. The clue to exactly where it will be is that it has its windows covered with Japanese writing. In the meantime, Ultrafabrics, the maker of intelligent performance fabrics, has launched Wired, a new collection created for its hand and matte finish, with a grain inspired by technology. At a time in which we are hyper-connected to the world and others around us via technologies, it is essential to also connect with our personal selves, our wellbeing and surroundings, taking note of the present and living in the moment through sensorial experiences. Wired expresses how, together, touch and colour speak to human interactions and emotional connections with the physical world. With Wired, a unique tactile feel appeals to the sense of touch. A gentle layering of colour (in 12 different hues) provides depth of design and parallel and perpendicular lines create a sense of technological movement. ‘The new Wired collection is a prime example of what the Ultratech brand promises: stateof-the-art performance with an unmatched sensory experience,’ says A.R. Swan, Director of Marketing at Ultrafabrics.
Upfront |
Boundary Metallics, mixing the man-made with the natural.
Boundary Metallics is a new addition to our LVT collection. Inspired by industrial materials, with a softening patina of organic textures of natural weathering , available in 6 colourways. Like our other LVT collections, Boundary Metallics is the perfect fit with our modular carpet, use on its own or in combination to create +Postive spaces™.
Find out more about Boundary Metallics at interface.com Mix 183 April 2018 | 17
Upfront | News
DESIGNED WITH YOU IN MIND A total of 12 designs representing both the domestic and contract furniture market have been awarded the prestigious Design Guild Mark for 2018. The Marks are awarded by The Furniture Makers’ Company in order to drive excellence and raise the profile of British design and innovation. Now in its 10th year, the Mark recognises the highest standards in the design of furnishings in volume production by the finest designers working in Britain, or British designers working abroad. Rodney McMahon, Chairman of the Design Guild Mark, commented: ‘It is very interesting to meet the very passionate designers and to have their product, ranging from domestic seating through to complex desking systems, presented to the judging panel. It is a challenge for the judges to reach a balanced judgement, but they have again set and demanded a very high standard. We look forward to the award ceremony and new products in 2019.’
THE RISE OF ELEV8 SIT/ STAND DESKS
Thinking Quietly by Jones & Partners for Thinking Works
Magnetic copper cube by Paul Kelley
Antelope Chair by Ernest Race
Benchmark, Byron & Gomez, Aphelion Console
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Dams has launched the next generation of its best-selling Elev8 range of sit/stand desks, which allow the individual user to electronically adjust the desk height from a sitting to a standing position with the touch of a button. The new Elev82 height adjustable desks from Dams are available as single desks, back-toback desks and as a bench desk system, to upgrade and cater for all types of office layouts. Elev82 sit/stand desks are also now available in twin motor (Elev82 Touch) and single motor (Elev82 Mono) variants, providing affordable features and durable design to transform the workplace with healthy flexibility and mass appeal. On average, office workers spend 40 hours a week at work, with the majority of that time spent working at a desk. In fact, the average office worker spends over five and half hours every single day sitting down at work. This is one of the reasons why many employers are now providing workers with height adjustable desks, allowing them to alternate between sitting and standing throughout the day. Dams Managing Director, Chris Scott, explains: ‘The new Elev82 desk range provides the ideal solution to address the issue of employees who have a sedentary desk job, and who do not spend enough time standing during the working day. There are two main reasons for looking at a sit/stand desk solution – the ability to sit and stand during the average working day has huge health benefits to the user and it’s this active working style that encourages increased staff productivity and reduces absenteeism.’
Redefine Your Boundaries
Upfront | News
Find us at stand PA4 in Project
with the latest furniture collection from Godfrey Syrett
sales@godfreysyrett.co.uk | 0191 303 6585 | @GodfreySyrett Search for us on Instagram, LinkedIn and Pinterest Visit www.godfreysyrett.co.uk to learn more
Mix 183 April 2018 | 19
Upfront |
OUR NEW SHOWROOM. SEEING IS BELIEVING. It’s a big statement and one we’re happy to stand by. No matter the size or scale of your project, whether you require ready-to-go storage solutions or tailored and flexible workspaces, we have an extensive and high quality portfolio. Our new showroom will allow you to explore workplace trends and their impact on the latest designs, with that all important face-to-face expert guidance. Visit our new Clerkenwell showroom this spring at 32 Dallington Street, London.
www.bisley.com
Helping you work better anywhere 20 | Mix 183 April 2018
Upfront | News
LIVERPOOL LAW FIRM GIVEN INTERIORS MAKEOVER
Abbie Tipler Creation Space
Dog Eared Shelf
Perch
Office Playground
HEADS IN THE CLOUDS ‘Up In The Cloud’ is a new commercial furniture design competition sponsored by London’s leading contract furniture consultancy Collaborate, architects Perkins+Will, and furniture designer and manufacturer Verco. In the competition’s inaugural year, students from the furniture design course of London Metropolitan University’s Sir John Cass School of Art, Architecture, and Design in Whitechapel have been proposing, building and honing commercial furniture designs, all aimed at providing solutions for the increasingly digitally-dependent, mobile workforce. Following a launch event in January – where students pitched their initial ideas and received ‘on the spot’ feedback from judges – entrants had a month to realise their prototypes and create a video promoting the benefits of their ideas. Halfway through the month, Verco treated the 2018 ‘Up In The Cloud’ participants to a visit to their impressive factory in High Wycombe. The tour provided inspiration and ‘real-life examples’ of the kind of products that are
winning people over and going into production in today’s market. London Met University’s design school in Whitechapel hosted the final round of presentations on Tuesday 20th February. Judges from Collaborate and Perkins+Will were blown away by the quality of the proposals, designs and prototypes. From beautiful shelving and hanging space in public lavatories; to office chairs for people who need to move more throughout the day; to completely sustainable, cradle-to-grave stools made from mushroom fungus – the diversity of the proposals was something that surprised and impressed the judges. Richard Martin, Collaborate Managing Director, summarised: ‘It is an honour to be the lead sponsor on this project – we really weren’t prepared for designs of this quality. The level of thought and work that had gone into the proposals was stunning. Producing a shortlist was a difficult task! We are now so excited about announcing the winner of the inaugural ‘Up In The Cloud’ during Clerkenwell Design Week in May.’
The new waterfront premises of legal services provider Pure Business Group have been kitted out with the latest in office interiors, thanks to commercial furniture specialist, Penketh Group. Having taken the full fourth floor at No. 8 Princes Dock, which provides panoramic views of the River Mersey and Leeds Liverpool Canal, Pure Business Group appointed Penketh Group to provide a full furniture solution to the value of £185,000. With its new city centre location, Pure Business Group aimed to create an inspiring workplace to fuel its ambitious growth plans and called on longstanding partner, Penketh Group, to bring this to life, following the successful completion of two furniture projects at its Prescot site. The new office in Liverpool takes the law firm’s total number of sites to five and includes four managers’ offices, a canteen, an accounts office, a reception area, a 20-person boardroom and office space for 160 staff. Included in the bespoke design was Penketh Group’s Workcafé concept – a dynamic space that connects people with their colleagues, their work and their organisation in an informal way. As part of the project, Penketh Group also installed a bespoke kitchenette unit to service the boardroom, as well as an informal meeting space, complete with a Harc unit, designed to offer privacy in an open plan environment. A state-of-the-art Mediascape system, which facilitates multiway communication, was installed into the Chief Executive’s office. Robert Mares, Director and Head of Compliance at Pure Business Group, said: ‘The team at Penketh Group were fantastic from start to finish. We’ve always been impressed with their vision and professionalism and, with our latest office, they certainly didn’t disappoint. They’ve created a modern and colourful space that ticks all our boxes and we’re all so proud to come into work and call it our ‘home from home’ each day.’
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Upfront |
Threads combines a subtle stripe pattern with a mix of soft colours for a stylish range of 300 x 200mm glazed ceramic wall tiles.
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johnson-tiles.com
Upfront | Perspective
PERSPECTIVE This month we speak with Nick Atkin, Chief Executive at Halton Housing Trust – whose new home, Waterfront Point, is very much a differentiating factor for the business. Halton Housing is a not-for-profit housing association, which owns and manages over 7,000 homes across the Cheshire boroughs of Runcorn and Widnes. The business currently employs just 330 people across a range of roles and skillsets. Housing associations offer high quality, affordable priced homes for rent as well as a range of low cost home ownership products. Halton Housing can be summarised as ‘a housing business with a social conscience. Our overarching purpose focuses on improving people’s lives’.
Hi Nick. What was the main objective behind your recent workplace transformation? We saw the build and creation of Waterfront Point as the next logical phase in our approach to reduce costs, whilst also retaining good people. Over the last three years we have shifted to a two-device policy. This ensures all our employees are equipped with two mobile devices. This enables them to work anywhere, at any time. This has reinforced our mantra that work is something you do, and not somewhere you go, and allows all our employees to have a better work/life balance. When evaluating if we should adopt a fully flexible working approach, we carried out a ‘Desk Space Utilisation Review’. This examined how the 158 desks spaces we previously had were used, including how often they were occupied. The findings were that these were only occupied for 28% of the ‘working week’. The average cost per desk was £3,200. This review enabled us to reduce our floor space and associated costs by over 75%. The move to our new home has brought the organisation together under one roof for the first time, as well as enabling us to introduce an element of fun and enjoyment to the workplace.
What is the one thing you and your staff do differently since moving into your new home/office? Our new home is not a place where people bang keyboards for eight hours a day. It’s been designed to be a thought provoking working space. The space is designed for collaboration, breaking down the barriers between teams and bringing people together in a natural and unstructured way. Our flexible working approach was introduced three years ago. It reduced our operating costs, extended our service offer, whilst also enabling us to retain really good people. People are encouraged not to be tied to their desks but instead to work in a truly flexible and agile way. We have even used some of the office cost savings to pay for colleagues to host meetings in coffee shops and other similar locations. Our fully flexible working approach has enabled us to retain and attract more employees. It’s also no coincidence that, since we have introduced flexible working, we have had our three best years in terms of performance.
Name one thing that will have disappeared from the workplace in the next decade. The concept of presentism. Nailing people to their desks doesn’t work, it doesn’t make people productive or mean that they are working for eight hours each day. Instead, we assess people’s contributions on the outcomes they deliver against an agreed set of objectives, rather than the hours they work. Over the last 20 or so years, what has changed in the workplace most dramatically from your point of view? Technology has enabled people to be hugely more productive and self-sufficient. This in turn has removed the need for a number of administrative roles, enabling people to move to different roles across businesses. What does the term ‘wellbeing’ mean to you? Easy – a positive state of mind and good physical health. We all spend our best waking hours at work, so it needs to be a place and an experience that contributes positively to people and their lives. We have put a number of measures in place over recent years to ensure
our employees’ physical and mental wellbeing is well looked after. Since our move to Waterfront Point, this has developed still further. We have installed exercise kit in to our new office to encourage people to take up walking meetings and catch-ups. Our ‘no-desk hogging’ approach encourages employees to move around the office and speak to other colleagues they may not usually have the opportunity to. We continue to invest heavily in trying to ensure, as much as possible, the physical and mental wellbeing of our workforce. What have you done to ensure your office environment is as innovative and forward-thinking as possible? As part of the development of our new home, we introduced the concept of ‘disruption’. We have extended this to run across our business through the establishment of three resident disruptor roles. Together with our innovative ICT team, we have been able to introduce a range of cutting edge tech kit into the workspace. This has cemented our move away from paper-based systems. The introduction of this cutting-edge kit underpins our flexible and dynamic working environment.
Nick Atkin is one of the panellists taking part in our next MixInspired Manchester seminar. Taking place on Wednesday 6th June. To register and for more info visit: www.mixinspired.com
Mix 183 April 2018 | 23
Upfront | Seven
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INSTAGRAM WELLNESS ACCOUNTS
For this May's Clerkenwell Design Week, Milliken’s showroom becomes a ‘wellness zone’. Here's their recommendations for 7 Instagram accounts to inspire wellness. 3 2
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1. @cleowade Poet|Artist|Storyteller – Author of ‘Heart Talk’, Cleo Wade, is an artist, poet and storyteller who has been called 'The Millennial Oprah' by New York Magazine – offering creative inspiration and life lessons through poetry, mantras, and affirmations.
3. @Just BreatheLondon Community|Connection|Quiet|A roadmap to Modern Mindfulness – Modern Mindfulness and Meditation; a place to find space in the real world. An on– and offline community on a mission to create calm.
2. @TheChalkboardMag The Chalkboard|A Guide to Living Well – The Chalkboard is a wellness lifestyle site dedicated to natural health, nutrition, green beauty and fitness wear, healthy recipes and great design.
4. @HackneyHerbal Social enterprise promoting wellbeing through herbal activities and Hackney-grown herbal tea blends. They provide tea tasting and making workshops at Milliken’s CDW events.
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5. @Liz_Atkin Visual Artist |Mental Health Advocate – This internationally acclaimed artist confronts her complex compulsive condition through art. Liz’s compulsive behaviour dominated her life for more than 20 years, but art has become her greatest tool for recovery.
6. @Turning.earth A beautiful London ceramics studio, enabling beginners, committed hobbyists and pros. Turning Earth's mission is to cultivate craft both as an accessible hobby and as a viable career. The studio aims to contribute towards a broad adult curriculum that will improve quality of life in the city.
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7. @Urvayogini Urva Soni is Milliken’s Customer Experience Manager, yoga student and teacher of Chi Kri yoga. www.chikri.com Hatha and restorative yoga.
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a cage full of ideas. cage– a cabinet system that impresses with its striking design language and authentic blend of materials. wiesner-hager.com
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Upfront | Forward Thinking
TECHNOLOGY ADDS VALUE TO OUR WORDS Steve Gale reckons that the hard currency of business is language – and it needs protecting!
If we have to stick with desk phones, let’s bring back Bakelite and dials and do it properly
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T
echnology in the workplace usually means IT, connectivity or phone systems. It’s less likely to be a smart toaster or a way to extract titanium. It’s all about language, which rightly dominates the knowledge working environment – it is the exchange mechanism of thinking. Here are my three techie ways to increase the value of the spoken and written word. Email: Pilita Clark in the Financial Times recently cited a great idea I have always thought would save time, reduce stress and win huge support, but it has not yet happened. Charge people for sending emails, like sticking a stamp on a letter. I love this idea. I once ran two workshops in the IT department of a large pharmaceutical firm to unearth the constraints of their allegedly ineffective workspace. It turned out that the space was fine but, curiously, instead they told me that the 'real' problem they faced everyday, and which killed their energy, was the 'email blizzard'. If we could reduce, or eliminate, unnecessary emails, their gratitude would be undying and their lives would be worth living again. One way to do this might be to levy a charge for each recipient every time they hit send. It would encourage people to reflect on the cost of their note when it reaches its destination and it might reduce the political copies to uninterested parties – and it would certainly eliminate spam unless it were funded by a very wealthy and stupid donor. One Phone: What happened to the idea of your mobile logging into your enterprise voice network when you arrive in the office? This much touted idea got to be called fixed-mobile convergence or FMC and, 15 years ago, I heard this was literally around the corner, but it has still not caught on. I frequently visit hi-tech offices that have desk phones hard wired to the wall with people logging in and then forgetting to log out. A recent paper on the FMC market stated: 'Fixed–mobile convergence has not developed as expected, allegedly because of lack of demand.' Really? Nobody wants more than one phone.
Part of the frustration of FMC is relieved by the hilarious jargon jamboree that surrounds it. You can have 'session continuity' guaranteed by a mobility controller, server, router, appliance or gateway, depending on the vendor and you can debate the ambiguous term 'seamless service' and whether agnostic applies to the handset, carrier, PBX or network. Best to avoid acronyms like VCC, CCCF and DECT. Maybe this is why it’s still in the long grass? If we have to stick with desk phones, let’s bring back Bakelite and dials and do it properly. Voice Recognition: This might be a bit more out there, but you may be surprised to know that voice recognition works really well on nearly all devices and is dangerously close to being 100% perfect. When I had a keyboard holiday after breaking my arm, I learnt to write by voice control. After a few days I had it down and could not help thinking that the painful road to keyboard mastery (which rarely achieves the level of touch typing) would one day remain untrodden and we would do away with the clumsy devices altogether. They already look like relics to me now – and I would like half of my laptop to disappear. You will immediately understand the potential drawback of open plan offices full of people speaking to their screens, or people dictating their commercially sensitive information on trains. There are ways around this but, as far as I can see, the issue has not been addressed anywhere. Do we really think the keyboard, which was invented in 1870 to stop typewriters jamming and needs to be reconfigured for every European language, not to mention those that don’t use the Roman alphabet, will survive when it’s no longer needed? Words – they cost so little, but we value them in so many ways.
Steve Gale is Head of Business Intelligence at M Moser Associates. SteveG@mmoser.com
Upfront |
Harc Modular Designed by Roger Webb Associates
London Showroom 20 Old Street Clerkenwell London EC1V 9AB
Ocee Design Design House, Caswell Road Brackmills Industrial Est. Northampton, NN4 7PW
01604 674674 @OceeDesign sales@oceedesign.com www.oceedesign.com
MADE IN GREAT BRITAIN
Mix 183 April 2018 | 27
Upfront |
Durable
Realistic designs
Inspired by the great outdoors. Designed for inspiring interiors. Wide range available
Low maintenance
For over 45 years we have been creating stylish, high quality design flooring for commercial projects. Whether it’s a busy restaurant or an open plan office project, great designs, flexible layout options and durability enables you to create an inspiring environment.
T: 01386 820104 | www.karndean.com 28 | Mix 183 April 2018
Upfront | Material Matters
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MATERIAL MATTERS In this month’s Material Matters, the experts at Material Lab highlight material transformations. www.material-lab.co.uk 1. Experimental designs by Katalin Huszár are far from useless Hungarian designer Katalin Huszár is a true innovator. For her latest project she was influenced by the straw-littered streets of Lisbon’s Bairro Alto and, in response, launched NOTJUSTUSELESS. The concept aims to address the troubling phenomenon of excessive plastic waste through the collection of used straws from consumers to enable designers to create new objects, installations and textures from them. The finished design then returns to the location, offering consumers a chance to see their not-so-useless waste transformed into a usable item once again. www.katalinhuszar.com 2. Harbour by Johnson Tiles captures rustic aesthetic of sea-weathered rocks Leading UK manufacturer Johnson Tiles’ Harbour range comprises a collection of glazed ceramic
wall tiles in three colourways. Encapsulating the rustic aesthetic of sea-weathered rocks, the versatile design combines texture with subtle shading for naturally inspired results. The ideal solution for commercial and residential schemes alike, Harbour is available in one size (400x150mm) and one finish for stunning interior schemes. www.johnson-tiles.com 3. Technowood offers a sustainable alternative to solid wood surfaces Through veneering robust materials, Technowood offers a more sustainable alternative to solid wood. Rather than rely on a fast depleting resource, the team instead asks architects and designers to consider options that provide the same quality and durability as wood, but that has less of a negative impact on the environment. Whether it’s an interior or exterior façade that’s required, Technowood can offer a product to suit. Thanks to the team’s
unique innovation, 98% less tree ratio is used in its process when compared to those working with solid wood. www.technowood.com.tr 4. Sculptural surfaces from Selina Rose transform your perceptions of felt Selina Rose creates intricately cut, tactile and sculptural 100% wool felt surfaces for both residential and commercial interiors. With technology at its core, the expert team cuts, inlays, folds, stitches, layers and manipulates felt into unique surface patterns that play with light and shade to create a sense of movement and tactility. Available in a variety of thicknesses and a colour palette of 75 shades, the surfaces are suitable for a broad range of interior applications including acoustic panelling, screens, room dividers, rugs and homewares. www.selinarose.co.uk
Mix 183 April 2018 | 29
Upfront | Desert Island Desks
DESERT ISLAND DESKS Emma Green This month we’ve cast Perkins+Will's Emma Green away on our desert island. Here are the things she’d like to have with her – and also her additions to the recently installed Desert Island Jukebox.
Bar
Notebook
A well-stocked cocktail bar. Best to
At least one notebook. Sorry to be
start with the essentials and extremely
clichéd but I can't function without a
important to stay hydrated in the sun.
notebook. Sketching, doodling, making list after list, I'm not sure if I'm forgetful or disorganised (potentially both) but, either way, I can't survive without one.
Jukebox Choices
Running gear
Camera
Where Is My Mind? - Pixies
Yep, I’m that bore! I started running
Plus a solar panel power pack
Can't Stop - Red Hot Chili Peppers
because you can do it pretty much
(obviously). I picked up photography
Running on Faith - Eric Clapton
anywhere, even a desert island. It helps
when I became too lazy to paint – and
Feeling Good - Nina Simone
clear my mind and, most importantly, it
it sort of took over. It's an obsessive,
Insomnia - Faithless
doesn't involve the gym!
creative outlet, or perhaps I’m just a bit voyeuristic?
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Tel 01925 850500
Upfront |
Email info@sixteen3.co.uk
iPhone Plus a solar panel power pack (there's a pattern forming here). I'm entirely addicted to being connected – family, friends, work, music, news – all that information at your fingertips is just too much to leave at home. I'll just need the island WiFi code please!
Bed Last but not least, my bed. I'm afraid I draw the line at attempting to sleep in a hammock!
22 - 24 MAY 2018
The Gallery 21-22 Great Sutton St. EC1V 0DY / Project Garden of St. James, EC1R 0EA
www.sixteen3.co.uk
Mix 183 April 2018 | 31
Spotlight |
Elliptical Public Seating configuration See ATOM at our newly refurbished London Showroom Opening Mid April 2018 Designed by Simon Pengelly for Boss Design
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22 - 24 MAY 2018
bossdesign.com |
wearebossdesign |
boss_design
Spotlight | Technology Report
SPOTLIGHT
THE BIG QUESTION 34 Do you envision any aspects of life (or of the workplace) that will break away from the advances of technology and downgrade back to humble beginning (or stay unaffected)?
The Technology Repor t 36 Mix 183 April 2018 | 33
Q
Spotlight | Technology Report
THE BIG
UESTION
Do yo u e n v i si o n a n y a s p e cts o f l i fe (o r w o rk p l a c e) t h a t w i ll b re a k a w ay fro m t h e a d v a n c e s o f t e c h n o l o g y a n d d o w n g ra d e b a c k to h u m b l e b e g i nni n g (o r st a y u n a ffe ct e d)?
RAZI RIAHI, DS.EMOTION
LORNA KILLICK, OKTRA
PHIDIAS LEONIDA, JONES AND PARTNERS
Technology made us all more connected but
We have found that digital whiteboards have never
Mass production shifting to mass customisation
isolated; as human beings, we need to switch off to
really caught on. Our team prefer to use traditional
and eventually to low volume mixed manufacturing.
be able to reconnect: digital detoxes, yoga and no
whiteboards, or even a quick pen and paper, as
The future brings a complex combination of the
laptop zones are essential. Data shows that, as a
part of the creative process and to get ideas down
hacked, repurposed and upcycled, small batch
person’s web browsing increases, their loneliness
without having to deal with clunky technology. I
manufacture and one-offs, which will in the end
also tends to increase. We now seek that human
don’t foresee the new technology being regularly
lead to slow products. Remodelled craft skills,
connection. Stories told by people, rather than
used until it can more seamlessly integrate with the
combined with digital manufacturing, will be used
giant companies. We like old buildings with stories,
equipment we already use.
to subvert the traditional economic models. Growth
products made on the day, hand-cut chips and
will be borne out of scarcity and a rejection of
home-made mayonnaise.
established economic paradigms.
COLIN OWEN, MARIS
MATT JACKSON, BDG ARCHITECTURE + DESIGN
GUSTAVO BRUNELLI, HURLEY PALMER FLATT
There is nothing quite like a face-to-face meeting.
Accelerating technology has propelled our ‘virtual’
I think the control aspect of passive strategies, although
Technology is great for verbal discussions but, as
lifestyles and workplaces in so many ways, but
it may be helped by technology and self-learning, will
designers, we need to understand, read and react
the need for real face-to-face interaction is still so
remain or even downgrade back to human operation.
to emotion – this is very hard through a technology
important and essential for us as human beings.
A typical example is opening windows; we’ve seen ‘all
platform. There is also no substitute to feeling
Virtual communication has its strengths and is
singing and dancing’ buildings that used automated
materials, drawing in front of clients and putting a
constantly developing, but our human social nature
controls to integrate passive and active environmental
huge tick (or a big cross) through an image with a
and the chemistry this creates by physically putting
strategies, such as mixed-mode ventilation. This proved
fat marker. Design is tactile by its very nature and
people together can possibly never be replaced by
unsuccessful, as it takes away one of the greatest
technology will never be able to replace tactility.
any virtual reality.
advantages of openable windows – the fact that people can choose when/how much to open.
Umbrella editorial banner Mix Interiors April 2018 copy v3.pdf 1 03/04/2018 00:41:49 C
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CM
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CMY
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Umbrella Furniture will be hosting a pop-up showroom during CDW in partnership with a group of well renowned designers. We will showcase the latest furniture from this year’s Stockholm & Milan Design Fair. Cultural talks about design, cocktails and living wall breakout area to relax in.
Visit us at: umbrellafurniture.com/cdw2018-umbrella-and-friends or email us at: cdw@umbrellafurniture.com. #UmbrellaAndFriends #CDW2018
34 | Mix 183 April 2018
Spotlight |
ZÜCO PERILLO - A STAR WITH NUMEROUS AWARDS
From one piece, from one design, from another world. Perillo is a never-ending line and incredibly comfortable. A sculpture, created for the world’s finest lounges. And even today a modern interior design classic. To get your copy of the Perillo catalogue, please call our UK Sales Director, David Sellars +44 (0) 7775 798 877, or email at d.sellars@dauphinuk.com.
LONDON OFFICE Dauphin HumanDesign® UK Limited 1 Albemarle Way I GB London EC1V 4JB Phone +44 207 2537774 I Fax +44 207 2531629 www.dauphinuk.com I info@dauphinuk.com
Mix 183 April 2018 | 35
Spotlight | Technology Report
THE TECHNOLOGY REPORT It would be stating the obvious to suggest that technology has made a significant impact on the workplace environment. Much is written about the importance of staff and how it is people who are driving the workplace revolution. Comparing cost estimates for people at around 85%, technology is a relatively small percentage of the overall workplace spend – at around 5-10% – but has an out of proportion impact on the effectiveness of the workplace. Whilst we can probably deal with
an ergonomically inefficient workplace, we all know that, when the technology breaks, it has a significant impact on overall efficiency. And whilst we expect the physical workplace to develop, it is the technological advances that will continue to amaze at an exponential rate. We have gathered the thoughts from a variety of leaders, who have thought-provoking and fascinating views on the wide-ranging impact of technology in the workplace – both present and future.
Look Out
Cyber security issues represent a design failure Paul Cook, Head of Technology, ISG Technology Solutions Cyber security is rarely out of the news these days, whether it be a ransom ware or a DOS (denial of service) attack, basic fraud or the theft of intellectual property. It’s almost accepted that, at some point, we will either individually or corporately become the victims of a cyber-attack. While the services of cyber security experts have never been so highly valued, our industry could be doing so much more to eradicate the conditions that allow security breaches to occur. The traditional way that we design buildings and their systems has changed little over the past two decades and this failure to challenge the status
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quo and embrace new approaches has left the door firmly open for cyber criminals to exploit. If we examine the traditional approach to procuring and delivering any built environment project, it starts with a design and a host of specialist contractors, working in isolation to develop their packages to fulfil a poorly defined brief. Enlightened clients may instruct a Master Systems Integrator into the process, but usually this comes too late to affect real change and this role is simply to tie a host of disparate packaged systems into a workable solution, with no clear purpose, function or management plan.
This silo approach sets the conditions for data vulnerability as numerous systems, that aren’t designed to work together, are cajoled into an uneasy relationship that allows opportunists the chance to exploit weaknesses at the connectivity level. Now, if we approach a project with a different mind-set, it’s possible to see how cyber security issues aren’t looked at in isolation but become part of the solution and strength of the building design process. A Master Systems Architect is our solution to many of the issues that have prevented the industry from moving forward and exploiting
Spotlight |
the opportunities presented by the technological revolution that is happening around us. The Master Systems Architect is the interface between the client, the design and delivery partners, interrogating the client brief at a granular level to understand the true rationale behind the project. Only when this brief is established can the wider delivery team sit down collaboratively and develop a solution that addresses the bespoke requirements of the brief under a common technological platform. This last point is crucial – a common technological ecosystem is fundamental to the operation, maintenance and future-proofing of any built environment and leads to smart technology choices and better outcomes when analysing building performance and every other desired measurement metric. Cyber security, then, is not an afterthought or a bolt-on solution at the end, but it is fundamental to the design process. We have engineered and designed, out the gateways for opportunistic cyber-attacks by selecting those constituent parts that, when brought together, create a secure data environment. Breaking down the barriers and the silo mentality of an industry that has worked the same way for decades is not a simple task, however, there is growing recognition from clients that things should and must change. w
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www.bancroft-fabrics.com / T 01274 518888 enquiries@bancroft-fabrics.com Mix 183 April 2018 | 37
Spotlight | Technology Report
Reinventing Reality
What might the digital and connected workplace of the future look like? Rohit Talwar, Steve Wells, Alexandra Whittington, April Koury and Helena Calle, Fast Future
How might AI, robotics, and connected devices change the workplace, hopefully for the better? Will tomorrow’s workplace be shaped by smart software, robots and intelligent devices, with few workers on display – or can we apply these technologies mindfully to create a more human experience? As futurists, we are constantly exploring the future of work and the workplace and the potential impact of new technologies. Here, we explore the next frontiers of the workplace, drawing ideas from our two most recent books: Beyond Genuine Stupidity – Ensuring AI Serves Humanity and The Future Reinvented – Reimagining Life, Society, and Business. In particular, we explore how organisations might harness the potential of artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, and a growing range of other increasingly powerful technologies in service of humanity at work. Across all Fast Future’s work on our books, articles and speeches we have focused on the core theme of how we can and should retain humanity in the face of disruptive technology. When we think about the future of the workplace, it’s clear that technology’s role is already becoming a present day issue, as highlighted by the various ways that robotic and connected devices have begun to disrupt day-to-day working life. So, what are some of the existing and soon-to-be possible ways that
connected and robotic devices may impact the workplace from now to 2040? Big Brother in the Workplace Today Let’s start with some of the most potentially disturbing developments that are designed to monitor and enhance workplace productivity, but which also represent a massive potential invasion of our privacy. Identity Badge on a Chip: The Swedish company Biohax implants a chip between the thumb and index finger of employees. With this implant, many
them of approaching deadlines. Tools such as Microsoft Office will also be able to compare our performance against literally hundreds of millions of users around the world, provide us with personal productivity data and even offer training tips and instructional guidance on how to become more efficient at any task we are undertaking. Ray Dalio, the billionaire founder of investment firm Bridgewater Associates, is devising a way to micromanage every activity undertaken by employees using AI and location tracking devices. The Next Horizon The next wave of developments in the coming five years will see the emergence of a variety of technology solutions designed to help workplaces run more smoothly and allow us to better balance work/ life requirements and priorities. AI Human Resources: Artificial intelligence is already changing the way Human Resources (HR) operates. Perhaps we are edging towards human-less HR with AI-based applications for manpower planning, recruitment, selection, appointment, onboarding, offboarding, performance monitoring, contract management, automated matching of skills and experience to workplace needs and determination of rewards and benefits for employees, contractors, and ‘gig-bots’ alike. Smart HR applications could also
The company is working on a ‘manager bot’ that will use AI to monitor employees remotely and remind them of approaching deadlines
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tasks can be accomplished with a wave of the hand – such as access control to buildings, signing on to a computer and purchasing from a vending machine. Algorithmic Managers: Workplace chat and productivity app Slack learns from the things that employees talk about and share to provide them with relevant content. The company is working on a ‘manager bot’ that will use AI to monitor employees remotely and remind
monitor us via all our devices and detect factors such as stress levels, distraction, the extent of social conversation we engage in and when we are performing at our peak. Personal fitness trackers and the algorithmic managers described earlier are already taking us some way along this path. Personal Robo-Delivery: Small autonomous robots are already delivering fast food and mail. Soon, they could perform tasks such as mail delivery in the workplace and running errands for our employees while they are at work. For example, when an employee’s grocery order or dry cleaning becomes available for collection, the firm’s robot would be alerted to set out through the town to pick up items from the local shops and either deliver them to employees’ homes or to their workplace. Providing such devices as an employment benefit would help take the edge off the work/life balance struggle and make companies more attractive to prospective employees. The More Distant Future When we look further ahead on a five to 10-year timescale, a range of even more dramatic and disruptive developments become possible. Automated Sharing: Within the next seven to 10 years, estimates suggest that upwards of a trillion objects could have embedded sensors and an internet connection – this Internet of Things (IoT) could transform many aspects of workplace management. Glance around your workplace at the objects and facilities that are barely used, from meeting rooms to printers and kitchen equipment. What if we could use the information from these sensors to bring the sharing economy to bear in the workplace? Data from our local IoT could help reduce the amount we have to spend on these resources or generate an income from them – swapping ownership for usership and access. Sensors embedded in devices and objects could provide usage information and help identify opportunities to share, ie. to rent or loan out your stapler, conference room or office cafeteria for a day or an hour. Local internet-based applications could provide a platform for inter-office sharing and rental throughout a locality. Such an approach could help cut back on overconsumption and waste. Sharing might also reduce asset investment costs and the duplication of office supplies and cut the number of hours employees spend searching for and ordering supplies. Indeed, one day, smart software could undertake all our procurement and sharing responsibilities – renting out or sharing our under-utilised assets and finding the nearest available portable heater, projector screen and short notice meeting facilities on demand. Digital Twins: Using data from our connected devices, organisations will have the potential to
collect massive amounts of data about a person and their reactions, ways of thinking and individual preferences. Hence, physical and virtual robots could one day be able to replicate a person’s behaviour and responses. In fact, your digital twin could attend a meeting for you and comment on your behalf, while you continue working on other tasks from home or your desk. Your twin could also capture, summarise and report back on the entire conversation, including analysis of the softer emotional content of the meeting. By analysing body language and micro-facial expressions of the other participants, our twin could tell us about the mood of the meeting and people’s reactions to ideas being discussed – something we might have picked up on intuitively had we been there. A reliable clone in the form of a digital twin may relieve a lot of the stress and tension of workplace obligations for individuals with increasingly pressurised workloads. Our digital twin might take the form of a physical robot, a desktop device such as a laptop or a smart hologram. Life Automation: Connected devices and ‘life automation’ apps might share your agenda and habits to plan the flow of your day from your bed to your workplace and back again. These devices, coupled with highly controllable microenvironments, could allow you to experience the ideal balance of temperature, air conditioning, sound proofing and ambient aromas without impacting the person sat next to you at all. Music from your home surround system could automatically keep playing in your headphones
after you leave your apartment, switch to the incar system if you get behind the wheel and then continue playing at your desk when you start work. The home heating system or personal workplace micro-environment would turn on when you are 10 minutes away. Food would be delivered or ready to eat minutes after you break for lunch or walk in the front door at the end of the day. Conclusion – We Can, But Should We? The boundaries between reality and science fiction continue to blur as emerging technologies accelerate at an exponential pace. The challenge is to identify the kind of workplace culture and environment we want and then deploy these shiny new tech toys in service of those ambitions, helping people perform at their best and happiest. The Authors The authors are futurists with Fast Future – a professional foresight firm specialising in delivering keynote speeches, executive education, research and consulting on the emerging future and the impacts of change for global clients. Fast Future publishes books from leading future thinkers around the world, exploring how developments such as AI, robotics, exponential technologies and disruptive thinking could impact individuals, societies, businesses and governments, and create the trillion-dollar sectors of the future. Fast Future has a particular focus on ensuring these advances are harnessed to unleash individual potential and enable a very human future. See: www.fastfuture.com w
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Spotlight |
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Spotlight | Technology Report
Designing with Tech in Mind
Creating tech spaces Atul Bansal, Co-Founder & Partner, The Sheila Bird Group Technology is everywhere. It’s around us all the time. What does it do? Well, it allows you to listen. It frees the mind and that really helps us and our clients to experience what’s happening in the world. You can connect to interesting soundbites and absorb what they mean and sometimes even write them down. In interior design, words begin the creative process. Freedom of thought allows us to help our clients to achieve more, so instead of me just saying tech does this and that, I thought it would be better to give you some thoughts around what tech enables you to do in the places we work, play and sleep in... It’s interesting that not only are we talking about the community in a business, we are now also talking about the community that works with the business. Community comes up time and time again. In design meetings we talk about community in every sense. Just as businesses link into communities, communities are now linking into businesses. Tech allows that to happen. So what about the workplace? The workplace is becoming more of an experience and one that people want to enjoy for the social aspects as much as the networking, where the blend between work and home is blurred and where you can work collaboratively and eat and meet with other people. More of a club. Tech allows that to happen. There is no distinction between work and life anymore, which means buildings need more public-like amenities. Coffee shops, clubs, classes – without these you will struggle in the war for talent. It’s a necessity, not an expectation. Tech allows that to happen. Wi-Fi enabled balconies is a term that makes everybody smile. This made me smile. It made me think about how our lives have changed because
of broadband. Life is just so much easier with WiFi. Can you imagine a world without it? Tech allows that to happen. A space that is a unique place to go to and work at as well as hang out in will become normal. Is that a good thing? Well who wants to be normal anyway? Tech allows that to happen. Places aren’t just about the physical environment – it’s what is spoken in them that creates the character, the mood, the identity. Tech allows that to happen.
Just as businesses link into communities, communities are now linking into businesses
Innovation needs interaction There is a range of opinions on the role of the office in a more flexible working world. Some see the physical space as a place for meetings and dialogue, as the foundation on which to build trust. I think that all the people in these organisations are individuals; they belong to tribes, they have cultures, they have rituals. That is not generally looked at. The solution lies in understanding these tribes, understanding these rituals. As an example, having Sunday lunch with the family is a ritual that unites people today. In the work context, how does one capitalise on and make the most
of these things to build trust and community? Looking towards the future, I think the workplace is somewhere that more of this should be happening. Tech allows that to happen. Maybe we have to work less to be more productive. Tech allows that to happen. Small teams have the intellectual freedom of a start-up, with the resources of a mature enterprise. Tech allows that to happen. The office, like the smartphone, is ripe for total disruption. The phone you use today may look cooler, sleeker, have better apps and better cameras but it's still essentially the same as the first smartphone in 2007. We have been doing the same with office space for the past 25 years. You can add more windows or couches or wood accent walls but it's still an office. We have been trying to make the office look more and more like the third place. But what we should be doing is creating a third place that can do office functions when needed. If organisations aren't tied to a physical space, it opens up all possibilities on what to do with space. If you're paying for office space, especially as a small business or start-up, it can and should serve multiple functions. So why can't your ‘office’ be public facing, providing value to your community? Why can't it be a learning and mentoring centre, a coffee shop, a partnership with another business in the area where there is synergy. Tech allows that to happen. There is a genuinely disruptive phenomenon out there. It marks a fundamental shift in the way office space is used. It may even be more accurate to suggest that the space is not occupied but rather consumed. It is based on a business model that does not see the people who use the space as occupiers, in the traditional sense, but instead as members. Tech allows that to happen. w
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HARMONY BENCH AGILE WORKING
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Spotlight | Technology Report
The Machine
The impact of AI on the workplace Richard Ferrar, Director, Peak (Information Technology and Services Provider)
Not so many years ago, artificial intelligence (AI) was the stuff of science fiction. Today, it is transforming near enough every sector in the business landscape, from healthcare, to retail and industrial. And it’s growing: a 2017 survey of Fortune 500 companies revealed that 81% of CEOs think AI and machine learning is either ‘very important’ or ‘extremely important’ to their company’s future ― up from just 54% in 2016[1]. AI is proving its worth for businesses, large and small, by allowing them to automate systems and gain valuable insights into how their customers are behaving and using that data to make smarter decisions, tailor their business offering and ultimately sell more products or services. In the retail sector, for example, Peak has deployed its AI system to enable retailers to achieve rapid growth in revenues and profits, whilst also optimising their businesses through data-driven insights to determine things like stock levels and operational constraints. Transforming Workforce Not only is AI revolutionising how businesses are operating and serving their client base by enabling the use of automated systems to improve insights and productivity, it is also being used to advance internal efficiencies and processes. Chatbots and virtual assistants help us to organise our personal lives, so it’s no surprise that they are making their way into the workplace. They can help with simple manual tasks and streamline processes, from generating contracts, to creating meeting transcripts. Some will also introduce AI into specific areas of business. The recruitment industry, for example, uses AI to source the best
candidates, while marketing specialists are using the technology to influence the likes of social media strategies to help with content creation and instant decision-making. Embracing Digital Design AI technology is also having an impact on how our future workspaces look and operate. Gone are the days of assigned desks and traditional corporate design – the workplaces of those companies at the forefront of the digital revolution are moving towards a much more fluid and agile way of working. Spaces are more flexible, with communal areas designed to encourage idea sharing and collaboration – and state-of-the-art technology facilitating working on the go, from anywhere in the world. Addressing Concerns As with any new technology, there has been considerable debate around AI and its impact on the way that we work. 73% of CEOs recently listed ‘rapid pace of technology change’ as one of the top challenges their company will face in the next 12 months[2]. There are also the concerns that, ultimately, robots and other automated methods will replace humans in the workforce to the long-term detriment of the economy. However, the reality is that AI has the ability to enhance the business landscape and open up opportunities for the unemployed. In fact, Gartner recently predicted that AI will become a positive job motivator and create 2.3 million new jobs by 2020[3]. For example, Peak’s work with the UK’s largest independently owned motoring website, Regit
– formerly Motoring.co.uk – saw a 27% sales increase in a 30 day period thanks to a unique algorithm that predicts when car owners are likely to change their vehicle. If a company can see this lift in sales through AI capabilities, then it will, in turn, create more opportunities to expand and grow the team. Granted, we have some work to do in plugging the skills gap and training the next generation of workers for a more automated, connected work, but the outcome will be better than where we are today. When the topic was recently discussed at Cisco’s Advanced Technology Fair, the point was made that, while AI is becoming a conduit to improved efficiency, it actually improves the power of the employee and makes him or her more valuable, elevating their potential insights and contribution[4]. AI brings a stream of new business opportunities, which will, in turn, inspire a culture of entrepreneurship, creativeness and innovation. While it will no doubt transform how we do business, analyse data and gather valuable insights, it is our ability as human beings to make decisions and interact with other humans that will create value in our workplaces and remain intrinsic to how business is done. w
[1] Fortune 500, 2017 [2] Fortune 500, 2017 [3] Gartner 2017 https://www.gartner.com/newsroom id/3837763 [4] Ramon Chen, Chief Product Officer at Reltio, 2017
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Spotlight | Technology Report
Historically Innovative
Creating heritage aesthetics through modern methods Darren Clanford, Creative Director, Johnson Tiles
What we produced at Johnson Tiles 100 years ago is fundamentally the same as what we create now. We make great tiles. The difference lies in how we make them. The core needs of our customers, both in the residential and commercial sectors, have also remained largely the same since 1901 – ultimately, they want a tile that’s of high quality, long lasting and design-led. In 2018, our most popular ranges also retain a very similar look to those produced over a century ago, with features associated with traditional craft. Our Savoy range, for example, boasts effects that rely on ‘imperfections’ to create the desired finish. Rather than accidental, these sought-after details are carefully considered. In order to recreate these ‘consequences’, we have adapted our modern processing technology to produce controlled
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shading, recreating the much-desired variegated style. Having invested a great deal in our factory’s technology over the past five years, we are able to produce tiles like Savoy, as well as product to all manner of specification, even if it includes traditional methods. So, for instance, to create tiles from our Minton Hollins range, we adapt the existing processes of our innovative machines to increase and decrease the respective glaze weight on the tiles. These traditional tiles are inspired by the subtle variegated effect found on those popular in the Victorian era, which is essentially attributed to the inherent variation of tile processing of the time, that of hand glazing the biscuit tiles and differential heat work on firing, attributed to hot and cold spots within the ‘box’ type intermittent kilns of the period.
Adapting our modern day processes to ensure this effect, our team used our cutting-edge machinery to produce the same results found in the early 1900’s. At Johnson Tiles, we are not only focused on the latest in innovative technology but on the beauty of having many decades of experience. This makes us extremely proficient and able to push new boundaries with established processes. Plus, our collaboration with an array of creative minds – from artists to architects – provides the challenge and stimulus needed for this continual development. Although trends change with the times, our wealth of expertise, combined with our investment in technology, means we can adhere to any brief or specification, whether inspired by the past, present or future. w
Spotlight |
Turn your desk into an active workspace
www.humanscale.com Mix 183 April 2018 | 45
Spotlight | Technology Report
Getting a Sense
The future of sensors in the workplace Raj Krishnamurthy, CEO & Founder, Workplace Fabric
For years, companies provided one desk per person and decided on the amount of space required based on the number of employees. It was simple. 100 people required 100 desks. But as real estate has become more expensive and technology has enabled people to break free from the constraints of working only at a desk, companies have started to sweat their real estate assets and introduce agile working, hot desking, home working and desk sharing. At the time, the only way to monitor desk utilisation levels was to have a person with a clipboard doing spot checks at different times of the day. But just as technology has created solutions to a variety of workplace challenges, workplace sensors were developed to provide real-time data on how the space was being used. Now a variety of different products on the market monitor which desks, breakout areas and other spaces are being used. Over a period of time, this presents a valuable picture to the business of how much space is required. For the real estate team, there is a valuable opportunity to re-evaluate space usage and thus identify opportunities to maximise on costly floor
space. A report from Cushman and Wakefield revealed that London and Hong Kong remain the world’s most expensive cities, with the cost of a single workstation in London being $22,665 a year and $27,432 in Hong Kong. The same report also reveals that, as output is increasingly the result of collaboration, workplaces must drastically increase their ratio of collaborative spaces to individual desk spaces. Getting the mix right could mean delivering not only the best use of available space, but dramatic impact on team productivity by finding the right balance of focus, collaboration, quiet and touchdown spaces. A mechanism to deterministically measure the impact of any such investment will of course
provided by sensors to maximise performance of the workplace and, at the same time, impact the behaviour and experience of employees, businesses can deliver a multi-faceted benefit to their performance. For the facilities management team, sensors reveal which spaces are the most popular and which are rarely used – and give them the impetus to examine why. It could be that some areas are too hot or too cold because they’re positioned in sunlight or near an air-conditioning unit. There might be an issue with noise or poor air quality. A step further, sensors can help guide the daily work patterns of the facilities management team. For example, cleaning routines may be tailored around the occupancy levels of certain spaces, or just in time for busy catering turnarounds so that a superior customer experience can be delivered. Initially used simply to monitor whether or not staff were sat at their desks, the technology behind workplace sensors has today evolved to include a range of additional benefits. Freespace, the sensor solution from Workplace Fabric, for example, can monitor light, temperature, humidity, noise and carbon
Initially used simply to monitor whether or not staff were sat at their desks, the technology behind workplace sensors has today evolved to include a range of additional benefits
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please the C-suite, who will seek a boost to their organisation’s bottom line while delivering improved people satisfaction. Using real-time data
Spotlight |
SEATING FOR THE MODERN OFFICE
REED TASK SEATING
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The visually stunning Reed chair provides new levels of comfort and support that suits the ergonomic needs of each individual user. The foundation of the Reed chair is the stylish frame available in black or white with matching lumbar lines and a free-floating mesh back with an effortless recline which makes it a smart choice for any corporate environment. Mix 183 April 2018 | 47
Spotlight | Technology Report
dioxide levels within a workspace, in addition to whether a desk is occupied. No longer serving one purpose, sensors have the capability to benefit multiple stakeholders in a business, from HR and IT to facilities management and real estate. And, as such, sensors are promising to play a key role in the workplace of the future. Instead of simply shifting from monitoring occupancy to productivity and environment, the thinking is now centred on how people’s dayto-day working experience can be significantly improved through workplace sensors. One organisation, Sage Publishing, asked their staff whether their workplace inspired them to ‘give their best work’, and less than a third agreed. After installing Freespace, this number more than doubled to 70%. Moreover, the percentage of employees who said they look forward to coming to work increased from 58% to 80%. Bearing in mind that nothing about their physical environment had changed – no new furniture, floor or wall coverings – these figures are staggering. The Journey to Get There For organisations considering workplace optimisation as a programme, what are the key steps in the journey to the final goal?
A number of elements need to be taken into consideration. For a start, companies need to factor in the impending GDPR regulation – under which the management of personal data will be put under intense scrutiny and require compliance to strict new guidelines. This is making corporates rethink the purpose of collecting personal data. How important is it to track the identity of the individual in order to provide them a service? In most cases, it is not necessary to know who the person is, to be told what space is available. Adobe, the Californian software provider, adopted workplace occupancy sensors in its new London office following in-depth consultations with HR, legal and security experts, as well as employee committees. For Mark Bell, Regional Workplace Operations Manager EMEA at Adobe, ‘The overwhelming factor for us is that it’s completely anonymous.’ Compliance aside, most of the companies considering deploying sensors (quite rightly) face the challenge from staff that this is too ‘Big Brother’. Even after convincing arguments that an individual’s identity is not captured by sensors, there is still a sense of distrust. A new approach may be considered to allay these concerns. Freespace’s signage allows live availability data
Freespace screens show live availability to allow real time discovery of available spaces using sensor technology
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to be projected on screens, showing the familiar floorplan of the building – and the typical anxiety that comes with trying to find the right space, at the right time, is eradicated completely. This also naturally addresses the ‘purpose’ question – showing staff that a new way of working has arrived where they don’t need to ‘book’ in order to use. Presented attractively, the signage platform can help project a modern, digital corporate brand for the business. The Future is Now A study conducted by Deloitte estimates that 1.3 billion sensors will be deployed in real estate by 2020, and JLL’s 2017 Global Commercial Real Estate Trends Report forecasts that 30% of corporate portfolios will soon be flexible workspaces. This isn’t just theory anymore; the future of workplace sensors is here. Even today, we’re seeing typically risk-averse sectors such as finance, legal and public sector embracing non-allocated seating and sensors. As the popularity of activity-based working increases, and corporate stakeholders continue to reap the benefits, we can only see sensors becoming a staple feature of the future workplace.w
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Spotlight |
With Apple Apple, Samsung Samsung, Google and Microsoft devices using Type-C USB charging isn’t it time you upgraded to OE Electrics’ Type-C charger. charger With PIP TUFA+C you get the best of both worlds with Type-A AND Type-C USB charging capabilities. Perfect for integrating into the smallest of spaces, PIP is the best choice when it comes to providing the fastest, safest and most efficient phone or tablet charger. It couldn’t be easier! Simply clip into place, connect and charge!
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Spotlight | Technology Report
Dig Deeper
Good workplace design means more than just good looks Mark Simpson, Principal, Chair of Design, Head of Workplace, BDP
‘Design is a funny word. Some people think design means how it looks. But of course if you dig deeper, it’s really how it works.’ – Steve Jobs. What will the office of the future be like? Will we be replaced by robots? Will our friends be electric? What are the implications of artificial intelligence? There are a multitude of scientists, programmers, workplace thinkers, gurus and commentators out there who spend a lot of time discussing the impact of AI and other advances on the future. Recent reports suggest that 20% of UK jobs are expected to be automated by the 2030’s; that’s around 10 million people. However, history also records that changes in technology can result in more jobs being created than destroyed. The answer is that we don’t know. What is clear to us as a practice today is what the main drivers are for our occupier clients. People are the key concern. They do, after all, represent the major cost to most businesses and good people make good businesses. Put a good business in a better building and it will become a better business. Mention Apple and you will inevitably think of the sleek minimal products conceived by the British designer Sir Jonny Ive – a self-confessed disciple of the work of Dieter Rams, who although initially trained as an architect, is famous for his consumer products designed for Braun and Vitsoe. Technology has changed rapidly since Rams was
designing his iconic pieces around his maxim of ‘Less but Better’. Yet the major technology firms still seek to make products that follow his philosophy. ‘Good design makes a product understandable. Better still, it can make the product clearly express its function by making use of the user's intuition. At best, it is self-explanatory.’ Rams also claimed. ‘Imaginative design always develops in tandem with improving technology, and can never be an end in itself. The aesthetic quality of a product is integral to its usefulness because products are used every day and have an effect on people and their wellbeing.’ Buildings are a product. Good buildings, like good products, should be easily understood and have real clarity, using them should be intuitive. Good buildings don’t need subtitles. We must
have – which was not always the case – but we can see that occupiers are demanding more from the buildings' landlords and developers as employees become more selective about who they work for. Effective use of technology is central to working smarter. Wireless and cloud-based technologies mean we can work from anywhere, whenever we need to, and remote working is now becoming commonplace, with offices acting as ‘hotels’ or ‘work-hubs’ used for collaboration. The term Burolandschaft or ‘office-landscape’ once referred to a method of designing open plan office spaces (a philosophy BDP implemented in 1973 on the listed Halifax Building Society HQ). It is now being used to describe the software used to manage office ‘hoteling’ and to develop a physical environment that is optimised for employee engagement, such as serendipitous collaboration. The Internet of Things will inevitably become ubiquitous and have a big influence on the way workplaces operate and support those who use them. Buildings will become smarter as their systems become more enabled – particularly through Li-Fi. Occupiers and visitors will benefit from new ways to use, interact and communicate with them and each other; from the security methods to enter a building, through to the vending machine, MEP systems and lighting, the booking and use of meeting, study and collaborative spaces and the IT and AV hardware within them. This allows greater
The workplace, if done well, not only enables the best people to succeed for their employer – it motivates the best people to consistently perform at their best
understand the function that the building is to perform, whether it is a hospital, an airport or an office. They are all places that need to work and, to make them work better, we need to dig deeper. Two key factors drive current workplace design; advances in technology and the wellbeing of people. It could be argued that they always should
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Spotlight | Technology Report
choice, flexibility and connectivity. However, whatever technology provides, care must be taken to allow a degree of individual control. It must be human. Steve Jobs was not a designer or an architect but certainly an innovator. His primary motive was to understand how a product functioned, how it provided its user with something that made their life easier, their work better, and how to make it function better than anything that went before. The iPhone was such a success because it was easy to use and intuitive, delivering a much more superior experience to the user. What Apple didn’t predict is the boom in the use of apps and how that would revolutionise entire areas of our lives. Developing a clear brief for a building is paramount. Without the inside leg measurement, we can’t make the trousers. It’s all too easy for a designer to become captivated at the beginning of a project, reach for the fat felt pen and scribble away at a high-minded vision, to arrogantly think they know best and that the client will move in
Two key factors drive current workplace design; advances in technology and the wellbeing of people
and adapt. That might result in an iconic building, a grand architectural statement – but will it work? Will it function? Will the users enjoy being there? Probably not. The wrong trousers. The term ‘New Ways of Working’ is well over 25 years old now but the predictions of those who first introduced this terminology, such as Dr Francis Duffy, are now the reality, even if not yet enjoyed by large parts of the working population. However, as workplace commentator Neil Usher of workessence points out in his book, The Elemental Workplace, 'You may have the most effective, efficient and environmentally friendly workplace imaginable, but if the people think the organisation sucks due to another reason entirely, it will be worth little or nothing. A great workplace alone will not save a rotten culture or reputation.’ Workplace environments are becoming places you choose to go to rather than a place you have to get to. Attracting and retaining the best people who value their time out of work and quality of life within it requires buildings to work for them. Brand
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alignment to engender loyalty in an increasingly diverse, independent and fluid commercial world is a key driver for most of our clients. The workplace, if done well, not only enables the best people to succeed for their employer – it motivates the best people to consistently perform at their best. The best buildings are buildings with a heart, with outstanding facilities to make their working experiences better, their lives easier and more enjoyable; buildings that allow them the connectivity, space(s) and time to think and to relax with great food and great coffee. Space to collaborate, to teach, to learn, to inspire and to innovate. As designers and engineers, we continue to strive to deliver buildings that are sustainable, inclusive, flexible, support change, provide choice, embrace daylight, good air, good food, clean water and recognise that we are humans not robots, that we have feelings and need meaningful contact with the elements and with one another to thrive. We know from working with enlightened clients such as PwC, Astra Zeneca and Google that successful companies embrace these key principles and align them with extremely high sustainability and wellbeing criteria to create buildings and environments that embody their own values and appeal to those who want to work for them. That goes for all ages and not just the so-called ‘millennials’ by the way. The workplace is increasingly multi-generational, diverse, fluid and inclusive. The drivers, therefore, are for less corporatism and are more about freedom and choice. Spaces for extroverts and introverts, quiet spaces for problem solving and communal spaces for lively discussion and collaboration. A rich menu of
inclusive settings that provide choices in where to work to suit the task in hand enables wellbeing through encouraging an agile daily work pattern. This is growing increasingly relevant for the public sector, which is undergoing a huge revolution in how it uses space. Our recently completed headquarters building for Northamptonshire County Council is a perfect example of bringing diverse parts of an organisation together and providing them with the facilities and settings to work together in a way that was impossible before. Our clients are requesting fewer fixed spaces and meeting rooms, using fewer desks, more collaborative settings; ‘not-desking’ rather than ‘hot-desking’. This ‘loose-fit’ approach to a ‘fit-out’ means organisations can be more flexible and their working environments more responsive to change. Hackable space that is easily adapted by the user will become far more prevalent and churn costs will reduce as fewer services are required, emancipating occupants to adapt their immediate space to meet a particular task in hand, enhancing their experience and productivity. FM teams will need to be more nimble and actively respond to a more fluid environment. The iPhone is only 10 years old, the iPad only seven. Google/Alphabet is not yet 20 years old. What companies like Google will look like in 10 years is anyone’s guess but they will certainly set the agenda. What we do know, however, is that the buildings people work in – whether a hospital, airport or office – will be smarter and more responsive to an ever-changing landscape. Desiring a beautifully designed building inside and out is a natural aspiration. But ensuring it really works is the key to its success. Dig deep. w
PwC Manchester – a bleacher style stair links the two main floors providing both a link and a communal space for lively discussion and collaboration
Spotlight | ®
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Spotlight |
Mix Week Manchester 4th - 6th December 2018 Have you registered for Mix Week Manchester? This must-attend three day design experience in the heart of Manchester will incorporate: Mix Design Collective - new for 2018 and our hugely successful events MixInspired and Mixology North18
Mix Design Collective
Thank you to all Mixology North18 sponsors:
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Spotlight |
MixInspir ed & Mix De sign Collective are free to att end
4th Dec - MixInspired - a seminar focusing on the future of the workplace including an exclusive preview of Mix Design Collective 4th-6th Dec - Mix Design Collective - a specially curated series of design experiences celebrating the best of national and international design 6th Dec - Mixology North18 - the industry leading award ceremony and winter ball
Mix Week Manchester, an event for the design community, will span two venues close by each other: Mix Design Collective and MixInspired - INNSIDE Manchester Mixology North18 - Manchester Central
To register or for more info visit:
www.mixdesigncollective.com
Thank you to all MDC partners:
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Roundtable
ENGINEERING WORKS?
Laura Bellamy, Project Leader, MCM Laura is a Project Leader at MCM architecture, with 15 years' commercial interiors experience. Passionate about creating spaces that improve the wellbeing of users, she believes that good design is based upon truly listening to your clients, then exceeding their expectations through inspiring workplaces. Working recently with Havas, ITV and Addison Lee, she is lucky to have clients who understand the value of investing in their people, but doesn’t believe a high budget is necessary to create something amazing – she looks forward to a good debate on cost!
Zoe Moss, Divisional Director, Charles Edward Ltd Zoe is fortunate to have worked in several different areas of the construction industry – from ground-up construction through to fast-paced fitout – which has given her a varied and strong management skill set. Having recently moved to Charles Edward Ltd to head up their London Division, she is incredibly confident that her zeal will create a best in class contracting offering, not by being the biggest, but by ensuring that her people culturally reflect their clients' goals.
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Zoe Smeeth, Project Director, JAC Group Zoe heads up a talented team of project managers and cost consultants dedicated to providing clients with transparent and independent advice on their office relocation or refurbishment. JAC have nearly 40 years' experience of managing projects for clients through both traditional and D&B procurement routes. Passionate about ethical procurement, Zoe has the advantage and foresight of having worked contractor-side for many years, allowing her to ably advise and guide her clients through all the jargon and potential pitfalls.
Jerry Williams, Founding Director, REPS Ltd Jerry founded REPS in 2010 in order to supply experienced and dedicated client-side project management to the many occupiers who either don’t have this capability in-house or the resource they do have is stretched too thin by the day job. His background and initial training as a surveyor has been augmented with a strong grounding across corporate real estate, residential and facilities. Jerry’s approach ensures real estate projects are managed professionally and, crucially, that they maximise monetary returns for the client.
Melanie Woolcott, Workplace Director, Orbit Architects Melanie is an expert in the field of workplace consultancy and design, with over 30 years' experience. She is responsible for introducing innovative flexible workplace environments in both the public and private sectors, including many successful 'new ways of working' offices. As a leading member of the workplace community, she utilises current thinking and future trends to develop new and innovative environments ‘tailor made’ to match her clients’ requirements. Melanie regularly speaks and facilitates at industry and client events.
Colin Wood, Director, Cost Management, Turner & Townsend Colin has over 15 years’ experience working with corporate end user occupier clients to help deliver innovative and functional workspaces where people can thrive. He is a cost management specialist and enjoys working with clients and design teams to ensure the right solution is met. Colin is the driving force behind Turner & Townsend’s London Fit Out Market Report, allowing him to bring a wealth of knowledge on current market conditions to every project.
Martin Kellett, Director of Cost Management, AECOM Martin is a senior Director in AECOM’s Corporate Solutions Cost Management team and has specialised in this sector for 21 years, delivering workplace projects throughout EMEA for major corporate clients and has recently completed the fit-out of UBS’ HQ at 5 Broadgate. Martin’s particular areas of expertise include early stage cost modelling and data analysis. He is a RICS APC assessor and a member of AECOM’s technical excellence team.
Ciaran O’Hagan, Managing Director, Specialist Joinery Group Ciaran O’Hagan is the Managing Director of family business,Specialist Joinery Group, a bespoke joinery and fitted furniture contractor that specialises in workplace strategy and luxury projects across Europe. Ciaran is obsessive about client experience and product quality and he really enjoys staying involved in projects from concept to completion. Ciaran has a passion for farming and good shoes – they can take you anywhere!
In Association with
Roundtable
Together with our friends from Specialist Joinery Group, we’ve brought together a crack panel of industry experts to talk about the subject of ‘Price is what you pay, value is what you get – the difficult conversations on workplace sector costs’. Neil Usher, formerly Workplace Director at Sky, refers to the tension in delivering commercial projects: ‘It is amazing how antagonistic some property professionals are towards those in positions of financial responsibility…the ability of workplace over the past two to three decades to be commercial has made much of our progress possible’. For some, it is easy to blame the designer for getting carried away and, for others, the project manager for lacking the creativity. Increasingly, the message seems to be that these two groups need to work together, to do so better and perhaps a little earlier in the process. Here we take a good honest look at the potential area of tension often referred to glibly as ‘value engineering’ – but worthy of a much more serious place at the discussion table.
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Roundtable
W
e start by asking about the thorny issue of cost – and, more specifically, why so many end user clients find it so difficult to stick to agreed budgets. Melanie: Clients’ expectations are different to the budget – so the briefing process is often not aligned with the client’s expectations. They want the ‘gold’ solution but they’ve only budgeted for the ‘bronze’. Also, particularly in today’s workplace, there are things missing – you might have a fit-out project where you’re asked if furniture is included – invariably it’s not. Then you have change management, wellbeing…all these things not being allowed for within the cost plan. Zoe M: Do you think that designers design with cost in mind? Melanie: I would invariably say we do – although it can be quite tricky to do so because we don’t necessarily know, 100%, how much everything costs. If you look at joinery, for example, it can be a bit of an unknown quantity and it can be difficult to know exactly what the ultimate cost is going to be. Jerry: What you do see, invariably, is a client with an expectation, a designer with some great ideas – and they are not joined up at all. We were involved with a recent project where we were told right from the start that that there was only so much money – and that was it. So when we appointed the architect, the QS and so on, we made sure that, when they were appointed, they knew exactly what they were in for! We made sure that there weren’t going to be any arguments afterwards and that all parties came in right on the money – and it looked fantastic.
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I think that more educated clients do appreciate the difference between cost and value and see the workplace as an asset .
Roundtable
Zoe S: How did you get to that original budget in the first place? Jerry: We got told – which was slightly unusual, I must admit. We knew the client was getting a landlord contribution of ‘X’ and we were then told that we could spend ‘Y’ on top of that. Because we set the tone really early, the team that came on board worked around that budget and knew the expectations. Colin: Having an educated client is important. I think that more educated clients do appreciate the difference between cost and value and see the workplace as an asset. Traditionally, the budget may have been set by the CFO – who only sees the workplace as an overhead or a capital cost. If you look at the technology firms today – and we all know who they are – they don’t so much see their workplaces as an asset but instead as an enabler for their people to do the great things they do. So they are willing to invest sensible amounts of money and I think they expect the QS to be part of that creative process and to come up with sensible solutions – to be part of that driving force. Melanie: I’ve never seen a client who has said to me, ‘This wonderful design is now going to save me ‘X’ amount on staff retention and attraction because my staff reduction has gone down from 12% to 7% – we never had that fed back to us. Zoe M: Frameworks do permit that – but these are not one-off projects. We’ve been working on a particular major framework where there was a big focus (around securing a place on that) on the ‘why’ – why are they doing this exercise in the first place? The client, no doubt facilitated by professionals in the market, worked out what the cost of losing their staff and the potential savings that a great working environment would bring in terms of staff being happier and staying with them that much longer.
Jerry: Interestingly, the client I alluded to earlier was actually someone we’d worked with previously – so we’d already been through the process and had all those discussions. When we worked with them for the second time, even though the budget was a lot tighter than it was the first time we worked with them, they now understood the value. We were able to say to them, ‘We think this will make a big impact on your working environment’ – and they were far more willing to buy into what we were telling them. We ask the slightly thorny question of whether there is a tension between designers and the people responsible for costs? Laura: I don’t think so. To be honest, we – as designers – can’t work without them. We need parameters to work within, we need a budget to work to. We need strict parameters – otherwise, what are we going to design? We could end up designing something that is a million miles away from the client’s realistic expectations. Zoe M: I certainly wouldn’t say that it was commonplace, but I have seen examples of budgets being wildly out – and have then forced not ‘value engineering’ but scope-chopping, which is not the same thing. There is a difference between value engineering and simply getting rid of things! Colin: There is also a difference between a cost manager and a cost estimator. A traditional QS will tell you that you can’t afford something at
Martin: Staff retention is all worthy stuff to talk about – and it is real and it has been proven to be real – but I’m not sure how much it enters the argument when you’re looking at capital costs. I’m not sure how much clients look at ‘whole life costs’ even in this day and age. It’s been around for years but I don’t think many put the effort in to work out those whole life costs. There is more of a focus now upon operational costs, so clients will take a decision about replacing a major piece of plant, for example. In Association with
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Roundtable
the end of a process, whereas a cost manager is now a key part of the design team. They are about setting the commercial guardrails for a project – giving the designers the commercial parameters to work within and, quite often, when it comes to elements such as joinery, we will now show images rather than spreadsheets and say, ‘This is the kind of thing you can afford for that sort of money’, I think that adds more value. Zoe M: That’s the kind of situation that really gives people the hump – when the client thinks they’re going to get some beautiful specialist joinery and ends up with something out of a catalogue. Melanie: A good cost manager will look at the structure and fittings, help reduce the costs – and therefore help save the client some money – but will then allow the designer to look at other elements that might be a little more expensive but really are the ‘cherry on the cake’ that will make the project work. It’s about finding that balance – not about taking a knife and cutting a little bit off everything. Ciaran: We encounter this in virtually every job we’re involved in – this is what we want and this
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The brief might well change for a workplace as a client gets to understand new ways of working or activity-based working
Roundtable
is our budget…and the two are invariably miles apart. My own opinion is that this comes from the designer and the client not being absolutely clear from day one. I do think that, a lot of the time, designers are put in a tricky position, where they are given unrealistic parameters. I don’t think that’s fair on the designers and I think that this usually comes down to poor communication from the start. We’ve just adopted a new manufacturing facility in Maghera, Northern Ireland. We had a budget of £4 million. It couldn’t be £5 million – it couldn’t even be £4.1 million. We couldn’t afford it. We work in a highly populated manufacturing area and we wanted to know how we can keep our people, keep them fresh and keep them empowered. We wanted to retain all our good people and attract quality new staff. We made sure that we communicated everything right from the start and we will probably come in under that original budget – but not by slashing anything. By managing the entire project, by being smart about what we’ve specified.
Zoe S: The most successful office relocation projects have a clear and comprehensive brief. I often meet clients who believe they have a brief; it quickly becomes clear that this usually consists of how many people they want to seat and little else! It’s imperative for a client to have adequate guidance whilst setting their project brief and therefore their project and construction budget. Programme and timeline are always key to a project, so being able to allow adequate time for the development of the scope is sometimes a luxury but one that greatly benefits a project and the PM/designer relationship. There will always be challenges but with honesty and great communication, there isn’t a challenge that can’t be overcome.
Jerry: A huge part of that initial briefing process has to be about where the client wants to go – but also about what they are doing now, what they are currently doing and whether they think it is good, bad or indifferent. From there, you can start establishing how they are going to improve those areas. It’s about establishing the baseline with the client and discovering exactly what it is that they want to get out of this process. Do they really want to embrace the change?
Conclusion: As with so much in life, never mind work and the workplace, it all comes down to communication. Whether working directly with the end user client or through a project manager, designers need as tight and detailed a brief as possible. Furthermore, as Martin said a little earlier, it is key that everyone involved comes together at every stage of the project and ensures that they are still answering the brief. This way, any sudden changes can be covered without the need for the dreaded cost engineering to raise its ugly head towards the end of the process. w
Ciaran: What do you really want? How much do you have to spend? If these questions were asked up front, it would make everybody’s job easier. Martin: The brief might well change for a workplace as a client gets to understand new ways of working or activity-based working. But if the brief is set and the brief is understood, then, from a cost management point of view, it is the same as building a power station. The key is to make sure you follow the project governance, you set your brief and you set your budget, and at every single stage you go back and you make sure that you’re still answering that brief – whether that be cost or specification. Adherence to the project governance, I think, is where projects go wrong.
Laura: Projects are often fast-paced and the brief can change rapidly. Tensions can arise when there is not enough time to align the cost plan to the design, or there is constant change – again, it’s all about communicating effectively and working together.
A word from our sponsor: When it comes to bespoke joinery, there is a balance to strike between design creativity, client expectation and budget reality! The commercial team at Specialist Joinery Group have experts available to assist with budget costing from the very first stages of the project. Everyone wants their project to be the real showstopper. Our experts can advise on product engineering, provide previous case studies and are always ready to collaborate with you during the creative process through workshops and prototyping. We love it when our clients challenge us with producing evermore complex bespoke joinery. We’re a competitive bunch – challenge us!
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Above left to right: Neil Usher, Nick Brook, Samantha Addison and Rohit Talwar
The Tomorrow People We recently hosted our 11th MixInspired event, and our third in London, at Milliken’s fantastic Clerkenwell showroom. Titled ‘The People Shaping Tomorrow’s Workplace’, we gathered together an expert panel to discuss, going forward, exactly how the workplace will look, feel and operate – and also who will be leading the everchanging working landscape.
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Review | MixInspired
W
e had a packed house of leading A&D, D&B and property professionals for the discussion, who were keen to learn the opinions of our panel members, who were: Samantha Addison, Property Director at Colliers International; Nick Brook, Former Head of Facilities at Mills & Reeve LLP; Rohit Talwar, CEO at Fast Future; and Neil Usher, author, columnist and Consultant at Unispace and workessence. We started by asking whether we’re currently in the middle of a workplace revolution or evolution. Neil was quick to pick up the gauntlet. ‘I think it’s been a revolution for 25+ years,’ he considered. ‘I think what’s happening at the moment is that businesses are finally realising that the workplace can be a beneficial tool – at last. I remember going to a number of projects over that time, which were run by some pretty fascinating people, and being blown away by what were pretty agile workplaces. They might not have had the technology 25 years g
I think what’s happening at the moment is that businesses are finally realising that the workplace can be a beneficial tool – at last
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ago – but they were still pretty agile. They had concierge desks, they had flexible space and they essentially worked in the same way that a lot of our workplaces work today. I think the revolution, if you want to call it that, started a long time ago.’ ‘I would say that the stereotype of a law firm is still offices and Chesterfields in reception,' Nick reasoned. 'When I joined Mills & Reeve 11 years ago, they were pretty much completely open plan. One of the reasons they went open plan in one office was that a sub-tenant moved out and the air conditioning system broke. Water poured everywhere and they had to do something – so they decided they weren’t going to replace the walls, they’d go open plan instead! It wasn’t out of a desire to revolutionise how they worked. ‘After you propose something like going open plan to a law firm, the first thing they’ll ask is’ ‘How much does it cost?’ – and the very next question is normally, ‘What are other law firms doing?’ They are very hesitant to be the first ones to do it – but they also don’t want to be the last ones to do it.’ Sam felt that they’d been more of an evolution – but with step changes. ‘Over the past 25 years I’ve seen change generally happening all the time – but then you’ll see a technology change or a cultural change that will really shift things. For me, the real change came about 10-12 years ago when corporate occupiers wouldn’t have anyone from g
After you propose something like going open plan to a law firm, the first thing they’ll ask is’ ‘How much does it cost?’
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Review | MixInspired
Sponsored by
I guess it’s the next five years that are going to be incredibly interesting, as we start to see some of these potentially game-changing technologies being introduced
property on board. They felt that this was only 1015% of their costs and therefore weren’t particularly interested. For me, the big step change we’ve seen over the past five years is understanding that the 80% businesses are spending on staff is actually impacted by that ’small’ thing called property. This is now increasing all the time. People are finally starting to understand the impact.’ Rohit agreed with much of what was said by his fellow panel members, but also felt that, whether we’re experiencing a workplace evolution or revolution, it is not something that has been or is being experienced by everyone. ‘I would say that maybe only 30% of the working population has seen these changes. If you go around the country, 70% of people are still working in boxes that look just as ugly as they did 20 years ago! They still haven’t experienced enormous change. ‘Technology has, of course, dramatically changed the way we can work and what we can do with the workplace – and working elsewhere. I guess it’s the next five years that are going to be incredibly interesting, as we start to see some of these potentially game-changing technologies being introduced.’ One of the many great questions to come from the audience, was whether, what with the continual push to accommodate millennials and younger generations, older generations are being left behind? ‘I think the aging workplace is a far more pressing issue than the needs of millennials,’ Neil told us. ‘I think older people are far more adaptable than most commentators give credit for. This will become more of an issue and we will become more conscious of it as we move forward though – and the thing that we really do struggle with are these slow burning issues rather than the more immediate issues of millennials in the workplace.’ So how has Nick dealt with this issue? ‘The best time to implement change is if you are doing a g
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When it comes to things such as open plan working or agile working, you need to identify people’s needs – and respond to them
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relocation or a refurbishment. That brings with it a sense of ‘This is happening’ – it’s not a choice for the individual, it is a decision that the business has made. The best practice would be to bring those people along on that journey. One thing that you can do to help bring those people along with you is to get them to test the chairs. We did this with one of our fit-outs recently, where we got three of our chair suppliers to bring in chairs – and there was a queue out of the door and almost down the stairs to try them. It’s a really simple thing to do – but it really did make people feel like they were part of it and helped bring them on the journey with us. ‘When it comes to the older generation, a number of older people told me that, when they first came to work, they were using typewriters – whatever they are! Now they are using computers. I think this is about how you manage those changes. When it comes to things such as open plan working or agile working, you need to identify people’s needs – and respond to them.’ We would, of course, like to say a huge thank you to our panel members and also sponsors – Colebrook Bosson Saunders and Milliken. We are extremely grateful for all their support and encouragement. Also, a further thank you to Milliken for their fantastic hospitality and for allowing us to host the event in their amazing showroom! w
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Case Study | XTX Markets
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Apollo Mission Left Café style breakout space and replica Apollo 11 landing capsule Below Inside the replica Apollo 11 landing capsule
What makes a perfect Mix project story? Well, ideally, we’d start with an exciting, rapidly emerging end user client. Then we’d add a forward-thinking design firm. Next, we’d hope to find a number of design features we’ve never seen before in a workplace – and the cherry on the cake would be if it were all wrapped up in an impressive new building at the heart of a much talked about new regeneration district.
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Case Study | ®
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Case Study | XTX Markets
In Short XTX Markets is a pioneer within the FinTech sector, leading the way as an award-winning electronic market-maker. The business was established in 2015. The enterprise was founded by Alex Gerko, a Sci-Fi fan with a PhD in mathematics from Moscow University. CoCEO Zar Amrolia has a PhD in mathematics from Oxford. The R7 Building - XTX Markets' new London home – is at the heart of London's new tech hub in King's Cross.
Left The boardroom is a light, relaxed space with a homely feel
B
ingo! We might just have found it! XTX Markets is a pioneer within the FinTech sector, leading the way as an awardwinning electronic market-maker since it was established in 2015. The firm has experienced consistent growth and, to help maintain its current trajectory, has now taken 22,000 sq ft over three floors at the R7 building in King’s Cross – the new heart of London’s tech hub. XTX’s name refers to the linear regression formula used in its trading strategy. The enterprise was founded by Alex Gerko, a Sci-Fi fan with a PhD in mathematics from Moscow University. CoCEO Zar Amrolia has a PhD in mathematics from Oxford. XTX helps market participants throughout the world obtain the best prices in the various assets classes they cover by providing consistent liquidity, regardless of changing market conditions. The space needed to mirror the methodical and strategic business practices of XTX, while providing a truly inspiring environment. XTX is looking to attract people who are within the top 0.1% of candidates – people who, rather than looking towards the City for work, will instead be looking at the likes of Google, Facebook and other leading tech giants. The office environment had to offer a balanced, inspirational working environment that would attract and retain the best talent available in
the industry and mirror the firm’s innovation in technology. The design focus for the space was to create a physical representation of what the firm is about; its people and its core values. The company’s core values of transparency, fairness, collaboration and excellence – combined with a focus on consistent
Achieving a design as original as this requires an in-depth understanding of the client and an ability to look beyond the brief to see what it is they are trying to create
liquidity – are displayed visually throughout the space and complement a workspace inspired by Sci-Fi, mathematics and algorithms. Every element of the office design has been individually considered and combines futuristic space elements with high-end residential finishes to foster an intriguing, one-of-a-kind working environment.
Achieving a design as original as this requires an in-depth understanding of the client and an ability to look beyond the brief to see what it is they are trying to create. The design process behind the XTX space lasted nearly two years and revolved around delivering a final design that would provide an environment that was distinctly ‘theirs’, entirely bespoke and would give a platform to continue growth and development. For this design challenge, XTX turned to Peldon Rose, who tell us that inspiration came from a number of areas. ‘We wanted this office environment to challenge the minds of XTX staff and create a space that would match the inquisitive nature of the business and its people,’ we’re told. ‘We were inspired by many concepts and ideas, but the most prominent influences include Sci-Fi (there are elements of the movies Tron, Firefly and Battlestar Galactica here), mathematics, Steampunk and other industrial elements, which have been pulled from the surrounding area of King’s Cross.’ To design the space and provide such a standout facility, Peldon Rose worked with notable partners, including Jason Bruges and Acrylicize for all light/art installations, and Andrew Martin for furniture and finishes. ‘Our project partnerships needed to address a high-level of precision as well as adopt an entirely bespoke approach. We partnered with some of
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Case Study | XTX Markets
Above Automatic ‘airlock’ doors reveal the Portal Left The 'water fountain' flows through the spiral staircase
the most inspiring minds to deliver interactive art The wall of light is designed to challenge the minds installations throughout the office, which create of the people who can understand it, and visually moments of intrigue and levels of detail that you captivate the minds of those who don’t. We firmly only notice when you understand its greater fall into the latter category. importance. Jason Bruges Studio, Acrylicize and Jason Bruges Studio provided their innovative Andrew Martin played a pivotal role in delivering design and technology skills to conceptually the incredible features in the office.’ develop and deliver the bespoke installations in Inspired by the both the Portal and the company’s love for amazing Experience programming and Tunnel. These unique, mathematics, the art interactive art pieces installation wall in the As you move through the tunnel, go beyond simple Portal (reception space) aesthetics. They thousands of bespoke individual is an algorithmic study required over 35,000 in itself. The design sensor and light units detect your LEDs to transform these is based on the 15th parts of the space into movement and illuminate to monohedral tiling convex memorable, experiential pentagon, which is capture your silhouette in lights moments. There is even the final solution to a a ‘lifesize’ Cylon from mathematical problem Battlestar Galactica here! devised by Reinhardt As you move through in 1918. For the first the Portal, you arrive in time, this pattern has been animated as a cellular the Experience Tunnel, which again resembles automata, and the system uses the same rule base something you would expect to find on the set of a as John Conway’s 'Game of Life', but operates movie. As you move through the tunnel, thousands over the five faces of the pentagon. This has never of bespoke individual sensor and light units detect been achieved before, and is inspired by the firm’s your movement and illuminate to capture your highly methodical approach and importance of silhouette in lights, making the transition through code and algorithms in its day-to-day business. the office space an engaging experience.
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Essentials Client XTX Markets Interior Design Peldon Rose Artwork & Bespoke Light Fittings Acrylicize Furniture & Finishes Andrew Martin Portal & Experience Tunnel Jason Bruges Studio Joinery Aldworth James & Bond AV Twisted Pair
Case Study |
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Mix 183 April 2018 | 75
Case Study | XTX Markets
Consistent liquidity, a staple of XTX’s business, is represented by the ‘water fountain’, which flows through the spiral staircase and leads onto the trading floor. The fountain, which flows between the 8th and 9th floor, uses a combination of blue light and water to showcase XTX’s provision of liquidity, and continues through the experience tunnel and onto the trading floor. As we move through the space, past a series of cool breakout areas, we have the astonishing Hoberman chandelier pointed out for us. Created by Acrylicize, the chandelier is a mechanical ‘breathing’ light fitting, expanding and contracting independently, so that it changes its appearance as you pass it. There was a real focus on the creation of a collaborative, community environment here and we’re told that the new working environment has inspired a change in the way people work together and has encouraged greater collaboration through the diverse choice of inspiring spaces, relaxing areas and communal zones. Each space has its own distinctive atmosphere and, as you move through the environment, each flows naturally into the next. The furniture is inspired by an assortment of influences from different cultures and adds to the interest in exploration and discovery at XTX. The
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Left A lifesize Cylon guards the interactive art wall Below Four sleep pods are equipped with TVs, headphones and privacy screens
Case Study |
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Case Study | XTX Markets
mixture of furniture offers staff a variety of spaces to collaborate in and relax away from the desk. When designing a space for a science fiction loving FinTech company, it would, of course, be churlish not to include a full replica of the Apollo 11 landing capsule. The landing capsule is inspired by the Co-CEO’s love of Sci-Fi and space exploration – but this is no mere gimmick. The capsule importantly serves a purpose beyond its design value and gives staff extra space to use as a meeting pod, play games consoles or relax and watch a movie. Andrew Martin provided the concepts and brought the replica Apollo 11 space capsule to life. The capsule sits proudly in the corner of the breakout space – well, we say breakout space, but this is much, much more than a place away from the desk. Featuring bespoke pool and table tennis tables alongside arcade game machines, once the working day is over, the space transforms into a high-end bar (there is even Brewdog beer on tap!). Indeed, hot and cold drinks are provided all day, alongside fully stocked fridges of food along with snacks and fresh fruit to ensure staff can maximise
their breaks away from the desk and enjoy healthy refreshments during the day. XTX’s staff are provided with everything they need to enable them to execute their work, consistently, at the highest level. We are shown a room housing four sleep pods, with full-sized mattresses, headphones, TV’s and electric blinds, which offer a place of respite and escape for when people need to recharge and refresh themselves. We haven’t even mentioned the formal working spaces here at R7. Bright, generous and sharp, as we now fully expect from this organisation, staff are given all the tools they need to work to an optimal level. The space is also extremely generous for the 80+ staff here – although that number is likely to increase. Furthermore, we're told that the firm is also having afully equipped, in-house gym built on the currently unoccupied 10th floor, complete with sauna! Interestingly, throughout our tour, the word ‘wellbeing’ is never used. Wellbeing here isn’t a tick in a box – it’s at the heart of the company’s culture. We get the feeling they don’t know any other way of doing things. w
Above The Experience Tunnel Below The Hoberman chandelier by Acrylicize
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Mind Reading
Case Study | Mindspace Aldgate
There’s little doubt that coworking facilities are playing a vital part of the workplace evolution. Whether we’re hosting a MixInspired event or immersed in a Round Table discussion, the subject will undoubtedly turn to this alternative work setting. And it’s little wonder when you see the quality of the culture behind some of these spaces. Above Open breakout area
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Case Study | Mindspace Aldgate
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Case Study | Mindspace Aldgate
Mindspace Aldgate can accommodate 700 members and is now up and running, fulfilling the company’s ambitions to create a community of start-ups and business users in a stylish plug and play environment. This is a high quality, bespoke, distinctively local fit-out. Danielle Avrahami, Mindspace’s London lead, can tell us more about the brand philosophy and what this first facility in the capital promises. ‘Mindspace was founded just four years ago. We started off in Tel Aviv – and that was nearly sold out before construction was even completed. The company took over another space and the same thing happened – and then took over a six-storey building, which was the former Tel Aviv Stock Exchange building, complete with a roof deck for events, a gym and an auditorium. ‘Following the success of that, we started our global expansion, starting with the German market. We have now tripled in size in Germany.
T
he new Mindspace London facility is a perfect example. The flagship London premises are situated within The Relay Building in Aldgate, at the border of Shoreditch and the City, providing a thriving community of commercial and creative companies with a unique mix of culture and amenities. Mindspace Aldgate spans 2,930 sq m across two floors and offers private offices for teams of all sizes, lounges, communal kitchens, meeting rooms and phone booths for a range of business users. Since launching in 2014, Mindspace has experienced an extraordinary start-up journey. In just three years, the Israeli workspace brand has amassed 18 locations across Europe, Israel and (soon) the US, and now caters for over 10,000 members and over 2,000 companies globally. Mindspace offers artistically designed, highend coworking spaces that places companies, departments, start-ups and teams of all sizes in a collaborative environment. Aldgate marks its first in London, while its second UK space is scheduled to open in Shoreditch next month.
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Above Kitchen facility
Last year’s openings included Warsaw, Berlin and Munich, and this year Mindspace is expanding rapidly in buzzing world cities including San Francisco and Washington DC – with many more yet to be announced. Current members of Mindspace include large corporate businesses, SMBs, start-ups and freelancers. What differentiates Mindspace from other coworking spaces is that each facility contains a bespoke design that complements the local area, embedding them at the heart of the local community. Members can access Mindspace properties 24/7, while gaining unlimited access to all locations around the world at no additional cost. The designs follow Mindspace’s unique boutique style, incorporating artistic influences from the local area. The interiors are carefully curated to inspire occupiers through eclectic furniture, bespoke joinery, murals and original pieces scoured from flea markets. Mindspace connected with local manufacturers and suppliers by preparing the furniture package and finalising the finishes selection together, ensuring the project had a distinctly ‘London’ feel.
We look to take as much of the day-to-day operational element from our members as possible.
‘This space here at Aldgate will accommodate approximately 700 members and will feature mostly private offices, as well as customisable spaces for enterprise companies and open areas with hot desks, fixed desks for freelancers and remote workers. Our communities are made up of all different types of businesses from various industries, so we have companies here who work in the events industry, AI, social media – the list goes on. ‘We then have a series of location managers – and their job is to completely immerse themselves in the community here. They get to know all the different members and what they are interested in – and then curate different events and content so that members can come together and can also showcase their own businesses to other members. On top of that, we also look to pamper them – so we have massages, we have great food and drink, we have happy hours and also a series of content-
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Visit our Clerkenwell showroom 1 Sans Walk, London EC1 Mix 183 April 2018 | 83
Case Study | Mindspace Aldgate
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Case Study | Mindspace Aldgate
All sites speak the same design language and operate in the same manner – but you’ll also know which particular site you’re in, you’ll feel the vibe and be aware of all those special handpicked elements
Left Locally inspired reception area Below Meeting room
driven workshops. We look to take as much of the day-to-day operational element from our members as possible. ‘Of course, the design of the space is also incredibly important. Our global design team is headquartered in Tel Aviv. They come down to each city we’re launching in – so they’ve been on the ground here in London. ‘Our local design and creative team handpicks pieces from flea markets, they meet with local artists – a great example of this being the giant mural in the lounge area – and they make sure that every single site is emblematic of the neighbourhood you’re in. ‘No matter which Mindspace you walk in to, you’ll instantly know that it is a Mindspace. All sites speak the same design language and operate in the same manner – but you’ll also know which particular site you’re in, you’ll feel the vibe and be aware of all those special handpicked elements.’ As we move through the new Aldgate space, Danielle tells us that facility is very much a 24/7 operation. ‘There is 24/7 access for all our members’, she confirms. ‘They can come in at any time so that they can be at their most productive. The kitchen/bar area and breakout area will also remain open and everything that you see throughout the space in terms of these facilities is all included within the price. ‘The space has a series of meeting rooms, each of which is unique and features different layouts and furniture – and these are bookable through our app. On top of this, we also have a series of individual booths where members can have private phone conversations. We’ve carefully selected the materials throughout the space – we have a lot of wood, have kept the exposed ceilings and have also used a lot of glass, the idea being that there is a real feeling of openness throughout, to get
the community collaborating and visible to one another while, at the same time, they can also go into their own offices, shut the door behind them and have some privacy. ‘The offices vary in sizes, from one-person upwards, basically. The offices are designed with a great deal of flexibility – so we can easily put in or take out the partition walls as and when our member companies expand or contract. We like to always be able to offer our members whatever it is they require, so we can adapt their space at extremely short notice – that way, they can grow with us.’ And why wouldn’t you? With so many of the basic needs and functions catered for by a dynamic, knowledgeable team and an amazing
amount of flexibility naturally built in to the facility, Mindspace Aldgate is an incredibly attractive proposition for both start-up/ emerging businesses and also for established companies looking to have a London presence, just a stone’s throw from the City. The look and feel of the space is extremely smart too. The balance is just right – not too funky and eclectic that more traditional sectors will be put off, but also not corporate or staid. Millennials and creative will certainly not feel alienated here. It looks as though Mindspace’s global drive is not going to slow down any time soon – and that, for a lot of businesses (a number of which haven’t even been founded yet), is a very good thing indeed. w
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Case Study | Mindspace Aldgate
Mindspace Research While talking with Mindspace about the new Aldgate facility, we learned that the company had recently polled 2,000 office workers in the UK. The research, commissioned by Mindspace, in conjunction with research firm One Poll, reveals that employers are struggling to attract and retain young talent due to the importance that the younger generation is placing on the aesthetics and vibe of the workplace. This is good stuff. Here are more of the fascinating findings from that survey…
Millennials
in the UK are turning their back on potential employers due to the poor and ‘uninspiring’ design of offices, according to the new study. The survey revealed that Britons are becoming increasingly bored with their current office environment (31%), uninspired to go to work. Another 28% of workers express that their place of work is outdated and dull. Over a fifth (21%) of 18-24 year-olds admit that they have rejected a potential employer because of the poor design of the office or lack of amenities available. 34% in the same age group would be willing to commute for a maximum of one hour each way to an office that is considered perfect – compared to only 22% of 45-54 year-olds. This signals the urgency and importance of workspace design and its impact on company culture. 16% of 18-24 year-olds revealed that they have actually left a job because of how poorly designed the office was in one of their previous roles.
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Benefits and perks are also important for many UK millennials, with 26% of 25-34 year-olds stating that a
company’s benefit packages (such as discounted massages and dog walkers) is one of the most important factors for them when considering an employer. According to the research, Britons visit the same workplace five days a week (82%) and work from the same desk in the office (80%), but they are feeling bored and uninspired by their working environments. This has a detrimental effect on their productivity and mental health, with many stating that they feel tired (24%) and stressed (20%). As expected, while many state that they have access to amenities and features such as a kitchen (72%), meeting rooms (66%) and free tea and coffee (53%), what UK office workers desire the most to improve morale is more natural light, air conditioning and improved interior lighting. While many companies in the UK have embraced open plan offices over the last few years, a significant number of office workers (46%) feel that there is either limited or no collaboration between different teams and departments in their office currently. Nearly one in five (19%) do not feel that their current office encourages them to collaborate with others but a quarter (25%) are desperate for breakout areas, more spaces for private work (23%) and more creative brainstorming spaces (19%).
Case Study | NCC Group 22 - 24 MAY 2018
DESIGNING THE FUTURE. RESPECTING THE PAST.
Picture Credit: Walking City: © Ron Herron Archive. All Rights Reserved, DACS / Artimage 2017.
EVENT SCHEDULE
DESIGNING THE FUTURE. RESPECTING THE PAST. From creating fabrics to architecture, great design derives from being inspired by and understanding one’s own successes and failures, and those of others. Please come and visit our showroom at Clerkenwell Design Week 2018 for outstanding design and creativity.
www.edgedesign.furniture Edge Design +44 (0) 20 7253 7277
First Floor I 21-22 I Great Sutton Street
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Case Study | NCC Group
CYBER HUB
We’re back in our ‘hometown’ of Manchester – and back at the impressive XYZ Building – to take a look at yet another forwardthinking, groundbreaking project. We might have been here before – but in terms of workspace, this is something completely new to us.
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NCC Group is a global expert in cyber security and risk mitigation, working with businesses to protect their brand, value and reputation in the ever-evolving threat landscape. It employs 2,000 people in over 35 offices worldwide and its new Manchester HQ is now home to 500. Set over three 20,000 sq ft floorplates, OBI Property and NCC Group have worked together to create a workspace that seamlessly integrates highly secure hubs with open plan breakout areas through an effective, intelligent use of colour, textures, furnishings and fixtures. We take a look around with NCC Group interim CEO, Brian Tenner, and OBI Property Workplace Consultant, Andrew Crompton. ‘NCC Group’s single biggest asset is its people and the company engaged us to deliver a workplace to not just reflect the business and its brand, but to encourage, by design, interaction and collaboration between its people,’ Andrew tells us. ‘Our brief was to create an office that reflected NCC Group’s corporate position as a world-leading business and we chose the XYZ Building because
Below 4th floor breakout space
it provided us with a huge blank canvas to work with.’ ‘We’re trying to create an environment that fosters the creativity and productivity of our staff,’ Brian explains, ‘which isn’t just a place where they can work harder and longer, but somewhere they like and enjoy being – and even have fun in.’ We ask Andrew how OBI Property approached the brief. ‘Our overall approach was to create an office environment across three floors, which had the same design foundation – fundamentally reflecting the NCC Group brand but each work area, whether it be open plan or secure, reflected the feel and vibe of the different areas and activity. ‘We used an extended colour palette, respecting the NCC Group brand identity, and added different yet considered textures, fixtures, fittings and decorations to indicate different activities in different areas.’ A significant element of the design is the red core, which runs vertically through each of the three floors. We ask why this very solid element is important to the overall design. ‘The core helps to
D AVISON H IGHLEY
Essentials Client NCC Group plc Interior Design OBI Property Building Owner Union Investment Developer Allied London PM/QS OBI Property Main Contractor Spacescape Ltd M&E Engineer Reds Building Services Consultants Furniture Steelcase, Naughtone, Muuto, Frovi, Boss, Orangebox
tie the three floors together and acts as a beacon of quality, security and strength,’ Andrew explains. ‘The structure’s clad panel design helps screen NCC’s most secure spaces behind hidden doors and solid slab-to-slab partitioning. ‘It also creates a commanding secure lobby on all three floors, while still maintaining access through points for staff, alongside graphic images and filtered views through to the less critical secure spaces that help the staff relax and gather socially.’ Andrew tells us that the copper ceiling in the reception area was designed to signify NCC Group’s ties to cyber security through the intimation of a Faraday Cage. It’s location within the cut-out of the red panel cladding indicates the reception as an open, warm, welcoming area but still holds secure connotations that reinforce the NCC Group brand. ‘The natural quality of copper means that, over time, the material will enrich in colour and change the overall ambience of the reception, helping to represent NCC’s longevity and commitment to quality,’ Andrew enthuses.
SKY LON WOR K B OOT H
SKYLON WORK SOFA
S KYLON S OFA
Davison Highley London, Lower Ground Floor, The Old Brewery, 16 Brewhouse Yard, Clerkenwell, London, EC1V 4LJ
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View our full range of decorative panels & services on our website. W: www.lawcris.co.uk E: sales@lawcris.co.uk P: 0113 217 7177 90 | Mix 183 April 2018
Case Study | NCC Group
An important consideration for OBI Property was that every one of the 500 staff, with the exception of several secure hubs, had to be able to see out of a window and have access to natural daylight. In open work areas, desks are aligned at up to 90 degrees to the windows, while meeting spaces along the external façade feature full-height internal glazing to allow natural light through to the centre of the building. Another challenge for the team, as we've already touched upon, was the incorporation of a number of highly secure areas within the office – but without making the areas and those around them feel remote and unwelcoming. Andrew tells us that OBI addressed this by effectively hiding core elements to protect privacy, especially in NCC Group’s client facing areas, incorporating acoustic treatment measures including slab-to-slab and staggered stud wall construction alongside acoustic wall, floor and ceiling treatments. ‘A key innovation from us was to hide security features in plain sight, which has turned the HQ into a live demonstrator of NCC Group’s capabilities,’ Andrew explains.
‘Our stance towards cyber security is reflected in our office,’ Brian adds. ‘Some of the security we’ve got around the building has been done in such a way that it doesn’t feel like security. When we’re explaining risk mitigation and cyber strategy to our visitors and clients, we can actually point out parts of this office – which really makes what we do come alive.’ Another of the key aspects to the scheme can be found in the centre of the space, where we find two serviced breakout areas for each wing, collaboration booths and relaxation/entertaining spaces. ‘The position of the breakout spaces within the floorplate is intended to essentially bring different departments and teams together, not just over lunch but throughout the day – taking the strain away from the use of meeting rooms and also helping to promote cross-departmental collaboration.’ ‘The physical environment created for us by OBI Property is changing how people act, which is awesome for us as a business because people are not just enjoying the space but they are using it in
Above Reception space features a dramatic copper ceiling
In Short NCC Group is a global expert in cyber security and risk mitigation, working with businesses to protect their brand, value and reputation in the ever-evolving threat landscape. The business employs 2,000 people in over 35 offices worldwide and its new Manchester HQ is now home to 500 people. NCC Group was formed in June 1999, when the National Computing Centre sold its commercial divisions to its existing management team.
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Case Study | NCC Group
different ways,’ Brian tells us, ‘Some of that’s about sharing, some of that’s about collaborating in these open, informal workspaces. ‘The building, to me, has a really good blend of spaces that are as professional and as serious and as focused as you could possibly imagine – people imagine that we are serious people and a grownup company – but we also have spaces that are incredibly informal, where people can kick back, be laid back and actually relax and chill out.’ OBI Property and NCC Group collaborated to select the finishes, fixtures and furniture to encourage staff to integrate, collaborate and socialise, as well as improve productivity. It was also important to impress upon staff, clients and visitors alike the global reach of NCC Group and its corporate clout. This is a successful, growing, global Mancunian business – and the workspace reflects this. ‘The aesthetic quality and resilience was key to the selection of finishes and materials,’ Andrew considers, ‘We wanted to reinforce NCC’s solid, trustworthy brand and also make it easy to maintain the condition of the office over the long period that NCC Group will be in occupation.’
Above 3rd floor breakout space Below Elegant waiting space
When we’re explaining risk mitigation and cyber strategy to our visitors and clients, we can actually point out parts of this office – which really makes what we do come alive
There is no doubt that this new HQ has set a determined marker for the future of NCC Group, not just at its Manchester roots but across the world – and it’s already made a hugely positive impact on the business and its people. ‘One of the fascinating things I’ve witnessed – and we’ve obviously changed the physical environment here – is where and how they come to work but also how it is changing the way that people act, which is awesome for us as a business because people are not just enjoying the space but they are using it in different ways,’ Brian tells us. ‘Just seeing that different attitude in staff coming to work and the changes that it’s having on them is amazing. It’s not just that this is a different space, it’s actually influencing our people and how we work here.’ w
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Case Study |
egecarpets.com
New ege collection: ReForm Artworks Ecotrust Mark-making, collage and the aesthetics of chance transfer readily to the floorscape. The multi-level loop construction defines shapes, brushstrokes and layers in three co-ordinated patterns. Made of regenerated ECONYLÂŽ yarns from used fishing nets, Artworks is a truly green choice. Available as tiles and broadloom. THE URGE TO EXPLORE SPACE
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SELECTIONS
Wayfinding just got easy with Duera vinyl Modern flooring means a myriad of choice and finishes are now available with some beautiful results. However, without an encyclopedic knowledge of installation methods, it can be difficult to accommodate multi-flooring types into one design. With the new Paragon Carpets Duera luxury vinyl flooring, the 5mm thickness allows the product to be installed alongside over 300 Paragon Carpet tile ranges, with no additional sub-floor preparation. Create amazing wayfinding flooring schemes with no seams or inlay strips. www.paragon-carpets.co.uk
Stunning blackout velvet d rapery launched by Bancroft Soft Furnishings In a sophisticated colour palette, Como, a classic soft drape plain velvet is teamed with Milano a shimmering crushed velvet, which presents a more decadent look. Producing stunning window treatments, Bancroft Soft Furnishings' new 280cm fabrics offer a cost-effective drapery option. By eliminating the need for additional lining, savings are made on both fabric and makeup – an excellent choice for achieving budget requirements. www.bancroft-fabrics.com
The Ebb & Flow of great lighting Moonbeam Lighting is stocking the brand new range of Danish decorative lighting from Ebb & Flow. All the lighting designs from Ebb & Flow are made to bring warmth and joy to a room, translated through colours and shapes that inspire lasting beauty. Designs include the delicate jewellery-like Smykke lights in 14 finishes, distinctive hand-blown and colourful Horizon lights and the classic Lute pendant lamp. Shown above are the brand new Lampshades range of fabric shades, designed exclusively for either hanging or as table lamps with the new Lute lamp bases. www.moonbeamlighting.co.uk
The art of flocking Forbo’s Flotex is a unique product that offers the hard-wearing durability of a resilient floor covering yet delivers the comfort of a textile finish – all while boasting exceptional printing capabilities in either plank, tile or sheet format. The Flotex Vision collection provides an array of choice, from realistic pebble beaches and contemporary animal prints, through to geometric options with an almost 3D effect. The modular Flotex Planks collection offers an ideal solution for contemporary work and public spaces. www.forbo-flooring.co.uk/artofflocking
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SELECTIONS
Antron Carpet Fibre gives performance assurance for insurance broker INVISTA Antron Carpet Fibre features in carpet planks and tiles from Quadrant, which were specified by Resonate throughout the open plan space of insurance broker Integro’s London office. In working spaces, carpet tiles provide underfoot comfort and acoustic absorption; along with wear and stain resistance thanks to Antron Lumena carpet fibre and a quality 12th gauge construction. Resonate could create an energetic floor design, selecting products with the confidence of high-performance, stain and fade resistance, plus ease of maintenance. www.antron.eu
Basking in the glory of glow at leading hedge fund manager The luxury of Glow carpet planks from Quadrant adds flooring style to the Mayfair offices of SVP. Specified by Oktra, some 550 sq m of Glow in the subtle, shimmering off-white colour of Lucent, now adorn workspaces within the offices. With a silk-like quality and a luxurious high-pile yarn, there are few carpet planks that can bring such an elegant look, while still providing the necessary levels of performance for working environments. www.quadmod.com
Japanese innovation comes naturally with Granorte Kenko is the latest flooring collection from Granorte, combining the natural properties of cork with the latest Japanese innovation, for a floor that’s completely free of PVC. With the look of the very best luxury vinyl floors, Kenko fuses the environmental, acoustic, thermal and comfort advantages of cork with the latest in wear layer technology to provide a PVC- and plasticiser-free alternative to LVT without performance trade-off. www.granorte.pt/en/
VITAWORK extends the LUCTRA range LUCTRA recently launched the new VITAWORK lamp at Light + Building. The lamp complements its range of floor, table and portable lamps with a new variant, which illuminates an entire room with both direct and indirect light. With its emphasis on the quality of the light, the appearance is sleek and streamlined. The lamp’s clean lines fit perfectly into any interior design and will cetainly add to the scheme. www.luctra.eu
Max impact The Max Collection has been designed to be a sophisticated, but affordable, task chair, perfectly adapted to new working practices. In today’s complex workplace it’s good to keep things as simple as possible, so Max is easy to specify and simple to use. Max’s minimalist aesthetic is ‘lighter’ in form and feel, reflecting the way we work today and, through a combination of inherent strength and visual transparency, maintains a clarity of thought and simplicity of style demanded in the agile workplace. www.verco.co.uk
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The Last Word | Opinion
HOW NOT TO BE AVERAGE Glenn Elliott doesn't want people to be robots – instead he'd like to see more people be encouraged to be more, well, human.
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Glenn Elliott was CEO of employee engagement specialist Reward Gateway from 2006 to 2017 and now advises businesses on company culture, leadership and growth. He is the author of Build it - The Rebel Playbook for Employee Engagement (Wiley, 2018). www.glennelliott.me www.rebelplaybook.com
here's a simple law of maths involved in everyday life. By definition, the majority of any one thing is average, including people. Much as we'd all like to have the best doctor, surgeon, architect or CEO, most of us must have an average one, some of us a great one and some of us a really awful one. This often comes to mind when a CEO asks me, 'Is employee engagement actually beneficial to the business?' or 'What data d o you have to prove the link between employee engagement and business bottom line?' The answer is lots actually. Imagine there were two teams you could lead. Team A understands what you are trying to achieve, is excited by that, has interesting, fulfilling roles ,which they understand, good middle management and are enthusiastic about the challenge. Team B doesn't know or care what the organisation is trying to do, has been worn down by years of internal politics and behaves like a litter of badly treated puppies, keeping their heads down most of the time, with the occasional bout of unexpected aggression. Would you need someone from a university to give you evidence of which team was most likely to do the best work? No, I didn't think so either. The problem is that we’ve lived with crappy jobs and awful workplaces for so long that we’ve become institutionalised to them. There are legions of people who cannot imagine work as anything other than a drudge that you have to bear. And we're used to corresponding low levels of productivity and profitability. Official UK stats show that productivity has just about stalled since 2008. We actually have productivity improvements in manufacturing, transport and construction, where technology is getting more out for fewer workers in. But they are cancelled out by the state of productivity in the information-heavy industries where most of our economic growth is – services, finance and tech. We've been on a march from manufacturing to a services, technology and creative economy for decades. In manufacturing, productivity largely comes from improvements in plant, machinery and tech. But in the new economy, technology is largely a commodity – none of us thinks our competitive USP is better laptops or a better cloud storage? And we can all buy the same tech – Slack isn’t on a VIP-only list.
In our new economy, we’re reliant on the creativity, decision making and hourly and daily choices of our people. What will they say to the customer when the process says NO but they know and feel the right thing to do for that customer is to say YES? What will they do in the meeting when the boss is advocating one thing, but they have that niggling feeling that he or she is missing something? Will they speak up? Will they open a discussion about an alternative? Will they fight for what is best for the customer? Or just keep their head down because no one wants to rock the boat and you only get promoted if you’re a yes man? When you strip a leader's role right back, what do they have to make their businesses successful other than the people that they lead? When we were a manufacturing economy, we did everything we could to make the machines more efficient – laying out the factory carefully, making sure the machinery was well tuned and maintained in great condition. In those days the people were less consequential – disposable, replaceable parts were required to run the machines. And maybe part of our engagement and productivity problem is that we're still treating people largely as we did back then. Treating people as parts of a machine is a surefire way to misery, disengagement and low productivity. There’s a fundamental difference between people and things – an injection moulding rig doesn’t have personality, emotions, hopes, dreams, feelings and opinions. Its performance is consistent, not variable depending on its mood. Everything I’ve learned about people tells me that they make pretty awful components in a machine, however convenient it would be if that were different. It took me nearly a decade of being CEO before I really twigged that all my role required was to use every influence I had to create a workplace where people could and wanted to do their best work. Combine that with a strong sense of who the customer is and what they want and you've got a winning formula. It’s the only long-term way you can drive bottom line growth – I know that because, trust me, staring hopefully at the spreadsheet doesn't make the sales numbers grow by themselves. But building great products that solve for the customer, marketing them sensitively and connecting your business with customers that love you – that delivers amazing results and that requires people who care.
T: 0161 402 3340 E: hello@opus-4.com
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This stylish monitor arm, arguably one of the slimmest of its type on the market today, has been awarded FIRA’s prestigious Ergonomic Excellence Award and is now supplied with a 10 year extended warranty.
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