What does Canary Wharf say? “I’m rich and powerful.” Or the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur? “I’m the biggest and the best.” Take EMI’s new headquarters in London’s Kensington – what does it say? “I’m cool and funky.” Or the New York Stock Exchange near Wall Street? “I’m dependable and learned.”
Be it the Lloyds building in London or the Empire State building in New York, companies have long used the outside of their premises to reflect the success and style of their businesses. Now, increasingly, the insides are getting the designer treatment – and technology is pushing the process along.
Gone are the days of partitioned cubicles. Gone are the days when having a brown nylon chair and a coffee table made a space a reception area. And gone are the days when facilities meant a vending machine. Enter, jungle-gym meeting rooms, café-style breakout areas and funky furniture that makes the modern office look more like a boutique hotel or your cosy front room.
Technology has, undoubtedly, driven many of the changes in interior design. And while the science of networking, telecoms, mobile working and the like might be daunting, most of us are at home using these technologies – be it via a Blackberry (wireless e-mail reader), a mobile connect card or a handheld computer.
All the above have one thing in common: they have freed the worker from a fixed office address. Research conducted by Savills for the British Council for Offices shows that desk occupancy rates are currently as low as 40%, with airport lounges, train stations, homes and coffee shops each becoming an office away from the office. Travelling to meet clients is only one of the reasons behind this. As the assembly of virtual teams to work on specific projects becomes the norm of corporate life, having fixed office space is becoming more and more redundant.
This will mean that, over the next five to 10 years, there will be fewer offices, more communal working areas and much more breakout space, says Mat Oakley, director of research at Savills. “Businesses realise that sitting people at desks isn’t best for the business,” he says. “Workers are coming in to the office to interact with colleagues, whether that is formally in meeting rooms or breakout areas, or informally over a cup of coffee.”
In fact, Savills predicts that over the next 20 years the amount of social space will double, and there will be 50% less “fixed address space” and offices.
Wireless technology is driving thischange: freed from wires, an office could be reconfigured on a daily basis. Demountable partitions could be used to change the layout of space. “We are going to see fewer bespoke floorplates but more adaptable spaces,” says Graham Blackburn, head of property and construction consultant Ridge’s architecture team. “There are going to be fewer L-shaped desks, and more plug-and-play areas.”
Hard-nosed businessmen may dismiss this as HR fluff with no advantage to the bottom line, but they would be wrong. Research by furniture manufacturer Knoll shows that staff’s number-one workplace gripe is office design – or the lack of it. That same research shows that three-year shareholder returns for companies with a low level of staff commitment averaged out at 76%. For those with the highest numbers of happy workers, it was 112%.
There could also be hidden cost savings, believes Savills’ Oakley. “If, every time a team moves, all they have to do is pick up their laptops and phones, it will massively reduce costs in terms of recabling,” he says.
This is the new generation of hot-desking – although uttering this phrase is not the done thing these days. Screen-savers are replacing family photos, and electronic data storage will do away with filing cabinets. But such changes have not always been well received by staff. “Staff saw it as the company not valuing them and taking away their space, but now people are questioning why you need individuals to be palatial in their own office,” admits Oakley.
Cabling could disappear very quickly, says Bradley Gamage at computer consultancy Logica-CMG. “I’ve heard reports that cabling could disappear within two years,” he says. However, he concedes that this could be an overstatement, adding: “Ten years is more realistic, as wireless gets faster.”
Adoption of wireless technology has been slow, however, with security cited as the principal barrier. Computer experts dismiss the threat, saying that, handled properly, wireless technology represents no more of a threat than the hardwired variety. “As an out-of-the-box solution, it is an open network. But switch on the most basic encryption key and there’s a first level of defence,” says Gamage.
Commercial issues
Others are more blunt with their assessments. “Security is an easy reason to kick Wi-Fi [wireless technology] into the long grass,” says Stephen Gale, a consultant at the Harmsen Group. “Cisco, Microsoft – these have huge commercial issues with security, but they are wireless and they haven’t gone bust. Reuters has a wireless system, and it deals with financial data – it wouldn’t have lasted five minutes if there was an issue.”
Gale also dismisses the argument that wireless networks are susceptible to electrical jamming. “TV signals could be jammed but I can’t remember the last time that happened,” he says. “Why would it with this?”
So could wireless technology spell the end of suspended ceilings and raised floors? Well, yes – and no. It has been heralded as bringing an end to obsolescence in period buildings, allowing architects to throw away the design rulebook, rip out the suspended ceilings and expose the bare concrete and ducting.
In reality, says Paul Scrivener, design director at MCM, developers are a lot more conservative. “Developers believe people want raised floors, and a similar amount in ceilings, and I’d wish people would loosen their stays,” he says.
Colour and artwork
Scrivener says that corporates are gradually experimenting with an industrial feel in café areas and are less po-faced about the use of colour and artwork. But there is room for improvement. “It doesn’t have to be fashion-able or faddish,” he says. “But they should explore their options and have more fun.”
Home working – after a slow start – will also, at last, start to take off over the next decade. Technological advances have made broadband access widespread and memory-sticks mean workers can take inches-worth of paper documentation home electronically in a device no bigger than a pack of chewing gum.
Unsurprisingly, technology companies have been first to take advantage. IBM, Cisco and BT already operate huge flexible-working programmes, and Microsoft all but actively encourages people to stay away from the office. Even the more conservative industries such as financial services and oil companies are looking at flexible working programmes, says Sharon Turner, principal in charge of workplace consulting at Swanke Haydon Connell Architects. But there are still barriers, she warns: “There still needs to be a management culture change, so that working at home isn’t seen as skiving. There needs to be completely different productivity measures.”
There is also a cost argument for home working. Even with the start-up costs for equipment and the cost of health and safety measures, Turner says that most businesses report a return on an initial investment after only three years. This can equate to as much as 20% of the outlay when space savings are taken into account – and that is an annual saving, not a one-off.
Savings can also be attained by providing less storage. But while that might mean less square footage, it’s not always a popular choice.
Turner gives such a view short shrift. “I’ve walked into hundreds of offices and I regularly open cupboards,” she says. “I see Christmas decorations, motorcycle helmets and Wellington boots filling up a great deal of real estate. Companies would not allow this sort of activity in any other part of their business – why are they allowing it here?”
Cynics might say that flexible working, home offices and electronic data storage are all just another set of ways for corporates to save money, rather than evidence of a philanthropic wish to make staff happy. And Phil Hutchinson, managing director at BDG Workfutures, admits that there could be an element of this. “There is an ever-increasing demand to cut costs, and reducing space is a simple way of achieving that,” he says.
But money is undoubtedly being spent on fitout, Hutchinson believes.
“It’s consumer-led,” he says. “We see the quality we get at home, and we feel we are getting second-rate in the workplace.”
He adds: “Ten years ago, no-one cared what colour their computer was. Now, we’ve got sleek black computers at home and phones that can do everything, and we want that quality, style and aesthetic at work.”
The scope is limitless. And Hutchinson believes that technology will become more interactive. He says the technology is just around the corner that will enable systems to recognise you by the phone in your pocket. The advantage for advertisers of being able to switch billboards to show adverts relevant to you are easy to see, but Hutchinson sees an extension of this technology into the office environment. “Imagine a plasma screen in your reception that interacts with your phone, and gives clients a personal welcome in their language or shows in-house research relevant to them,” he says.
|
|
|
Stringent environmental standards could spell the end of the 1980s’ symbol of power and achievement – the glass office block, believes Marcus Boret, executive director at developer Akeler. “There’s a drive from government to hit energy usage targets and that’s having an effect on buildings’ exteriors,” he says. A mixture of masonry, rendering and glass will come into vogue, says Boret, as occupiers pay more attention to their energy usage facades – all in an effort to curb the use of energy-guzzling air-conditioning units. But environmental legislation will pull developers in two separate ways. Boret admits: “It’s a constant struggle to create good quality natural daylight offices while shading the building against the radiant heat of the sun.” As a result, developers will have to pay much closer attention to the positioning of buildings, making sure they are not fully south-facing. The question of access to light will be answered by narrower buildings, or more natural light wells to break up bigger floorplates, says Matt Oakley, director of research at Savills. Cool beams and natural ventilation will gain favour over air-conditioning. There will also be much heavier scrutiny of heat-generating equipment, with initiatives such as flat computer screens (which throw out much less heat) all helping businesses to meet more stringent environmental standards. The government is leading by example, says Graham Blackburn, head of Ridge’s architecture team. It is demanding that all its new buildings achieve a top rating under the BRE Environmental Assessment Method scheme. All refurbished buildings have to attain a “very good” rating. But Blackburn believes that push will have to come to shove before private developers follow suit. “They are paying lip service to it at the moment,” he says. “Environmentally conscious occupiers are adopting some aspects, but that’s it.” |
|
|
|
PricewaterhouseCoopers turned a tired 1980s office block in Cornwall Court, Birmingham, into a truly flexible working space. The 150,000 sq ft office is now the company’s West Midlands HQ and features a ground-level French café for staff to linger in. “We wanted to talk to the business leaders of the future for ideas, so we talked to our graduates,” says Paul Harrington, director of real estate at PwC. “We also wanted to help people work differently so, while we still provide the cellular space, there’s also touchdown areas and breakout areas.” Around 50% of the space was given over to desks and offices, allowing privacy when it is needed, but offices can be booked when unoccupied. More than 25% of the space is meeting rooms, run on a system called “reverse hotelling”. Meeting rooms, touchdown space and conference rooms are controlled by a concierge service, which also controls centralised filing, restaurant booking and storage for dinner jackets. And the cost? Harrington says: “There is an expenditure there, but everything we did had to be cost-effective – we are accountants, after all.” |
|
Technology is at the heart of BT’s Leavesden office. Called BT Ignite Solutions, the 250,000 sq ft development is the core of BT’s wireless operations and, clearly, the office needed to lead by example. Staff can access the wireless local area network throughout the building, and a smart card (a credit card with built-in microprocessor) controls access to the building and allows transactions in the café and walk-up access to computing systems (rather than having to ask the IT staff to log-in every time they need to use a PC). Computer-controlled lights are linked to solar sensors and wireless infrared controls. |
