I was at the first Biophilic Design Conference, hosted by the Journal of Biophilic Design, last week, an excellent conference and a question frequently raised by both the speakers and the delegates was “isn’t biophilic design just good design?”. I would say yes in general but, as I discussed with Chris Moriarty and Ian Ellison of Audiem, for biophilic design to stand alone there must be examples of biophilic design that is poor design and cases of good design that is not biophilic design. I believe such scenarios exist.Advocates of brutalism, an architectural style characterised b ..read more

At yesterday’s Workplace Trends conference, Nicola Millard reminded us that the brain can only cope with four hours of intense work each day – see Pang (2016) for more details. It reminded me of Tony Schwartz’s Energy Project, which proposes we can work intensely for 90-minute periods, so long as we take a proper 20-minute break between them, and three such periods of intense work per day is more than most will achieve. Also, let’s not forget the Display Screen Equipment Regulations (1992) which recommends a 10-minute break every hour or so. Counterintuitively, it seems the key to productivit ..read more

Various reports indicate that while office space utilisation has increased since the Covid-19 pandemic it is much lower than previously. For example, Remit Consulting’s ReTurn project, comprising of security access (swipe-card) data from 13 UK companies with 155 office buildings and circa 200,000 occupants, shows the current utilisation rate to be around 32%. Having two-thirds of office space empty is neither good for sustainability or creating a vibrant and enticing workspace.  My recent research, with Dr Gary Raw, conducted in partnership with MillerKnoll, explores approaches to entici ..read more

Are you or your clients planning an office relocation or refurbishment? Or do you need to review an existing workspace to ensure it still supports the organisation? Unlike other sectors, architecture and the real estate industry do not automatically collate customer feedback to improve their current and future products and services. However, BREEAM, WELL and BIM all require a Post Occupancy Evaluation (POE) to be conducted to achieve certification, and RIBA and BSI recommend them as best practice. Evaluations are multi-layered, including feedback and other metrics like space and cost analysis ..read more

I recently completed a workplace strategy for a major investment bank and I’m now conducting some independent research, which I will share later this year.  I genuinely enjoy carrying out research, it was my first career, but more importantly research informs my core services of workplace strategy and design briefing. My academic colleagues may disagree, but research must be applied rather than blue sky or theoretical. It should also be conducted in a reasonable time scale, at an affordable price, with a practical approach so that the results can be quickly adopted rather than wait years ..read more

I recently finished a stand-up comedy course and have now performed at a couple of gigs. Why did I do it? Well, to start it’s another of those itches that I needed to scratch, and get out of my system, just like the radio presenting and singing. I get bored of routine and I’m always looking for the next challenge in my work and my personal life. But, the real reason is I like to stretch myself, go beyond my comfort zone, and try out new things. I believe this enhances confidence, especially for public speaking. It has helped me overcome my nerves when speaking to large conference audiences ..read more

Last month my paper on “developing the return on workplace investment(ROWI) tool”, co-authored with Matt Tucker and Hannah Wilson of Liverpool John Moores University, was published in the CREJ. The paper has been long in the making ... It started back in 2012 when Adrian Burton of the AWE asked me to develop a means of estimating the productivity benefits gained from good workplace design. I responded to the challenge by reviewing 75 solid papers that reported a change in occupant performance due to improved environmental conditions, such acoustics, temperature, lighting etc. Initially the re ..read more

I have been a mountain biker for thirty years, but last year I purchased a gravel bike. The gravel bike is more all-terrain, hybrid if you like, allowing me to cover longer distances using trails avoiding busy roads. I recently rode along the Upper Lea Valley trail and paused to admire three sculptures of people significant to the area: Eric Morecambe, Capability Brown and a Sea Scout. The landscape architect Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown was called so because he famously told his clients that their property had capability for improvement. It occurred to me that this is an admirable vocation ..read more

I recently presented at the Comfort at the Extreme (CATE) conference in Edinburgh. The delegates were a mix of researchers and medics in the fields of indoor air quality and thermal comfort in offices, homes, schools and hospitals. I recognised many from my days as a thermal comfort research back in the 1990s - it was good to catch up after some 25 years. It was also an opportunity for me to have another jibe at the prejudice and inadequacies of current indoor environment standards. This is what I said …Many years ago, when my kids where younger, and much shorter, I visited Colchester Zoo. I ..read more

I can’t believe my last blog post was around Xmas time last year, where has the time gone? But it doesn’t mean I haven’t been writing, just through a different media. My own lockdown baby came in the form of a new book: Beyond the Workplace Zoo: Humanising the Office. It was published two weeks ago with a cosy book launch last week and its official airing at Workplace Trendsyesterday. It has been over 20 years since my last “proper” book, Improving Office Productivity. A book I co-authorised with Paul Bartlett, who sadly passed away around one year ago. Paul’s views on office economics and pro ..read more