Flexibility in the BlackBerry era
The design of office space for sale and to let should reflect the increasing demand for flexible working, says the British Council for Offices. The BCO’s annual conference, held last week in London, included a panel entitled “How we work and why we work”, looking at the changing requirements for office design in the age of the BlackBerry.
Property Week reports that the panel felt the main purpose of the office was to promote interactivity among staff, but quotes Roger Zogolovitch, director of planning and development consultancy AZ Urban Studio, as saying that building regulations make it difficult for architects and developers to respond to the advance of mobile working.
In May, the BCO published a report on flexible working in which it explores the benefits of this concept – not just the idea of working flexible hours and introducing alternative work strategies, but also the cost savings to be made from desk-sharing and space-saving methods of working.
One way to reduce space is to look at the use of technologies such as video-conferencing, which reduces the need for many meeting rooms and can enable some employees to work from home. With the chaos caused this year by the Eyjafjallajokul volcano, current strikes by BA staff, and the ever-increasing need to cut costs, occupiers are taking a serious look at the use of mobile and remote working methods.
Small and medium-sized businesses considering the benefits of flexible working practices can use resources such as actnow flex, which has produced a toolkit based on its research (supported by the South West RDA) into the impacts of flexible working and teleworking on businesses.
