Tina Norden, Partner at Conran & Partners
More variety, more flexibility and a regard to the human factor whilst retaining a professional environment. And professional doesn’t mean boring and grey, it means and environment that is conducive to the type of work being done, looks right for the sector it is ibn and promotes staff wellbeing.
It is easy to forget that working on a sofa or a badly set up desk can actually be very harmful to our wellbeing, so designing spaces with character and personality that actually work will be real progress.
Claudia Bastiani, Head of Workplace Experience & Design at Legal & General
For 2023 and beyond, I am interested in exploring design that is truly inclusive and sustainable, so catering for neurodiversity, the not so obvious physical disabilities such as challenges with hearing and sight, spaces for community that cater for all and true carbon calculation. What will differentiate a great workspace from an outstanding workspace will be inclusivity and sustainability.
Both interesting subjects are ever evolving so understanding what the current thought is around these will be interesting, as well as understanding the current challenges. We find ourselves in a situation where for the first time we have a very informed audience (the workforce) so not being engaged in evolving your thinking on this is no longer an option.
Lewis Barker, Director, Workplace Services EMEA at ServiceNow
More climate and sustainability focused spaces – our company has commitments we need to make alongside other companies and as Real Estate is a massive polluter, it’s within all our control to help solve this issue.
Flexible and adaptable spaces – simply put we need to experiment and having flexible spaces allows this experimentation to happen. We’d still need to ensure quiet and solo working spaces, but these can also be flexible in nature too.
Claire Henderson, Inclusive Design Lead, Workplace Design at HMRC
Post pandemic return to the office has seen us all think about our work environment differently and that is even more evident in the recent generation of recruits where going to an office is about more than just a space for a desk, it’s about all the wellbeing benefits which come with that.
We were already on that path pre-pandemic but the change in behaviours has been accelerated and I hope 2023 sees more of us adopting that behaviour and making the most of fantastic workspaces that are out there, and of course we need to ensure we have designs and products to meet that challenge!