Stuck at the office?

Who would have thought that in the short 20 year life of the British Council of Offices (BCO) we would have moved from communicating by post and fax to the internet and e-mail. Indeed only 10 years ago there were no social networking sites and today working without these technologies seems inconceivable. In fact, without the Internet, would we now struggle to communicate?

Indisputably, the next 20 years will see an even greater transformation in office design and use fuelled by new trends and technologies we can’t conceive of today. We are already seeing new approaches to the building, development and occupation of commercial property, but given we know the key drivers for change, are we really able to predict what the future office will look like?

Technology has become the key component of the modern office and will undoubtedly remain so. We can expect that cloud computing will take centre stage, accompanied by further improvements in data security and the provision of networks enabling ultra high speed may allow technologies such as 3D and holograms, taking video conferencing to new levels. The rise of the iPad and iPhone – terms which would have met with blank faces even five years ago but which are already fixtures in the modern office lexicon – are likely to set the standard for improvements in PDAs.

It takes little imagination to envisage a single device replacing all other office appliances in the not too distant future.

If social networking continues to morph into business networking, the office of the future could be defined by space and silence. At BT for example, already 65 percent of staff are either home or agile workers, with no allocated desk.
Office design must embrace these changes and facilitate, rather than obstruct social media, consulting today’s teenagers and graduates –the office workers of the future –about how the workplace can best work for them. We know that working environments can have a significant impact on productivity and even staff retention, particularly during a recession when more tangible benefits are currently subdued.

Changing demographics are also likely to impact the working environment and, potentially, the way we understand work itself. With access to the office available anytime, anywhere, the next working generation may have revolutionary views as to how they want to run their working lives. A greater convergence of social and work time may see a fundamental transformation in the work-life balance, with technology granting the freedom to work whenever one likes, wherever one likes; whether independently, in single business groups or in multi- business neighbourhoods. This also may suit the older generations – with a rising retirement age, this level of flexibility may soften the blow of an extended working life. Much depends on whether they can continue to embrace technological advances which will already have radically altered their experience of the office.

Sustainability is another key trend which is likely to extend its influence long into the future. Carbon Reduction Commitments or the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme could affect how people travel to work or not travel to work, encouraging more people to cut their carbon footprint by working from home or locally rather than commuting. The ability to communicate more efficiently than ever before may encourage more firms to relocate out of cities; location and connectivity will no longer go hand in hand. We can predict with certainty that the use of sustainable resources will rise as the development of new and composite materials potentially replaces concrete and steel. Developers need to embrace naturally vented, heated and lit workspaces, creating working landscapes as opposed to structured capsules.

Through innovative design, buildings – old and new – will be hallmarks for environmental efficiency. How we design and build new offices, if indeed that is what the workplace of the future will be called, will thus likely be one of the defining trends of the next two decades for the property sector – if not for business in general.

Gary Wingrove is the head of Construction Programme Management at BT and will take on the role of senior vice president for the British Council for Offices in 2011