The Worktech 2025 conference explored the changing world of work, with a focus on AI, the changing purpose of the workplace and the maturation of the flexible workplace.
The event, held in central London, welcomed a plethora of consultants, facility managers and high-profile end users from global businesses for a full day of insightful thought leadership and networking.
The first session of the day, titled Stories of global innovation, saw Phillip Ross, CEO and founder, Cordless Group and Ungroup, explore how AI is continuing to integrate with IT and AV systems through Cisco, Zoom and Microsoft Teams, to create the future of hybrid work, highlighting the importance of data science teams and analysts that are now crucial to real estate groups. Some clients, such as JP Morgan, are exploring this data-driven approach to their facilities which puts data science at the centre of their operations.
Staying on the topic of AI, Ibrahim Yate, smart building market analyst, Verdantix, explored how AI use cases are putting real estate data related to workflow at the top, where C suite staff want to boost workplace productivity and achieve greater organisational efficiency but believes that C suite personnel regularly underestimate the value of AI in data on a consistent basis.
Exploring purpose
A session dedicated to the exploration of Revolut’s new London headquarters asked: “What is an office for?” With Alena Rybalko, real estate & operations, Revolut, and Simon Hart, group creative director, AIS Workplace.
Hart explained that the pre-pandemic offices were designed to impress clients, however, today’s office has grown organically to become an environment to support staff, especially around social areas. Environments today are created that focus on social aspects, says Hart, allowing employees to exist. This is something that Hart claims is attracting people back into the office. Rybalko agrees, claiming that this has allowed Revolut to see a 30% increase in staff coming into the office, offering 17,000 unique positions for staff to sit at.
Work flexibly
While staff are returning to the office, flexible work is firmly here to stay. Since 2000, the UK has been growing significantly. According to Vecos, the UK is expected to see its flexible work setup in the UK to grow by 12%, pushing it into Vecos’ category of mature flexible working economies which includes The Netherlands, Scandinavia, as well as Australia and New Zealand.
A separate discussion highlighted how the purpose of the office does not have a one size fits all solution. Rodney Hogg, director of property, Virgin Media 02, believes that the purpose of the office is to create environments for collaboration without forcing people back into the office, becoming a magnet instead. The secret to this, in Hogg’s view, is to create a collaborative space with breakout areas, allowing employees to work flexibly.
Umberto Serra, smart collaboration manager, Lenovo, concurs, suggesting that collaboration is everything by bringing people together for a shared purpose. For Serra, this is no easy task, as connecting people is often considered the most difficult thing to do today. The technology in the workplace, Serra says, should be invisible for end users to drive behaviour in a natural way. The commute must be earned, in Serra’s view, as a new generation is coming to the office, familiar with technology that is typically more advanced than what is found in the office. As a result, organisations will need to ‘earn the commute’ of people by being forward and thinking and ready to adapt, harnessing technology that is agile to create futureproof workspaces. Technology, Serra says, is evolving faster than real estate can realistically change, so organisations should avoid looping into endless proof of concept phases when technology is changing.
Matt O’ Halloran, director, Smart Spaces, added that the answer comes in saving people time. As a result, the technological experience must be frictionless, with a focus on reducing downtimes to help culture flow long term. In O’Halloran’s view, technology must be a unifying force, creating a frictionless experience where employees don’t feel judged or processed.
Hogg adds that the key to creating futureproof offices in unpredictable times all comes down to understanding the strategy of an organisation, identifying what is on the horizon and understanding what employees need from their offices. The trick, Hogg says, is in creating a building design that is flexible, but sets boundaries around how the office is used. While it’s not easy, Hogg believes that this is the right balance to strike in creating a futureproofed work environment.
Sensing the change
In a focussed analysis of GSK HQ, Chris Higgins, head of EMEA, workplace, real estate and facilities, and James Fretton, chief of staff, workplace, real estate and facilities, GSK, conducted a study on its new headquarters, which GSK claims to be one of the healthiest buildings in the world. The duo shared their results which looked at how people were impacted by the building’s soundscape, colours and temperatures by analysing heart rates, sleep patterns, as well as an analysis of focus and memory.
Operational data from sensors throughout the building showed a 3% improvement in focus, 6% improvement in working memory, 1.2% improvement in focus compared to home working. The study found a 6% reduction in high stress, one beat per minute, which was tied to a combination of biophilia and soundscaping throughout the building.
When it comes to meeting spaces, sensors in the building automatically cancelled more than 700 meetings per month when no people physically turned up to the space, freeing meeting room real estate for further usage.
Analysing hybrid
A fireside discussion for hybrid space planning saw Max Bodiner, real estate manager, Capgemini, and Callum Treadwell, FM systems manager, Sainsbury’s, explore the impact of hybrid working on office design.
Treadwell explained that, in previous locations, Sainsbury’s had fully booked out meeting rooms on Tuesday’s, Wednesday’s, and Thursday’s, whereas all meeting rooms are now VC enabled to allow teams who work in disparate corporate offices across the UK to bring in remote workers to meetings without using the entirety of an office’s real estate. In today’s office, Sainsbury’s has added event spaces and workshop areas to bring teams together, retaining smaller pods for short, sit-down sittings or private calls.
Bodiner believes that some people want more polished meetings rooms or more ‘dressed down’ collaborative spaces where employees are treated in the same way as clients, whereas Treadwell adds that flexibility has improved, with the Sainsbury’s executive meeting rooms available for use by walk-ins if they are not in use by the executive team.
Stay connected
An expert panel, chaired by Nigel Miller, managing director, Cordless Group, explored how connected workplaces are evolving. At the heart of this is Wellcome Trust’s new campus, which will feature homes, a traditional campus, data centres, school and a health club, turning a closed science campus into a new community with 10,000 people expected to live in the area in the next 10 years.
Miller says that, as a consultant, he has seen significant change as Covid. IT and technology have traditionally been seen as a ‘bolt-on’ to facilities, whereas its importance has gone up and the pandemic changed that.
The event was well attended by a range of stakeholders across real estate, technology and facility management, driving interconnected narratives that blend every aspect of running a workplace and office with technology through collaborative discussions and expert insight.