Thank you to all who attended Wednesday’s Workplace Innovations (Happiness+Productivity=Profitability) panel talk at Herman Miller’s stylish showroom. And thank you to our sponsors, Liza Evans Interior Design, SVN/QAV, M Moser Associates and Turner & Townsend Trestle.

The event featured a lively and informative panel discussion on the latest trends and technologies in the workplace.The high-profile panel featured: Global Director of Architecture at M Moser Associates, Russ Drinker; Liza Evans of Liza Evans Interior Design; Karl Knight, President & CFO of Rocketspace; Kevin Hydes, President & CEO of Integral Group; and Dr. Brandon Tinianov, VP of Business Development at View Inc.

The wide ranging discussion, moderated by Edd Burton of Turner & Townsend Trestle, covered areas including the importance of designing healthy workspaces, what start-ups are looking for in the places they work and how interior design can be used to reflect a company’s brand and culture in the workplace.

The discussion kicked-off with focus on the importance of utilizing technologies which create a healthy workspace. Kevin gave an overview of his experience of ways to intelligently manage the temperature and lighting within the workplace which, as well as providing an energy saving benefit, drives an increase in employee productivity. This point was reiterated by Brandon who described the ‘intelligent glass’ solution his company has created. The benefit of exposure to natural light was discussed – people who have a desk by a window during the day sleep better at night, which increases their productivity the following day! This has been recognized by RocketSpace – their London campus due to open in Q1 2017 is an oval building which will provide window access to all their users.

The importance of providing a healthy workspace was perfectly articulated by Russ, who highlighted cities such as Shanghai and Beijing where people go to work to improve their health by getting away from the smog and overcrowding. Aside from interior design and amenities, the importance of location and access to transport infrastructure was discussed. Russ highlighted how as a society an increasing proportion of the population is living in cities and that this is reflected in the desire for workspace in city locations. A particularly fascinating part of the discussion covered how workspaces were being designed for evolution. While the core and shell of office buildings are still being designed with a 50 year life, they are being designed in a way that the interior can be easily upgraded on a regular basis. This was highlighted by Karl who reflected on RocketSpace’s start-up clients and their desires for the latest workspace technology.

Liza led a discussion on interior design and user requirements. A recent trend being adopted in the design for many workspaces is the need for flexible and comfortable open space where employees could work collaboratively as well as have social interactions. Such interactions drive an increase in productivity and well-being.

One further topic which the panel addressed was the way in which the workspace design involved. This included the process of obtaining employee input to the design and amenities, and the need to link design to the company’s values: people want to work for employers who have values, and who in turn, value them”

The discussion concluded with the panel discussing the differences between London and San Francisco. While the sheer size of London means that the number of new, innovative buildings outweighs San Francisco, where the Bay Area does lead is the rate of change. In San Francisco we’re seeing more developers and end users adopting the latest trends and technology to the benefit of the workspace. The commonality between the two markets is that the change is almost exclusively being driven by the private sector.

Overall, a fun and informative event! Click here to see the photos