This informal CPD article THE OFFICE OF NOW - Why you should be selling smart design was provided by Scenariio, a leading specialist in high quality IT infrastructure and smart building technology built on over 30 years’ experience.
The Office Of Now - Smart design
March 2020 saw the UK undergo the most seismic shift in attitudes towards the workplace in living memory. Overnight, business owners were faced with enforced remote working for their staff, and the need to adapt their office spaces to the challenges of hybrid working became increasingly apparent as the lockdowns continued and staff became used to a new way of working.
Covid-19 has caused a complete re-evaluation of how office spaces work. The glacial shift towards flexible working and smarter office spaces was suddenly turbo-charged as “the office of the future” became “the office of now”.
M&E consultants and architects are being forced to pivot their thinking and smart design has become a critical way to attract and retain clients. However, there are often challenges – including the lack of smart infrastructure – that hadn’t previously been at the forefront of minds and are now a barrier to change.
So how can these challenges be met?
This article will take a deeper dive into the reasons why smart environments are more important now than ever before, and – crucially – help you work out how you can design for the “new normal”.
Why Your Clients Want A Smart Environment
Without the right technology infrastructure in place, smart buildings can quickly become expensive and ineffective, but if you engage early, plan well and design intelligently, “the office of the future” can benefit both your business, and the working environment of your clients.
A little more than a decade ago, smart offices were still seen as pipe dreams, with ideas and principles behind them exceeding the limitations of the technology that was available and – more importantly – affordable. However, the explosive growth of the Internet of Things (IoT) and the connected device market has meant that it is now almost expected that offices incorporate at least some elements of smart technology.
One of the key reasons for this is efficiency, both in terms of how we work and the energy that is consumed in doing so. In the days of fixed work stations, desktop computers and reliance on landline phones, businesses usually worked to a “one person, one desk” model.
However, the shift towards remote working – accelerated over the last 18 months due to the pandemic – has made adaptability an essential part of any office set up. Setting up a smart environment means that those using the building can seamlessly hot desk, immediately getting great connectivity to their devices and working in the same way they would in a more traditional office environment, but without the constraints.
This also has the added benefit of future proofing, ensuring that the infrastructure is in place to allow the occupier to adapt to future changes in technology and working patterns. It comes as no surprise that the businesses that adapted quickest to the enforced changes brought on by the pandemic were those that already had solid technology infrastructure in place beforehand.
By getting the basic elements right at the point of design and ensuring that the nuts and bolts are in the right place, businesses in smart settings can then adapt and evolve the devices that they use in-office safe in the knowledge that the infrastructure is there to support them. Overall, the real crux of the matter is that smart offices have increased appeal to both the businesses occupying them and the staff that will be working in them.
Smart workspaces are about more than just technology – it truly helps in understanding a team’s preferences and pain points, allowing businesses to optimise it for their use and create an atmosphere that improves their productivity, health and wellbeing at work.
Building a Sustainable Future
Chief among the reasons for creating a smart office is the positive impact it can have on sustainability. In addition to the material benefits, sustainability is one of the key concerns of both businesses and individuals and – with an increased focus on ‘being green’ permeating government policy and business planning alike – ambitious targets for reducing emissions and hitting carbon net zero are now the norm.
Alongside this, people are becoming even more acutely aware of their personal responsibility towards the environment, and are making sure that they are doing what they can to reduce their own impact on the planet. Meshing those two complementary aims together is the workplace, and this for many businesses is the key driver towards smart solutions.
Through intelligent use of infrastructure, sensors and smart devices, businesses and end users alike can have total control over lighting, heating, security and numerous other elements of their technologies.
The benefits of this are two-fold:
- The use of sensors and their supporting infrastructure gives your clients full visibility of how and when energy is consumed, allowing them to make adjustments as required.
- The end user is able to make use of the smart office safe in the knowledge that lights won’t be left on overnight or the heating won’t be running unnecessarily, helping contribute to a more sustainable office environment.
