Agile workers need agile spaces

Modern factories, with their robotic arms constantly moving in pristine environments, look, sound and feel very different to their predecessors.

Offices are undergoing an equivalent transformation. Again, it’s being driven – or, more accurately, made possible – by technology. Agile working is now the trend, where work is done according to where and when the best outcomes are achieved. Workers are no longer tied to the same computer, so the requirement for a separate desk for each person disappears. People can hot-desk when they need to work individually or access IT together in areas designed for collaborative sessions.

As a result, the demand is for, flexible, multifunctional workspaces, including:-

• meeting rooms that can be reconfigured to host presentations or group brainstorming sessions
• quiet areas where people can focus on individual work
• ‘hot desks’ where workers can log-in and work wherever a space is free, rather than at the same spot every day

By its nature, agile working will mean a different thing for every business.  But it should involve every aspect of a business, not least its workspaces.  Where can tasks can be done most effectively, to get the best results? Just as people are at their most productive if empowered to work flexibly, so too are buildings.