Community offices
A JLL survey of 1,300 20-25 year olds in May 2020 following the Coronavirus lock down found:
- A dramatic shift in staff appetite for home working.
- An increase in numbers wanting to move home to acquire more private space for home working with faster broadband.
It appears that the appeal of home working is primarily influenced by wasted downtime and the inconvenience of commuting. Pre COVID-19, 2% of the population worked 3-4 days a week from home. Post COVID-19 (although still in the eye of the storm) 24% of respondents expressed a wish to work 3-4 days from home.
From a manager’s viewpoint, conventional offices will always be required for collaborative and creative activity as well as corporate cohesion. There are however compelling adverse environmental and health issues in relation to public and private transport, and there is accumulating evidence demonstrating to employers that home working is as productive as office working, with improved cognitive performance and better sleep patterns. In addition, one of the reasons given by those wanting to escape urban living, other than the affordability of house and garden space, is a greater sense of community living.
However, for all its advantages, home working also has its distractions. Productivity can be disturbed by family and domestic issues, and separation between work and social life is generally considered desirable. In addition, many houses simply do not have a space for a dedicated office.
As a result, there is an opportunity to provide small, intimate, local workspaces a stone’s throw away from residences in a form that is a cross between an community facility and a serviced office.
Facilities such as sports clubs, town and village halls often struggle to generate income when they are not being used for their primary activity, which can be as much as three quarters of the time. Changing work patterns may offer an opportunity to provide local communal office hubs available during working hours to people nearby who may otherwise be working from home.
Services might include:
- Office style desk spaces.
- A ‘lounge’ area.
- Fast internet service
- Catering facilities or services.
- Parking.
- Private meeting rooms.
- Photocopying and printing.
Cost considerations for establishing such facilities might include; utilities and internet provision, catering and cleaning services, access and security services, layout changes, furnishings and so on.
Charges could be set by studying local serviced office facilities and might include:
- Basic membership per month.
- Workstation hire per day.
- Meeting room hire per hour.
- Food and beverage provision.
- Photocopying and printing charges.
The resulting shift in working patterns could not only improve work/life balance and re-invigorate community facilities, it could relieve congestion in our cities and on our transport network and reduce the resulting carbon emissions.
[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki
- Change of use class.
- Defining the office.
- London office construction continues to rise.
- Office definition.
- Office manual.
- Office.
- Post Occupancy Evaluation: operational performance of a refurbished office building.
- The Biophilic Office.
- Types of building.
- Use class.
- Wellbeing and creativity in workplace design - case studies.
- Workplace definition.
- Workplaces of the future.
Featured articles and news
Heat pump announcements, what homeowners need to know
An 'ultimate guide to heat pumps' from a heating company.
Construction contract awards reach £7.1bn in February
Their highest level in seven months.
The journey to sustainability in heritage
Research is the key to better understanding.
Heritage approaches to adaptation, mitigation and loss.
Bridging the gap between policy, finance and installation.
Development on brownfield land
Definition, background, policy and the latest consultation.
With the Design Framework for Building Services.
Retrofit of Buildings, a CIOB Technical Publication
Pertinent technical issues, measures and the roles involved.
ECA joins HSE campaign to support mental health
Working Minds’ five simple steps based on risk assessment.
Mental health in the construction industry
Mental health issues in brief with related articles.
Transitional arrangements, Building Control and the BSR.
For pre-October buildings with substantial progress by April.
How to write an inspection and test plan
ITPs for quality control and assurance particular elements.
Why quality counts in domestic ventilation systems
From products, to systems to the installation.
Empowering the Future with CIOB Academy
Lifelong learning, upscaling, and reskilling for the built environment.
Winners of the 2024 ASBP Awards
Project, Product and Initiative according to the 6 pillars.