Offices for good – Free webinar

How has the office workplace changed… “for good”? 

The role of offices in sustaining the vitality of towns and city centres

Whether it be public or private sector, the role of offices and the workplace has changed drastically since the pandemic, with the need for space in terms of both quantity and type altering significantly. It also has an impact on work styles, organisational culture, the wellbeing of staff and carbon emissions.

Over the next few months, Local Partnerships and ACES will be exploring these issues further with some notable experts and commentators in our “Offices for Good” series. 

In our first free webinar of the series on Thursday 29 February at 11am, Jackie Sadek, Chair of the UK Innovation Corridor, will be focusing on the role of local authorities as custodians of their place.

Jackie will explore: how can we best deploy the asset that is council offices to support our local economies and town centres?

Flexible working, hybrid working, working from home, – whatever you call it – is having a dramatic impact on the nature and size of office accommodation required and wider implications for the vitality of our towns and cities where average office occupancy is stagnating around 30%. Many organisations are downsizing, but are not quite sure how big they should be and what worksettings to create. 

For local authorities, the situation is critical, many are facing a funding crisis and cannot afford to be holding and maintaining surplus space. What should they be seeking to do in response? Our “Offices for Good” series of webinars and articles will culminate in a launch event at the prominent conference UK’s Real Estate Investment and Infrastructure Forum (UKREiiF) on 22 May. We will focus on establishing a collaborative, practical programme to help local authorities respond to the issues and address the questions of what a fit for purpose future office estate needs to look like and how it is achieved.