SBS workspace projectUpdate, showcase, ideas

and discussionIan Ellison, Tim Davidson-Hague, If Price

Centre for Facilities Management Development

Ian HeathFacilities Directorate

On behalf of SBS Accommodation Group

Format

1. Introductory comments and announcements

2. Project update

3. Project remit and philosophy emerging findings

4. Showcase

– HE sector

– Other sector

– ‘Fringe’ picture/post-it feedback task

5. Facilitated feedback and discussion

Workshop: desired outcomes

Provide a project update

Capture feedback on showcase examples

Provide a voice (comments, feedback, consultation)

Explore the epistemology and ontology of workplace change

2. Project status• Done:

– SBS all staff survey (various feedback methods)

– Ning online community site operational

– ECHQ showcase visit

• Currently ongoing:– Learning and teaching space

– Sustainability, carbon reduction, heating and ventilation exploration

– Business stakeholder engagement (current and potential)

– Document management and storage – call for volunteers?

Project status (continued)

• Still to do (by September deadline):– Specialist consideration of Owen workspace

– Student stakeholder engagement (current and potential)

• Potential future work (beyond scope):– Flexible working and workspace link

– Enabling technology and workspace link

– Student experience engagement “a sense of home”

– Empower and encourage individual journeys of alternative space use

– Pilots and space experiments?

3. Recap: the original brief

• Develop a strategic brief for SBS accommodation that is:

– ‘location independent’ (i.e. not just Stoddart and Owen)– covers all spaces– aligned to SBS strategy – financially realistic– developed through consultation– evidenced by research

• Deliver the strategic brief to SBS Exec by Sept 2010

Approach

1. Define and discuss brief with respect to Stoddart (as a frame of reference)

2. Develop alternatives to meet same workplace need

3. What happens then depends on SBS Exec discussions with SHU

Stoddart versus ECHQ (for example….)

More people supported

Workstations provided

FTE Staff supported m2 per staff member

m2 per work station0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

ECHQ

STD

STD w/o teaching

A different balance of space

Client Teaching Meeting Office0.00

10.00

20.00

30.00

40.00

50.00

60.00

70.00

80.00

90.00

ECHQ

STD

STD w/o t

Pause for thought?

• “In fact, space management may well be the most ignored — and most powerful — tool for inducing culture change, speeding up innovation projects, and enhancing the learning process in far-flung organizations. While we fret ceaselessly about facilities issues such as office square footage allotted to various ranks, we all but ignore the key strategic issue — the parameters of intermingling”

(Peters, 1992, Liberation Management)

Ok, so where are we now?1. There is strong (not unanimous) support for the proposition that the current

workspace is not aligned to SBS Strategy

2. Our recommendation (based on examples elsewhere) is that workspace has the potential to be a strategic enabler and the current space poses a significant barrier to achieving the SBS plan

3. Options:

– Do nothing (or incrementally expand existing) and put SBS at risk– Invest in improvements to common space and increase net footprint. Financial

case hard to justify– Find an intelligent way to achieve more with less

4. This does not mean a ‘one size fits all’ solution

5. We envisage a continuum of workspace needs and preferences (tasks or activity, work preference, personality, health….)

Suggestions• Different or better meeting spaces

(36)

• ‘Fix’ heating, cooling and ventilation (35)

• Branding work place (22)

• Deli bar (19)

• Teaching space (18) significant dissatisfaction and (1) OK apart from a lick of paint?

• Facilitate informal interaction (18)

• Decor (16)

• Desire for more open plans (14)

• Desire for more privacy (13)

• Reception areas in Stoddart (13)

• More flexible spaces and practices (13)

• Lack of maintenance (10)

• Aspects of design and room layout (9)

• Aspects of co-location (8)

• staff more accessible to students (6)

• Improved IT (6)

• A common room (5) specifics, though many more suggested informal interaction or other means to achieve it

• More storage (5)

Language

• Open plan• Hot-desking• Desk sharing• Nomadic working• New ways of working• Etc….

Devilry

Devilry

Devilry

Devious wordplay

Insulting

Open plan?

Source: http://destination.blog.co.uk/2009/08/06/call-centre-6661522/

Open plan?

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1259309/Why-open-plan-offices-bad-health.html

Open plan?

Source: http://www.theoccidentalobserver.net/authors/AKIndianCallCentre.jpg

Open plan?

Open plan?

Adding value, feeling valued?

Above: TBWALeft: Google Zurich

www.beinteriordecorator.#26333F

A different psychological contract?

Employee

WorkspaceEmployer

Needs (not wants)

Needs

Variety of work tasks

Personal preference

HealthTeam dynamics

Generations

Space for thought study

Needs: KOffice playground concept

KOffice: “enriched space menu”

The modern office as experiential teaching space?

http://sbsworkspace.ning.com/

Different narratives

NowNew vision

What if?

I have specific needs

I cannot see how xyz can be met in an

open plan

I would rather have

good ICT than a desk

Nothing’s broken. Why

change?

I’m open to try things. Can I get involved?

This could make us

something really special

“What is truth in academic workspace?”

1. I need space to concentrate

2. I can only do concentrated work at home

3. I need an office to have confidential conversations

4. I need all my storage

5. The heating system does not work / makes me ill

1. Does that have to be next to a phone and email? Does SBS need a modern equivalent of the reading room?

2. Does it matter? Flexibility?

3. Could you have them somewhere else?

4. To hand? What about better document management and storage? What about better support so boxes of teaching materials don’t need to be under the desk?

5. Is it made worse by sitting in a large storage heater?

Open plans does not work in academia?

• Support for UG, PG teaching and doctoral teaching

• Support for good RAE

• Support for student interaction

• Ample storage

• Better space utilisation than SHU average

• Some hot-desking

• Academic and support staff interaction

• Visual openness reduces aural distraction (Becker and Steele, 2003)

• “We were lucky to get unit 7” (Price and Fortune, 2008)

4. Design showcase• Picture/post-it feedback task

SHU points of interest

• Ian Heath

Facilitated discussion

Workplace versus workspace

Pinder et al. (2009)

Is it about changing priorities?

• More / better– client space (including

teaching)– shared common space– meeting space– quiet space– IT / Comms– FM support

• Less / fewer /smaller– storage– desks– corridors– walls– 'offices'

Space by need, not status (Individual and job)

Thank you

• Any comments or questions?