Welcome to workplaceforum.com

Workplace Forum is a research and learning network focused on global best practice in workplace design, technology, and management. The forum aims to advance the understanding and practice of the relationship between the evolving workplace and business performance.

We run regular events for members, including workshops, study tours, site visits and conferences.

During 2008, events will be held in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

The papers and case studies on this site focus on some of the best examples of innovative workplaces across the globe and discuss the latest in workplace research and ideas. This content is only available to Workplace Forum Members. See the about us section for information on how to become a member.

Workplace Forum is facilitated by DEGW, an international design consultancy focused on the changing nature of work, new supporting technologies and their impact on people, processes and place.

LATEST NEWS

Linking Workplace Forum to the 21st Century
Audio files now available on workplaceforum.com

As part of a continuous effort to share thought provoking information with Workplace Forum members, you can now download audio recordings of study tour and event presentations on www.workplaceforum.com. Aligned with our aim to advance the understanding and practice of the relationship between the evolving workplace and business performance, this new feature seeks to combine both face to face and online elements of networking.

Members, listen to online presentations recorded during the UK’s two most recent Workplace Forum events: Measurement, Place and Space and Technology, Place and Space.

If you are not a member yet, listen to a sample of Dr Francis Duffy’s presentation Workplace Performance recorded during the UK’s Workplace Forum event Measurement, Place and Space: WMV or MP3.

This is Your Workplace Forum

What Makes Workplace Forum so Special
By John Worthington, DEGW Co-Founder

‘Founded almost 20 years ago, Workplace Forum is still a pioneer in the field of construction and real estate. It recognises the power of Knowledge and the value of learning from DEGW’s own past experience and that of others and the formula is simple and elegant.

It is a supportive club where workplace users meet face to face in a trusting environment to share problems and successes and access a global network of experience. The subscription membership is small, no more than 30 companies, of which no more than 30% are invited suppliers of services or products… Read more

SUMMARY OF RECENT EVENTS

Europe

Workplace Forum Munich: Future Workspace - The Brief for Change

The impact of information and communications technology on the way we work and where we work has been profound. Our definitions of work are blurring. When and where we work are no longer defined by regulated hours, nor company-owned locations. We are presented with a wider range of settings in a new landscape. To meet this shift, new real estate products are emerging and we are rethinking the way that we procure, brief and design these settings . . . Read more

Workplace Paradigm Shifts: Learning from Experience

Workplace innovation is facing a paradigm shift in response to unprecedented advances in technology and the mobility of work, need for responsivenss to business change, and the globally collaborative nature of today's organizations and environmental imperatives. Australia has been at the forefront of workplace innovation for some years, and what looks and feels current best-practice was only recently seen as bleeding edge . . . Read more

Learning to Work, Working to Learn
Design in Educational Transformation

Education at every level in the UK is undergoing radical transformation. Universities are responding to changing demographics and economic pressures and the impact of technology on learning and teaching, further education’s role in skills development and preparing young people for the workplace is expanding through the widening participation agenda and schools are being radically transformed through the ‘Building Schools for the Future’ and the Scottish Schools PPP programmes… Read more

Using Workplace Solutions to Enhance the Effectiveness of Public Sector Delivery

Using workplace design and change to inspire better business is convincing many governments and their departments of the operational, human resource and economic benefits to be gained. The work environment is no longer viewed as a passive overhead but as a powerful and integral aspect of government business which, given the right attention and investment, can significantly enhance the effectiveness of public service delivery… Read more

The Art of Designing Places for Science

A primary driver of the Knowledge Economy is the development of new areas of science and its exploitation through innovation to create new ideas, products and services.

This Workplace Forum study tour will explore the role that property as the place for science can play in facilitating the science and innovation process… Read more

The Americas

The role of workplaces in attracting staff to companies and organizations is increasingly significant. New ways of working raise questions about the meaning of place in an increasingly virtual world. As knowledge workers become increasingly mobile and work becomes more portable, the idea of the city as workplace becomes more important. Richard Florida and others have highlighted the high value that creative workers place on the cultures and environments of the cities they live and work in. As mobile work solutions become more common, companies are considering locations based on the public and cultural amenities available to their work forces. Seattle, a leader in emerging initiatives that address live/work solutions, will be the site of DEGW North America’s first Workplace Forum in 2008 . . . Read more

Physical Workspaces, Virtual Products

Today, business requires that we communicate and collaborate at a global scale. This means embracing differences in time zone, language, and culture. As global travel becomes more costly, and the world more conscious of its environmental impacts, organizations are increasingly looking for products, tools and services that improve their ability to work virtually… Read more