WORKTECH 09 London Conference

My name is Marina Kostadinovic. I am a Business Student at ESCP Europe, and currently an intern at BBC Workplace, working with Chris Kane and others as a research assistant.

Last week I had the privilege of attending the WORKTECH '09 conference at the British Library, a gathering of all those involved in the future of work, workplace design, technology and innovation. This was a wonderful opportunity to meet people and learn about the latest workplace ideas.

The BBC was represented not only by the Chair (Technology Correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones), but also by Chris Kane who, together with Despina Katsikakis from DEGW, presented the BBC Worldwide Media Centre case study.

Keynote speaker, Alain de Botton, presented ideas from his new book Pleasures and Sorrows of Work. In his talk, he emphasised the idea that employers should know what they require from each employee and then give them the freedom to achieve these goals individually. He also discussed the idea that people go to work because they want to feel fulfilled and satisfied and not because they have to.

Flexible working demands clear objectives and the freedom to achieve them. Work won't happen in offices anymore; it will happen 'elsewhere' - in social hubs, inspiring places or on neutral ground. However, offices will not disappear, as they represent space where people come to cooperate. Some foresee a world in which, due to the change in workplace strategies, we will witness change in infrastructure and the ways in which countries are organised, i.e. that cities will stop growing and people will stop commuting. Companies will focus on implementation of new technologies, thereby enabling teams to cooperate at a distance.

Alongside the BBC Worldwide case study, other presentations were made on the Macquarie Group, Sydney and Nokia, Beijing.

The conference had other great speakers, including: John De Lucy, Head of Estate & Facilities, the British Library; Mark Dixon, CEO and founder of Regus; Guy Holden, VP and GM, JCI Global Workplace Solutions; Simon Ward, Group Property Director, Barclays; Roger Madelin, Joint CEO of Argent; Jack Pringle, Founder of Pringle Brandon; Erik Veldhoen, Founder of Veldhoen & Co.; Grant Baldwing, Macquarie Group; Clive Wilkinson, Architect; John Sellery; Adam Mundy, M Moser Architects; David Martin, founder of SMART Technologies; Philip Vanhoutte, MD, EMEA Plantronics; and David Firth, Author.