Spacecraft — The Workplace Design Podcast

Rachel Edward is Workplace Futures Lead at Lendlease, and if you're involved in workplace in London you'd be pushed to not be aware of her work. She's Rachel has been involved in a number of pioneering projects working on workplaces globally applying evidence-based design thinking. 

Rachel is all about how people use the places that we build. She is passionate about building sustainable workplace communities, with a focus on how the design of places can make a difference — to society, to lifestyles, to businesses, and to the planet. 

In our interview, we look at how we design for the future alongside what we need now, and how to integrate the workplace into larger schemes.

Collin Burry has been with Gensler for nearly 27 years and is as passionate about design as the day he started, which comes across really well in our interview.

Collin has built his career and standing by delivering the kind of projects many of us would give a right arm to be involved with (Apple, Pixar, Nike, Samsung, E. & J. Gallo Winery, Nokia... the list is endless) winning over 85 design awards for his work.

Normally for a bio I cobble together bits I find on Linkedin and other sites, but I loved this on Collin's Linkedin About section so posting verbatim: "For me, design is about getting my hands dirty and diving head first into the learning process. Using my experiences, old and new, to improve my practice and lead me to new places. I am a left and right brain designer, creating environments that reflect my client’s ethos, while striving for authenticity and intuitive functionality. I consider myself a ‘soft modernist’, meaning I use contemporary thinking and techniques to evoke results that garner exceptional human experiences. I embrace influences from the arts to galvanize my design process and shepherd my clients to embrace extraordinary places and spaces. 

One of the proudest moments of my career was when I was inducted in the Interior Design Hall of Fame in 2013. SF Magazine also recognized me as one of the top 100 most influential LGBTQ leaders in the Bay Area. I am a long-time advocate of design education, championing the advancement of the Interior Design profession through legislative action and continued learning opportunities."

Collin is super-engaging and brimming with enthusiasm, with some great stories and experiences mixed in — enjoy!

Ivana Stanisic wowed me a while ago in a talk she did for PlaceLabs, the them was 'Belonging' her key message was the necessity of valuing personal agency.

Ivana’s talk portrayed her belief of how a sense of agency is not only important to people on an immediate, individual level, but how it’s key to the longevity and success of buildings and communities. “We have these joyful places which are socially and visually a mess.” Ivana went on to explain, “That’s why people go there, not because it’s a set of beautifully designed closed systems with buildings that architects have lovingly crafted… It’s because places have allowed people to move in, to adapt, change uses, and allow different types of people to move in.”

An Associate at Tate Hindle, Ivana has a particular interest and expertise in housing, as she considers this the most important place in people's lives – where design can make the most difference. The home environment – both the building itself and the place surrounding it – plays a huge part in quality of life and the wellbeing of the people who go on to inhabit the spaces we create. So I wanted to get her angle on how much has changed since we now spend more time at home and less time in the office.

She has extensive experience of residential-led, mixed-use projects and strategic masterplanning – both in the UK and internationally. She has worked on a wide range of projects, including all scales and stages of work – from individual buildings and streets, to neighbourhoods, towns and cities. Ivana is passionate about creating places that support communities and improve people’s lives – with users, insights, and collaboration at the heart of the design. In 2021, Ivana was shortlisted for the World Architecture News Female Frontier Awards – as an Emerging Architect of the Year, and was previously longlisted for RIBA Rising Stars in 2020.

I read Happiness by Design by Ben Channon during Covid, packed with sensible suggestions, and a checklist of how our homes should function — after the success of the book, Ben expanded on the concept into a Happiness by Design Toolkit, his most recent book, which looks at a much broader field of architecture and design including workplace. 

As an architect, author, TEDx speaker and mental wellbeing advocate, he is well known in the industry as a thought leader in designing for happiness and wellbeing. Ben is a Director at wellbeing design consultancy Ekkist, where he helps clients and design teams to create healthier places, and researches how buildings and urban design can impact how we feel.

He developed an interest in design for mental health, wellbeing and happiness after suffering with anxiety problems in his mid-twenties and talks openly about them in this interview - he now speaks about this subject to businesses and universities around the world.

After a unique route into real estate; Chris worked in managing agent and client-side roles on many of the most exciting developments of the last 20 years. 

With a focus on putting customer experience and unifying place narrative at the centre of asset strategy; he's long banged the drum for how places need to work for people, in order to realise relevant and authentic experiences and outperform business plan objectives.

Collaboration led to the creation of Cureoscity — a prop tech that provides digital layers for built environments, and Aletheia a strategic real estate placemaking and management consultancy. 

Both businesses have grown rapidly since their launch and are the main focus of Chris' work today... 

I'm know Rosanna through the PlaceLabs event we founded together (soon to be rebooted, might I add!) and can comfortably say she's one of the smartest, most engaging and creatively curious people I know. — and I know a lot of smart, engaging, creatively curious people. 

From the Place Bureau website:
"Rosanna Vitiello creates places with purpose. Guiding deep research into places and destinations she reveals their cultural potential and distinctiveness. With close to 20 years international experience, she’s an expert in place research interpreting the local essence of a place into striking narrative, public realm and experience design. As a creative director she has developed visions and place identities for many of the world’s leading cultural districts, natural destinations and urban developments, from Rio de Janiero, Brazil to Chengdu, China. She maintains a role as a Research Associate at Central St Martins, London"

The Place Bureau are a strategic studio that "re-imagines new frontiers for places around the world" explaining that "people value places that mean something to them. Drawing on urban research, foresight and cultural mapping we use narrative and cultural strategies to unlock the power of a place – defining what makes a place meaningful and articulating place identity".

The Place Bureau partners with innovative clients worldwide to "add a human, cultural dimension and long-term value to the places they develop – guiding them to enter markets with local credibility, generate civic impact, and attune to local distinctiveness."

We discuss a number of topics covered in Place Bureau's latest new report Civic Futures.

Nick explores his interest in progressive, diverse spaces for working and learning. He has a passion for promoting technology to innovate in how we create modern workplaces. In our podcast he share some of the secrets to Hawkins\Brown's unique approach to design.

Super passionate (and speaking at the speed of sound), Nick leads teams delivering award-winning designs in the workspace sector. He shares here his deep understanding of workspace client needs and future aspirations, enabling thought leadership and creative input that looks beyond the standard workspace product.

Nick has designed and delivered projects that have pushed the boundaries of future-thinking workspace projects. This includes buildings that are cutting edge in their approach to sustainability and health and wellbeing.

Here East for example, is a ground-breaking creative and digital hub located within London’s Olympic Park, converted from the existing Press and Broadcast Centres to provide space for academic institutions, local start-up businesses and established global companies. And in Canada Water, the former Printworks will provide circa 320,000sqft of Grade A office space and ancillary uses.

Nick also mentions this project in Wembley that never quite made it which is well worth a click! Wembley Studios Visuals

I find talking to Will is always inspiring, and though he's from a different sector I love his approach to work and passion for self initiated socially beneficial projects. Though he's a Landscape Architect by trade I find it hard to 'put him in a box', to me he's more and inventor / creator.

"Will joins the dots between architecture, art, the environment and imagination, adopting an innovative approach to the standard design process. He works across various sites, scales & styles, from furniture design, urban interventions and small-scale architectural projects, to larger strategies and masterplanning."

The youngest person ever to become a Fellow at the Landscape Institute he runs his own practice and consults with numerous other firms while also teaching at Landscape Architecture and Urban Design at Greenwich University. 

His practice is currently working on schemes for the public sector, local government and for private clients, including the reimagining of a car-centric environment in South Wales, a small rewilding scheme, and a sculptural street furniture collection. 

He has delivered installations at cultural institutions such as Glastonbury Festival, the Southbank Centre and several international projects with the British Council, most recently in Caracas where he led a collaborative team on the design and realisation of the Catalyst Cube. 

Enjoy!

Linkedin

Jennifer Bryan is a published author, speaker and Director of Change and Leadership, who has worked with nearly 40 different organisations across multiple industries. In today's podcast Jennifer manages to unpack all the complex elements you need to consider when looking at change management.

Much of her work is centred around her values of helping people, though her work that means helping people on all levels, by making sure people are thought of first, last and throughout change projects and programmes. She has developed a holistic approach to change and created a unique leading change framework, the ABChange Model and uses her commercial insight to help lead people in change.

Jennifer is a Non Executive Board Member of the ACMP (Association of Change Management Professionals) UK Chapter.  Jennifer is author of Leading People in Change – A practical guide (February 2021), book review on Elemental Change: Making stuff happen when nothing stands still by Neil Usher in Corporate Real
Estate Journal vol. 11.1, and articles Building Resilience in a Changing Environment in Workplace Insight Magazine (February 2022), Hybrid Working and How We Escape the Constraints of Leadership in Workplace Insight Magazine (April 2022), Leading Change with Foresight for Growth in AshleyKate HR news (January 2021), Principles, Assumptions and Etiquette on Virtual Change Management in AshleyKate HR news (July 2020), With the People End in Mind in AshleyKate HR News (February
2020) Successfully Managing Change in the Workplace in Corporate Real Estate Journal vol. 8.1 (October 2018), Journey of Leadership in the Workplace in iCroner (September 2014) and Lead Behaviour in Coaching at Work (July 2012). Jennifer has presented at University of Reading Henley Business School of Management Conference and Alumni masterclasses, Association of Change Management Professionals (Global and UK), World Institute of Action Learning Global Conference
and Loughborough University, to name a few...

James Saunders is the Associate Director of Workplace Recruitment at Talent Locker, they specialise in placing experts in Workplace Consulting and Change Management. Every business we speak to seems to be struggling to fill positions or find great people, so we thought this was a perfect time to ask an expert where have they all gone?

James has a fantastic network of people that can help design an environment that'll bring the best out of your employees.

With 15 years’ recruitment experience, James leads the Workplace, Co-Working and Real Estate team at Talent Locker. If you’re looking for an exciting new opportunity to really make a difference at a company or looking for the right person to make that kind of impact, reach out to him at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamessaunders1305/

Some useful links from James and his team:

Blog: Workplace trends: What’s new for 2022?
https://www.talentlocker.co.uk/blog/workplace-trends-whats-new-for-2022

2021 Workplace Trends Conference:
https://www.talentlocker.co.uk/blog/workplace-trends-2021-a-new-world-of-work

Blog: Back to workplace – the wrap up
https://www.talentlocker.co.uk/blog/workplace-recruitment-insights

 Workplace Strategy Salary Guide
https://www.talentlocker.co.uk/workplace-salary-guide