The British Council for Offices (BCO) is set to launch a major new report on workplace wellbeing to a Northern audience at an event hosted by one of its authors.
The acclaimed report – “Wellness Matters: Health and Wellbeing in offices and what to do about it” – will be presented at a seminar at Neo in Charlotte Street, Manchester on 18 October.
Joint author James Pack, founder of Sentinel RPI, will present key findings from the report to an audience of BCO members and representatives from the commercial property sector.
The Wellness Matters research is one of the largest pieces of research undertaken by the BCO and took one year to complete.
Phil Doyle, Chairman of the BCO Northern Committee and Director at 5Plus Architects, will be chairing the seminar and officially launching the 2019 BCO Awards, which celebrate the very best workplaces in the UK.
Talking about the forthcoming seminar, Phil said: “Health and wellness in the workplace is growing in importance and the Wellness Matters project has created a practical guide to achieving health and wellbeing in offices. Working with leading medical and academic experts the research has reviewed the existing evidence base of leading sustainability and health and wellbeing standards.
“The result is an outcome-focused framework against which these standards have been mapped. By doing so the study provides a concise point of reference for clients and their advisors as well as design and construction teams and sets out the best practice guidance for implementing and achieving health and wellbeing across the office lifecycle.
“As one of the BCO’s most significant studies, we look forward to officially launching the study in Manchester to a Northern audience”.
Elaine Rossall, Chair of the BCO Research Committee, commented: “The health and wellness agenda is, rightly, growing in importance. ‘Wellness Matters’ responds to this new focus and provides practical advice to BCO members on the issues surrounding health and wellbeing in the workplace, and what they can do to nurture it.
As an industry, we need to move away from the perception that health and wellbeing is reserved for the occupier to manage during fit-out and staff management. With this report, we at the BCO are challenging this view – there are opportunities throughout a building’s lifecycle to enable change. Successful intervention should manifest in shorter voids for developers; greater income retention for investors and healthier, happier staff for occupiers who will gain from better recruitment and retention.”
First launched at the BCO’s annual conference in Berlin in May, the study claims that businesses willing to invest in health and wellbeing are seeing increased productivity, lower costs from less illness and enhanced reputation. The research also provides a practical guide to creating healthy environments across the different stages of a building’s lifecycle.
The seminar will include a Q&A with report author James Pack, who will be joined by Professor Derek Clements-Croome, Strategic Advisor on Attainment and Management of Healthy and Sustainable Environments.
Following the research presentation, Hilson Moran will discuss the WELL Accreditation and process together with an introduction to their offices at Neo, winner of the BCO’s Regional Innovation Award 2018. BCO judges applauded Hilson Moran for its sustainable approach, earning the development the UK’s third WELL Certification.
This research project was commissioned and sponsored by the BCO and is a collaboration between Elementa Consulting, Sentinel RPI, Perkins + Will, Will & Partners, and Professor Paul Cullinan, Dr Sara DeMatteis and Professor Derek Clements-Croome.
The BCO is the UK’s leading forum for the discussion and debate of issues affecting the office sector. Established in 1990, its membership base comprises organisations involved in creating, acquiring or occupying office space, including architects, lawyers, surveyors, financial institutions and public agencies. The BCO recognises that offices don’t just house companies, they hold people and so what goes on inside them is paramount to workplace wellbeing.
For more information and to reserve your place, please visit the BCO website.
