Workplace

Nowadays most of our time is spent indoors, so it’s vital to check the quality of our indoor environments. The importance of proper ventilation in support of indoor air quality (IAQ), for example, cannot be overstated in assessing the spaces we inhabit. Existing research suggests that poor ventilation may lead to increased indoor CO₂ levels that can cause cognitive function scores to drop significantly, and may be a key cause of tiredness, concentration problems, and even ill-health.

This research focused on the real-time monitoring of CO₂ levels in Hames Sharley’s new studio in Perth, Western Australia. Hames Sharley is committed to providing a quality workplace that optimises comfort, wellbeing, and productivity. This study provided the multidisciplinary design studio with the opportunity to assess its building’s performance and its responsiveness to the dynamics of a hybrid agile workplace setting through its real-time HVAC system sensor data.

• Health
• Interior Design
• Workplace

In an effort to better understand commuter behaviour, Hames Sharley recently assessed its own employees’ commuter behaviours in response to the relocation of its new Perth studio. The research, conducted by Hames Sharley’s Emil E Jonescu, Stephen Moorcroft and Dean Symington, made a surprising conclusion – that a simple office relocation and change in mode of working has the potential to increase employee activity levels, ultimately improving health and wellbeing in the workplace.

• Design
• Culture
• Workplace
• Wellbeing

How designing for more than just work invigorates people and cities

Through the execution of our new Perth studio, Hames Sharley is leading the way in showcasing how offices can attract staff back into the workplace, and in turn benefit the city, our people and project outcomes.

• Retail
• Workplace
• Architecture
• Design
• Culture

Bringing home into the workplace: Why offices are embracing domestic design

Why are offices embracing domestic design? Louisa Glennon and Stephen Moorcroft answer the question for Facility Perspectives in their latest article: Bringing home into the workplace.

• Architecture
• Design
• Culture
• Interior Design
• Workplace

What can the workplace learn from lockdown?

Australian design firm Hames Sharley surveyed all staff across its six studios to investigate the impact of working from home and the lessons that could be translated back into the workplace.

• COVID-19
• Workplace
• Wellbeing

A changeroom of their own: the importance of designing for women in sport

Hames Sharley, like the AFL is taking steps in the right direction to make significant improvements in this area and become more gender-inclusive; not just adding female teams, but by creating spaces which accommodate for women too.

• Architecture
• Culture
• Design
• Diversity
• International Women’s Day
• Workplace

How COVID-19 is changing the way we work

Hames Sharley Principal and Workplace Portfolio Leader Stephen Moorcroft discusses the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on the traditional workplace, and what we can learn from the experience.

• Design
• Interior Design
• Workplace
• COVID-19

Doing your homework on working remote

For organisations new to or unfamiliar with running their businesses off-site, this can pose a challenge and leave many feeling unsettled. Here are some simple ways to ensure your chances of a successful transition are less…remote.

• Architecture
• Culture
• Diversity
• Workplace
• Wellbeing
• COVID-19

The Progression of Equality in the Workplace

How are you going to celebrate International Women’s Day on Sunday March 8th? We spoke with Rebecca Spencer from the Perth studio on achieving #EachforEqual in the workplace. Hear her story, her thoughts and the actions she is taking to promote equality in the workplace.

• International Women’s Day
• Culture
• Workplace

The voice of experience

Hames Sharley was well represented at this year’s Good Design Week Symposium – we talk to Derek Hays and Brook McGowan about their roles as keynote speakers, and how participation in similar events can influence the next generation of architects.

• Workplace
• Education
• Design
• Architecture
• Culture

It’s not often that a physical interior workplace design feature can so swiftly polarise opinion - but the tenant circulation stair is often a hot topic on any multi floor workplace fit out.

• Workplace
• Design
• Interior Design
• Architecture

A design for inclusion

With this week marking the twentieth anniversary of Harmony Day in Australia, we turned our thoughts towards the part cultural diversity plays in the design industry: why inclusivity is not just desirable in the workplace but essential, bringing a whole host of advantages that are lost in a less multicultural environment.

• Diversity
• Workplace
• Culture

A sit down with Adelaide’s new Studio Leader, Leon Gouws

• Culture
• Design
• Architecture
• Workplace

Why being a member of an industry body can help communities flourish

Industry bodies play a bigger part in our every day lives than many people realise. As well as unifying and supporting their members, industry bodies work hard to champion the rights of those not only within the industry, but also strive to make positive changes which benefit the wider community.

• Design
• Workplace
• Culture

Is it all over for open-plan?

Current research suggests that open-plan workplaces are failing in their understood aim to foster collaboration… but the fault doesn’t necessarily lie in the concept.

• Workplace
• Interior Design
• Design

Learning lessons to influence future output

How can we learn from our past actions to appropriately influence future methods of working? In this piece we investigate ways by which we could learn from our collective experiences to improve our day-to-day operations and in doing so we discovered that by reflecting on the right things any sector of business can learn from the past.

• Workplace

Sufficient unto the data

A recent report from the BBC suggests that if at any point in the last week you’ve struggled to find a digital file on your phone or computer, you may well be guilty of digital hoarding…

• Workplace
• Technology and Innovation
• Wellbeing

De-stress flair

Ten easy ways to lighten your mental load and push through the new year slump.

• Technology and Innovation
• Workplace
• Wellbeing

Reusing materials for LEED certification

Many building designers have started prioritising LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification in their projects over the past decade, as the industry has caught up with the need for better long-term design solutions. As a result, the reuse of building materials has increased.

• Architecture
• Workplace
• Sustainability

Urban innovations for closing the fiscal gap

Director of Hames Sharley, Darren Bilsborough explores biophilic urbanism as a way of increasing quality of life without increasing tax.

• Workplace
• Urban Design
• Technology and Innovation

The evolution of activity-based workplaces

Activity-based working has revolutionised the open-plan office, but the pressure is on to keep up innovation and deliver on the promises of flexibility and freedom at work.

• Workplace
• Interior Design
• Architecture

The Location Equation

When selecting an office, after questioning the size and cost the next biggest issue often relates to concerns around commuting.

• Workplace
• Architecture
• Urban Design

Maximising workforce engagement: the corporate conundrum

Countless surveys indicate that an engaged workforce is more productive and profitable. Yet maximising employee engagement has become one of the 21^st century’s biggest corporate conundrums, with alarming statistics showing far more than 80 percent of staff lack workplace engagement.

• Workplace
• Technology and Innovation
• Sustainability
• Culture

Office buildings and the work spaces within…

People have been talking about the demise of the office for years now. Since telecommuting became an everyday phenomenon, opinion-makers have been queuing up to tell us how the traditional workplace is on the verge of extinction.

• Workplace
• Architecture
• Design
• Urban Design
• Technology and Innovation
• Sustainability

The power of attraction

With certain employment areas suffering from a well-documented skills shortage, it’s more important than ever to attract and retain good staff. One of the key ways to do this – clearly – is to make your office as appealing a space as possible. But where do you start?

• Workplace
• Interior Design
• Design
• Diversity

Yeah, nah – Aussie Slang at work

Australians are known all over the world for being straight shooters. Ask an Aussie their opinion and you normally get a straight answer, right? Not anymore.

• Workplace
• Culture
• Diversity

The perils of periphrastic pontification

Why do people resort to jargon as a means to look knowledgeable and authoritative when a simple answer would have done the job. These days, few people are fooled by five-dollar words when ten-cent ones will do, and jargon is all about big spending for slight return.

• Culture
• Diversity
• Workplace