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READING THAMES VALLEY


2025 &


seminar


John Burbedge reports the highlights and insights from this forward-thinking morning seminar on the ‘Greater Reading’ sub-region, hosted by The Business Magazine and sponsored by award-winning office designers Morgan Lovell, global real-estate services provider Savills, and law firm Shoosmiths


Joint approach needed to secure our community


Clare Harbord addressing the issue of Heathrow Airport (see bottom right)


'For the second year running, Reading and Bracknell led the PwC and Demos Good Growth for Cities Index 2015, with the most successful economic performance in the UK, based on sustainable growth. With a per capita GDP of £34,978, Reading is also the second most prosperous ‘city’ in the UK, behind London, according to the Barclays Prosperity Map. We are doing extremely well . . . aren’t we?'


David Murray, owner and publisher of The Business Magazine


The workplace revolution that is now changing the Thames Valley forever


Emma Gibson


adding facilities such as selfie tunnels, sleep pods or helter skelters, there was no mistaking the underlying need to provide interesting environments in which people enjoy working.


The future of work was not all about funky design, but about satisfying staff expectations, he stated. With skills shortages and the need to retain talent, suitable workplace design was now a key factor.


Nigel Wild


“Actually, the future of work is already happening. Changes are not going to go away and ignoring those changes is not an option,” announced Nigel Wild of Morgan Lovell


With the Internet and digital device convenience enabling 24/7, flexible and remote working, and cloud services decreasing the need for inhouse computing and communications hardware, the demand for traditional office space had fallen.


Consequently, the workplace was already changing to meet 21st century requirements, with businesses of the vibrant Thames Valley economy often leading the way, Wild explained.


But the need for staff to meet, collaborate and co-ordinate their work remains essential.


Employers today needed to recognise and understand the value of their people by what they did, not by where and how they did their work, he added.


Refreshment and ‘chillax’ areas for staff were now common in many businesses, and while today’s most adventurous workplace initiatives aimed to boost employee productivity by


www.businessmag.co.uk


“People and property are the biggest cost centres for any business, but what is starting to occur is a shift in emphasis between them.


He exampled a case study whereby one company had reduced its workspace by roughly a third and saved £1.7 million, but importantly also significantly increased pride and satisfaction of staff for their workplace.


As well as being lean, today’s businesses needed to have workplaces that were effective, efficient and enabled expression from their individual workers, Wild advised.


That need for personal expression in the workplace – “the reverse Superman syndrome” – was noticeable among Generation Y and Z employees, he added.


While much office space design had changed today from cellulisation to open-plan, future working environments would incorporate design styling for neighbourhood working, collaboration, concentration and wellbeing, and bespoke features. “Every organisation will have its own unique thumbprint for its workplace styling.


“Actually, the revolution in workplace design is only just starting to take place.”


Shoosmiths partner Emma Gibson, also a Thames Valley Berkshire LEP director, spoke passionately about Reading and the Thames Valley as a vibrant home for ambitious growth businesses and explained how the sub-region’s location was now internationally viewed as a great place to live and work.


The challenge was maintaining that reputation with tangible support for both work and lifestyle aspects such as business startup, education, and housing – a challenge best met by the regional community, working as a team.


“While we are privileged to run businesses in this vibrant and important area, it is not all roses out there, and there are still issues to be resolved.”


The Thames Valley was an expensive place to recruit or hire people, and still viewed geographically not as a business identity, Gibson highlighted, urging corporate involvement with the LEP in resolving such concerns.


“We all know that we work better as a team. Working with the same aims and goals will ensure that we remain the driving economy that we are today.


“We are a world-class tried and tested business location, with the benefit of a strong community of established and new businesses with high skills and productivity – home to 115,000 businesses including 11 of the top 15 tech companies in the world, the UK’s second highest concentration of SMEs, and fifth for startups.


“This is the biggest, strongest UK region; a community of successful businesses that looks out internationally, the biggest contributor to the Exchequer outside of London, and we should not forget that.”


THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – FEBRUARY 2016


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