British Council for Offices appoints Currie & Brown on workplace productivity study

3 April 2017

The British Council for Offices (BCO) has commissioned Currie & Brown to lead research which seeks to provide a working definition of what constitutes a productive workplace.

The British Council for Offices (BCO) has commissioned Currie & Brown to lead research which seeks to provide a working definition of what constitutes a productive workplace. The study will also provide tools for measuring an office’s strengths and weaknesses in supporting the productivity of its users.

The BCO study aims to address the productivity issue from the standpoint of building design and fabric, while recognising that the office environment is only one element of the inter-related factors that underpin individual and organisational productivity.

Director Adam Mactavish, who will be leading Currie & Brown's research team, stated: "The key objective of this project is to help the property industry engage clearly and consistently with the topic of productivity in offices. For such an important topic, the effective measurement of how workplace design influences productivity is still little understood, and we look forward to launching an evidence-based toolkit to help enhance office design and management."

Chairman of the BCO’s Research Committee, Bill Page, said: "The physical environment in which we work has a significant impact on how we work – on our ability to focus and stay focused, and our overall ability to be productive. However, the industry can still contradict and obfuscate the fundamental tenet: what is productivity and how do we measure it? This BCO study will set out some much-needed practical guidance on this thorny issue."

The study is expected to be published in October 2017.