“The Base” is a common area that is part of the new BP Lower 48 Headquarters in Denver. The Base is intended to support the company’s attraction and retention goals. The space will open to the Platte River with large sliding glass Nana Walls and will feature a bar with a large aspen canopy overhead and local beers on tap, a variety of seating areas, shuffleboard, a fireplace, and 16-foot-long media wall.
From looking at the ways transportation shifts will impact office design to balancing the preferences of multiple generations of workers, Stantec’s approach is always to design with the community in mind.
When it comes to the workforce community, we are constantly collaborating with workplace industry thought leaders and furniture manufacturers to determine the best design for spaces and systems.
As part of that effort, Stantec Buildings Principal Larry Weeks recently led a panel of Denver real estate developers Matt Joblon, Jon Buerge, and Ashley Stiles, and preconstruction specialist Lisa Larence in a discussion of the future of the workplace at Bisnow’s “Workplace Innovation” event.
While the topics varied, the panel became most animated talking about these three shifts coming to the workplace of the (near) future.
Amenities in the workplace
Today’s workforce is increasingly educated about the impact of the built environment on their health and happiness, and their expectations for the work environment are shifting as a result.
There is a greater focus now on invisible assets like air quality, daylighting, and thermal comfort. In order to be competitive today, employers are looking to offer amenities that support a better work/life balance for their employees. Examples include wellness and fitness programs, access to outdoor spaces, the ability for employeese to bring their dog to work, social spaces with food and alcohol, on-site childcare, etc.
We expect that as we move toward an environment that blurs the lines between home and work that perhaps the real measure of success will be the degree to which people don’t want to work from home.