View from the interior

2004 was a quirky kind of year for the fit-out market, as key sectors bucked the trends that this young industry has come to expect. Some sectors even showed surprising new colours.

The legal sector – for years the respected great uncle of work environments – has thrown off its oak-panelled garb and started acting like a spring chicken. Serious, sombre offices are being ripped out and replaced with colourful, dynamic open-plan spaces. The reason that lawyers are re-skinning their work environments to look like advertising agencies is simple: the UK’s exponential thirst for litigation has created an unprecedented demand for lawyers. Numbers have tripled in three decades and firms are now – elegantly – tripping over themselves to provide the most attractive package for graduates. At the cornerstone of the strategy is the re-invention of partnerships as forward thinking and inclusive, which means an uplifting work environment. The speed of this change has caught some interiors specialists on the hop and underlines the need to predict market change rather than belatedly respond to it.

The public sector pie

In contrast, the public sector is only just waking up to the key fact that work environment has an effect on productivity. This sector is going to see a lot more activity in the next five years, underpinned by further advances in IT and a soft commercial market. It was only a matter of time before the public sector ‘got the plot’ and consequently the fit-out industry has been desparate to secure business. This is one area where competition between contractors is going to be fierce.

The speed of change has caught some interiors specialists on the hop

Andy Wates

Conversely, the media industry is spearheading the newest developments in UK work environments. Media’s strategy is to replicate everything an employee might need to live within the office, almost to the point of becoming a hotel. Food and drink are available 18 hours a day; laundry and shopping are managed for you by a concierge- type service; medical needs are catered for; well-being services like massage are available on site and some companies even provide designated sleep spaces so that employees can nap and then work longer hours. Firms are thus cunningly encouraging employees to spend every waking hour within their walls, harvesting as much productivity as possible. Blurring of the lines between home and work life has been long predicted, but the media industry is the first to put it into practice. Their shortlists invariably exclude contractors that can’t demonstrate flair, agility and imagination and it is considered a substantial coup to have a major advertising house on your books.

Fishing for finance

Despite the significant changes in these three industries, the big surprise in 2004 was the financial sector, where fit-out activity was expected to take a decent up-swing as larger institutions began to exploit the economies now on offer from technological developments. Growth predictions may have been premature, but there is no doubt that we’re about to see radical changes in the way finance houses work. Those with foresight are already planning how to re-design their work environments. The interiors industry is keyed up to take on the work, but many contractors are unaware of what these techno-hungry finance houses desire. This will restrict the pool of talent, but competition for these financial jewels will still be the most exciting in 2005.