Workplace Design trends can be a useful tool to prepare organisations for future business transformation and assess its impact on their prospective workplace fitout.
Here are our Top 3 influences trending in the Perth Workplace Design Scene for 2019.
Workplace Wellness. ‘The Feel-Good Factor’
Top of the list would have to be the focus on wellness in the workplace, and designing environments that support this. There is a vast amount of published evidence, directly linking employee wellness with positive workplace environments resulting in improved employee performance and overall productivity, reduced absenteeism and staff retention and if that isn’t enough, a great workplace culture.
Workplace design is thus a critical factor influencing employee wellness. So much so we are seeing increasing interest from our larger clients in the WELLS Building Standard Certification as a benchmarking tool which arguably encompasses the environmental checklist of the Green Star accreditation with the added holistic approach of measuring the organisations curation of employee wellness experience.
Whether you are a big or small organization it really is worth considering the benefits of wellness on your business.
Agile Workplace Strategies. ‘Future Ready Your Business’
Technology continues to be a dominating influence in Workplace design, with workplace agility now being the ‘new normal’.
Since the first Perth fitout (back at Bankwest in 2012), adopting an Activity Based Working (ABW) fitout the strategy has been adopted in many evolving forms, from smaller business’s to Government fitouts tailored to their needs. Organisations are recognising the benefits of employees working flexibly…just about anywhere!
Technology is a huge factor enabling this agility and workstations with docking stations and a ‘bring your own device’ (BYOD) approach are becoming a standard. Many of our clients aren’t ready or don’t want to adopt a non-dedicated workstation strategy like Bankwest, but DO want to be ‘future ready’, if and when they do MKDC can ensure the infrastructure is in place allowing this to happen. The only question is…how future ready do you want to be?
@ home with Biophilic Design
“I can’t wait to go to work, it’s better than my house!” was the feedback we received from our most recent client of their fitout.
Workplace design is taking on a much more residential look due to the greater portion of space allocated to alternative work settings e.g. Collaborative Lounges and Staff Kitchens which look like home, albeit a more beautiful, comfortable often quieter, home!
Biophilic Design (‘nature loving’) is also a heavy influencer in design, mainly due to its evidence-based benefits to end users and alignment with wellness objectives. You’ll see a lot of natural materials; timber, stone plus bringing the outdoors-in with plenty of natural light and plants.
In terms of colour palettes, Pantones 2019 Colour of the Year “Living Coral” embodies the change in direction from calm natural neutrals to more intense splashes of colour that are still nature loving, but more energized and life affirming, creating balance between our natural and digital realities.
Overall the key trends are all part of a person-centred design approach, supporting human connection and wellness.
