One consequence of this is the liberation of the workplace from conventionally run office buildings, with their regulation of working times and regimented allocation of space as the workplace evolves in response to the demands of employers and employees.

Flexibility and agile working mean that we are no longer working 9 to 5. Yet the perception is that a 30,000 sq ft office represents 262 million ‘square foot hours’ over a year, while in reality many of those ‘sq ft/hours are unused.

Within this context the research explores how smart design and digital technologies might unlock the unused or hard to use time. Reservation systems could, for example, ensure employees have space as and when they need it; imaging and cybernetic systems mean that space can be tailored specifically to individual needs (and potentially moods) for the time needed, adapting to an individual’s changing needs over the course of a day.

Information systems could help identify and access short term opportunities (restaurant bookings, transport, leisure or cultural resources); technology and intelligent design can come together to make buildings available as a social amenity, by opening up office buildings during unused hours to social groups who are not regular workers in those buildings.

A combination of prevailing circumstances relating to the changing nature of work and employment, and technological advance mean that both the potential and the need for new types of occupancy, and possibly new types of building, are now greater than ever.

Join us for a morning of discussion, debate and networking on 21 June at Trowers & Hamlins.