Rob Harris, Principal at Ramidus Consulting and Nicola Gillen, Director at AECOM will present the key findings from BCO’s latest research, Office Occupancy: Density and Utilisation. The report examines recent trends in workplace density and utilisation and will inform the BCO Guide to Specification to be published in 2019. Recognising the growing importance of agile working, the study has supplemented the density data with an analysis of space utilisation by including data on 132 buildings, accommodating organisations from a range of sectors.

The report shows that while density has risen since our last report in 2013, this is now reaching its limit; desks are occupied on average around 40-50% through the core working day; historic differences between business sectors are reducing and the direction of travel appears to apply across all building types, business sectors and geographical regions.

The project team will then introduce the Viacom HQ before conducting tours of the building. The vision for this 24 month project was to unite all Viacom channels under one roof in their existing iconic UK headquarters. In response, 5plus have transformed a vacant courtyard to deliver an additional 1,311sqm of net internal office space, and developed the designs for the refurbished the existing Lock Building

The new ‘tower’ is wrapped in a green wall providing a striking, environmentally friendly cladding solution. Integration of lightwells and a 284sqm green roof covered with 96 solar panels further enhanced the buildings environmental credentials, responding VIMN’s ambition to be at the forefront of sustainable design.

The scheme provides a range of new office spaces and facilities to meet varying stakeholder needs. Increasing the densification of the way in which Viacom worked in the building was a key to achieve Viacom’s vision. The majority is open plan, but incorporates new meeting rooms and a number of individual quiet and telephone rooms. Fully flexible breakout spaces allows for agile working. The feature staircase has been designed to maximise daylight within quite a deep plan. User wellbeing is at the heart of the design.