Offices are being given stylish revamps to entice workers back

Bet your home office doesn’t have meditation pods, circadian lighting and oxygen-producing plants! How workplaces are being given high-end revamps to entice employees back after lockdown

Construction group reported record demand from businesses looking to revamp
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New offices feature wellbeing spaces, with PwC offering manicure services

Businesses are giving their offices stylish revamps in order to entice employees back to work after the pandemic, a construction group has claimed.

Morgan Sindall Group plc reported record demand for office fit-outs at the end of June, claiming it has an order book of £581million – its highest ever and 42 per cent more than at the end of last year, The Times reports.

With Prime Minister Boris Johnson having now relaxed the working from home directive issued in March last year to curb the spread of coronavirus, employees are gradually making their way back to their workplaces.

Morgan Sindall’s chief executive John Morgan, 65, told the publication the office ‘certainly isn’t dead’.

Businesses are giving their offices stylish revamps in order to entice employees back to work, a construction group has claimed (pictured: The Spine in Liverpool, home to the Royal College of Physicians)

One of Morgan Sindall’s recently completed projects by its office fit-out business, Overbury, is the Liverpool headquarters of the Royal College of Physicians, which occupies a building called The Spine

The Spine is packed with plants which release oxygen, balancing out the ratios of carbon dioxide and nitrogen in the air, making it healthier and fresher

‘Our clients are the occupiers [of offices] and… I think the trend is that they’ve got to make offices more attractive places for people,’ he said.

It’s believed to be one of the healthiest workplaces in the world, boasting circadian lighting, which supports our natural circadian rhythm by replicating natural light.

The Spine is also packed with plants which release oxygen, balancing out the ratios of carbon dioxide and nitrogen in the air, making it healthier and fresher.

According to a survey of 400 international office-based companies by property group Knight Frank this year, 46 per cent said they would aim to improve staff amenities post-Covid-19.

Accountancy firm PwC has recently opened a new office space in Belfast, with wellness a key consideration for employees. It offers a new wellbeing space (pictured)

According to Morgan Sindall, another popular trend at the moment is incorporating ‘democratising space’ to enable workers to enjoy the best views and spaces around the building, rather than reserving them solely for top executives.

Accountancy firm PwC has recently opened a new high-end office space in Belfast, with wellness a key consideration for employees.

It offers a new wellbeing space featuring meditation pods, manicure services and physiotherapy.

‘The wellbeing space has been brilliant – people are loving it. It’s so different,’ a PWC employee told FEMAIL.

There’s also a client focused flexible hospitality area with a premium coffee and deli counter themed around Belfast’s Botanical Gardens and designed to complement the stunning views out onto Belfast cityscape.

At PwC there’s also a client focused flexible hospitality area with a premium coffee and deli counter themed around Belfast’s Botanical Gardens

The PwC Botanical Gardens-themed client hospitality area is designed to complement the stunning views out onto Belfast cityscape

Housebuilding firm Weston Group has also invested £40million into a new state of the art complex, with its five star hotel-inspired decor and enviable facilities designed to lure nervous workers back to the office.

Having dubbed itself the most luxurious housebuilder HQ in Britain, the Weston Innovation Centre is located in the Stansted Business Hub in Takeley, Essex, close to the airport.

There’s a well-equipped and mirrored gym with a dedicated personal instructor to help train staff members, freeweights, an array of machines and upmarket changing facilities. The individual walk-in shower cubicles feature hotel-like rainforest showers alongside individual storage cupboards and changing areas.

An assortment of lounges are provided for meetings or simply chilling out, and there’s a bar for after-work drinks – something many workers will have missed over lockdown.

A hotel-style entrance greets visitors, and access to the first floor is provided by a spectacular curved double staircase which rises through the chic atrium – the underside of which is polished black with runway lighting, a design inspired by the Dolce and Gabbana flagship store.

Housebuilding firm Weston Group has also invested £40million into a new state of the art complex. There is a well-equipped and mirrored gym with a dedicated personal instructor to help train staff members, freeweights, an array of machines and upmarket changing facilities

An assortment of lounges are provided at Weston Group HQ for meetings or simply chilling out, and a bar for after work drinks – something many of us have missed during lockdown

Appreciating many workers are frustrated with working from home, entrepreneur Baroness Michelle Mone recently opened a new £18million glamorous co-working space in Aberdeen designed for a post-Covid workforce.

Boasting a luxurious state-of-the-art gym and wellness suite, an upmarket juice and coffee bar and even a golf simulator, neospace is aimed at businesses embarking on a new hybrid way of working.

The concept is an integrated workplace which blends premium office space, hospitality and wellness with state-of-the-art technology.

Spanning 55,000 square feet with the feel of a five-star hotel, neospace offers 78 tech-led private offices, 20 co-working flexi-pods and nine meeting rooms, all supported by additional breakout spaces and collaboration hubs. To provide work-life balance, members can take time out of their working day to enjoy one of the instructor-led exercise classes in the gym, hit a few balls on the TrackMan golf simulator or simply relax in one of the steam and sauna rooms.

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