OUT OF OFFICE

Creating a workplace for the mobile worker may sound like an oxymoron, but it’s a concept that is rapidly gaining momentum.

MOBILE WORKING

SITTING IN AN OVERCROWDED STARBUCKS ON Piccadilly, I’m trying hard to concentrate while struggling with a jinxed wireless connection and rooting around in an overfilled handbag that has my cycle helmet strapped inelegantly to the side. I’m about to meet a freelance photographer in town and, as my office is based out in Epping in Essex, there is nowhere for us to meet except for an easily accessible public space. As the editor of a high-end design magazine that focuses on workplace interiors, though, I can’t help feeling that this scenario cramps my style just a little bit.

It’s a problem that increasing numbers of people are facing – after all, in today’s business world, who isn’t a mobile worker at least some of the time? And as more companies move towards flexible working practices, a handful of entrepreneurs are vying to supply their own mobile working solutions and claim a slice of this potentially lucrative new market.

This February saw the opening in London of One Alfred Place, a private members’ club aimed at the mobile worker. Along with the usual elements like wireless technology, meeting rooms and private phone booths, One Alfred Place also offers more decadent features, such as a club PA for each member, full office support and private lockers (for bike helmets, gym bags, or in my case, an extra pair of killer high heels and comfy shoes). From the highly designed interior by architects Michaelis Boyd and interior designer Diana Sieff to the central location, the club promises to offer a professional and comfortable workplace for those of us with offices out of town.

At a workplace event last year, the Irish philosopher and expert in organisational behaviour and management, Charles Handy stated that the need for a big centrally located office is dying out. Corporations will still want a headquarters, he said, but the building will house only core staff, while the rest will be freelancers and mobile staff who can work anywhere. Considering that the vision of the home office never worked on a large scale and that today’s workforce is steering towards more flexible working, an intermediate concept may well be the answer. It makes good financial sense too, allowing for the fact that the price of a work station in London costs on average £10,000 (€13,000) a year and is left unused for around 40 per cent of the time. In future, large office buildings with a one employee, one desk policy doesn’t seem sustainable.

And while One Alfred Place is at the top end of this new hybrid office type – annual membership costs £1,500 (€2,000) – there are other, more affordable schemes out there. The Hub, for example, offers young creatives in London and Rotterdam the opportunity to meet and greet and use the business facilities, and costs from £65 (€87) per month. Under the slogan “there is no shortage of people with good ideas but there is a crisis of access and infrastructure”, The Hub aims to support mobile, freelance and home workers so that they can venture out and mix with their peers to develop business ideas. So despite the open plan office taking over Europe, the future suggests that the private office is back, but more ‘clubby’ and less corporate… sounds good to me.

KERSTIN ZUMSTEIN IS EDITOR OF ONOFFICE MAGAZINE, THE WORKPLACE DESIGN MAGAZINE THAT FOCUSES ON HIGH-END COMMERCIAL INTERIORS.

WORDS BY KERSTIN ZUMSTEIN