In this episode of Workspace Unwired BCO chief executive Samantha McClary talks with architect Julian de Metz about why he loves “crawling all over buildings”, why great workplace design is fundamentally about human experience rather than technical compliance and why we need to sometimes ditch the digital and be more analogue.

De Metz is co-founder of dMFK, an architectural practice he founded with university friends Paul Forbes and Ben Knight, and is incredibly passionate about creating human-centred workspaces, that have culture at their heart.

Bringing existing buildings back to life, working hard to find solutions, and putting real life interaction ahead of digital distraction are key to his work.

Recorded less than 24 hours after GPE’s 170 Piccadilly scheme, a retrofit project worked on by dMFK, picked up the BCO London Award for Best Project up to 2,500m2, de Metz uses the building as an example of how sensitive design can reconcile heritage buildings with modern performance, creating spaces that feel uplifting, functional, and market‑appropriate.

Listen in as the pair discuss design as the primary differentiator when it comes to quality workspaces, how the purpose of our offices is to build culture and why we need to work harder to unlock the untapped potential in our existing buildings.

All that plus, how we balance standards and guidance with the need to encourage a more values‑led design focus and why, ultimately, if we want to deliver workspaces that work for human beings, we need to unwire ourselves from excessive digital dependency and re‑embrace physical, human interaction as the true purpose of workplace design.

Enjoy.

In this episode of Workspace Unwired BCO chief executive Samantha McClary takes her portable studio to Birmingham and joins Bruntwood SciTech’s Moe Ali for a walking tour of the firm’s assets in the UK’s second city.

Starting at Centre City, Bruntwood’s redevelopment of a Brutalist beast close to New Street station, the pair pound the streets of Birmingham visiting a handful of buildings from the traditional to the modern. Along the way Ali shares the Bruntwood story, unpacks the challenges and the opportunities facing Birmingham and talks candidly about the market and the firm’s own needs to pivot in times of uncertainty.

Recorded live and on the go, this recording has background noises and will transport you from building to building with cut aways and jumps, but it is also full of the life and character of a bustling city. And, I guarantee that you won’t be able to help yourself being drawn in by Ali’s infectious passion for Birmingham and the assets he looks after in the city.

Be bold, be Birmingham, be Bruntwood?

Enjoy.

In this episode of Workspace Unwired BCO chief executive Samantha McClary is talking to Doug Higgins, a director at Socius, and Emma Goodford, consultant adviser at Railpen, about not one but two major developments they are delivering together in Cambridge.

While both Mill Yard and Botanic Place offer plenty of workspace, like all careful development today, both also focus heavily on creating place. An office development today has to offer more than just a place to work. It needs to be a place to thrive, a place to feel alive, to be inspired, and, say the pair, a place where you can – and should – have a little fun.

The importance of the impact that places we build have on society runs deep through both Socius and Railpen. As a B Corp, how the Socius business impacts on society and the planet is written into its Articles of Association, and as a £35bn pension fund dedicated to railway workers, Railpen has to make sure that its assets can continue to create value for its 350,000 members.

Listen in as the trio, fuelled by Percy Pigs, explore how occupier expectations are shifting, why amenity now extends far beyond the building’s walls, what it really takes to create workplaces that act as magnets not mandates, and how both Mill Yard and Botanic Place are intentionally prioritising community integration, local operators, flexibility and wellbeing to ensure they deliver successful new places within Cambridge.

Enjoy.