Sustainable Garden Rooms and Professional Offices, London.
South East England has the highest proportion of commuters with the average person spending the equivalent of an additional working day each week commuting. The figure is directly proportional to property prices; there being an optimal balance between cost of commute and rent or mortgage repayments.
The South East already leads the UK with the biggest number of home-workers: approx 600,000 people work from home, almost 15 per cent of the working population, an increase of nearly a quarter in the last decade.
“The benefits of working from home, even occasionally, are now widely accepted," said Phil Flaxton, chief executive of Work Wise UK, the not-for-profit organisation behind the initiative. "Not only does it reduce the amount of commuting people have to do, enhancing their work-life balance, but many are actually more productive.” Work Wise UK provides guidance and assistance.
A new report has called on organisations in the region to adopt smarter working practices. It identified that "the sustainability of the South East region is at risk from pressures on travel, congestion, skills availability and stress related health problems.”
Our garden offices help revolutionise the way the region works. Over the next 10 years, working travel needs could explode, putting enormous pressure on infrastructure. If transport infrastructure cannot sustain commuting needs, the fear is that workers will migrate elsewhere.
The wider adoption of smart working practices, such as flexible working including compressed working hours and nine day fortnights, working from home, mobile and remote working will improve business productivity and competitiveness, reduce transport congestion and pollution, improve health, assist disadvantaged groups, and harmonise work and family commitments.
This is the perfect area for development of home-working resources. Many among us flinch at the suggestion fearing the familiar distractions of home, the noise from partner/children/neighbours, among many possible disturbances to our concentration. Studioni have formulated a new office pod which companies can purchase to drop into gardens and back yards, without planning permission. The benefit is their sustainable sourcing, mobility and high thermal efficiency and a crucial separation from the home. However, if more companies incorporate these smarter, greener working practises the region’s productivity and competitiveness can be protected.