In this podcast, you'll hear from Gerda Stelpstra, an anthropologist and self-described "nonconformist" of the corporate real estate sector. As a strategist at Cushman & Wakefield, she utilizes anthropological principles to guide organizations in their workplace development, placing human interaction, connection, and behavior at the forefront of strategic decisions. We connect with Gerda at Helix, a flagship workplace and living lab for fostering social connection, where Cushman & Wakefield continually iterates and defines best practices. Join Michael Creamer and Gerda Stelpstra at Helix in Utrecht, Netherlands as they discuss the importance of replacing guesswork with data and predictive analytics. Learn about their experiments with organizational network analysis, using smart building technology, and how a "brokerage highway" regulates stress in the workplace.

We have had another fantastic year of guests on the What’s Next in Corporate Real Estate podcast and we are grateful to all of our listeners for being on the journey with us. As we reflect on the past year, it's hard not to consider how our perspectives on the world - how we live in it, how we work in it, and how we do business - have evolved. From the ongoing debate around the reason for the office, to the pressing issue of climate change - we continue to try and put it all together. In this episode, we look back on some of our favourite moments and remind ourselves of insights gained along the way. We hope you’ve enjoyed the podcast and we look forward to continuing to bring you great content in the year ahead. Thank you for your support! 2022 Episodes “The Pathway To Net Zero” “Mental Health In The Workplace” “The Nowhere Office” “Office Of The Future Revisited” “21st Century Leadership” “Women Mentoring Women” “The Reinvention Of The Office” “Purpose, Values & Corporate Responsibility”

Adele Blakebrough, MBE, co-founder, senior advisor, and previously CEO of Social Business Trust, understands the worlds of the third sector, the public sector and business, and how to get the best out of people in all three. She believes in the importance of social enterprises in addressing society's problems and what benefits working in partnership with business can bring. Social Business Trust (SBT) is a charity which connects high-potential social enterprises with business leaders to grow social impact. Prior to establishing SBT, Adele built her reputation as a social entrepreneur through CAN (Community Action Network). In 2006, she was made an MBE for services to social enterprises, and a year later she also won the Sieff Prize for her collaboration with business in pursuit of social benefit. Listen in as Michael Creamer and Adele Blakebrough discuss how businesses can contribute to societal well-being, and share real-life examples of charities and large corporates working together.

Philip Ross is an author, speaker, futurist and commentator on the new world of work. He specialises in predicting the impact emerging technology has on the way we will live, and he frequently runs workshops with organisations about workplace evolution. He is founder and CEO of UnGroup, which includes companies Unwired (WORKTECH events and WORKTECH Academy) and Unwork. Philip’s latest book, co-authored with Jeremy Myerson: Unworking: The Reinvention of the Modern Office, offers a panoramic view of the modern office and how parallel the rise of hybrid work, new working patterns and ideas are emerging. Unlearning old habits and rituals of an outdated office can create a new workplace fit for an age of digital technology, innovation, and diverse workforces. Download Unworking: The Reinvention of the Modern Office.

Michelle Ferguson is an author and founding member of Chief - a private network built to drive more women into positions of power and keep them there. Prior to that she was senior VP, Global Business Services and Senior VP Global Real Estate Strategies and Services at Standard & Poors. In her new book, Women Mentoring Women, Michelle addresses the primary issue that she believes holds women back: lack of mentorship. High-level leaders have the knowledge and expertise to assist and train lower-level professionals in business to prepare them to advance in their careers. While education plays a role in helping women land a job, understanding the business culture helps them climb the ladder of success. Download Women Mentoring Women: https://www.amazon.com/Women-Mentoring-Strategies-Stories-Lift/dp/B09ZFKG7NS

Today’s complex business environment calls for a new approach to leadership. Modern organisations are shifting from traditional views of leadership that prioritised structure and control, towards organisations that are agile and empowered. How can 21st century leadership promote connectivity and human-centric purpose? How can leaders put the needs of their people at the heart of workplace decisions? Tim Munden was previously Chief Learning Officer at Unilever and is now Director at Kairon - delivering development for leaders globally. Tim works with teams and leaders to develop and access their “inner game” so that they can deliver high performance in their organisations, sustainably and responsibly. He works with organisations to create cultures that inspire purpose and energy, and enable agility and empowerment.

The hybrid movement has just begun, and there is no single blueprint for successfully implementing it. Each organization must approach its transition with the question, “What does hybrid mean for us?" Listen in as Michael Creamer and our global experts discuss the new realities shaping hybrid workplace strategies. In this time of cautious confidence, office space is increasingly in demand. However, the role of the office will be forever changed as we enter the post-pandemic world. Download the full Office of the Future Revisited report: https://www.cushmanwakefield.com/en/insights/office-of-the-future-revisited

Julia Hobsbawm OBE is a British entrepreneur, writer and public speaker on Social Health, Simplicity in a Complex World, and the future of the workplace post-pandemic. She coined the phrase "The Nowhere Office" (and authored book of the same name) to describe the hybrid work era. As remote working becomes the norm rather than the exception for many office workers around the globe, The Nowhere Office proposes a radical new way of thinking about work both now and in the future. Offering a strategic and practical guide to negotiating this pivotal moment in the history of work, The Nowhere Office addresses the problems which beset work - the endemic stagnant productivity and crisis of stress which predate the pandemic. Drawing on history, cutting-edge research and extensive interviews Julia Hobsbawm argues persuasively that now is the time to develop something better, more meaningful, and, crucially, more workable. Listen in as Michael Creamer and Julia Hobsbawm discuss the new challenges of remote working, repurposing offices for more creative interaction, managing WFH teams and satisfying the demand for more purposeful work with greater work/life balance. Related Links The Nowhere Office: Reinventing Work and the Workplace of the Future

Rianne Appel is an Associate Professor in Corporate Real Estate & Workplace at the Department of the Built Environment (Eindhoven University of Technology). Rianne researches the management of Corporate Real Estate (CRE). She focuses on location, building and workplace design choices as drivers of user experience. As mental health problems continue to increase across the world, any return to a physical workspace must focus on supporting employees. Listen in as Michael Creamer and Rianne Appel discuss how research can help us to understand some of the challenges businesses now face. Key Publications "A Handbook of Theories on Designing Alignment between People and the Office Environment" (2021): https://doi.org/10.1201/9781003128830 "The Influence of the Physical Home Work Environment on Perceived Productivity During the COVID-19 Pandemic https://eurofm.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Proceedings_EuroFM_Research_Symposium_2021.pdf "Conceptualizing Social Well-being in Activity-Based Offices". Journal of Managerial Psychology: https://doi.org/10.1108/JMP-09-2019-0529

Listen in as Michael Creamer, Chairman GOS EMEA at Cushman & Wakefield discusses how companies think about the impact of their real estate portfolio and more with Jane Muir-Sands, Vice President Global Real Estate and Operations at IBM, and Richard Middleton, Head of Client Delivery EMEA, Global Occupier Services at Cushman & Wakefield. The move to net zero is under way with more than a fifth of the world’s largest companies having made commitments to cut their emissions to net zero. However, this will be a marathon, not a sprint - and far-reaching sector changes will be needed to reach the 2050 Net Zero emissions target.

It's no secret that the right data drives better decision making, and with more data points than ever, businesses are using insights to inform their portfolio strategy and optimise the spaces they occupy. But there are still so many questions when it comes to corporate real estate, like which data is the most valuable? Can we use wellness and productivity data to shape the way we design space for better employee experiences; how is this linked to company purpose? And does a modern CRE team require data scientists to analyse and make sense of huge amounts of information? Listen in as Michael Creamer, Chairman GOS EMEA at Cushman & Wakefield discusses all of these questions and more with Adam Hoy, Head of Worldwide Real Estate & Facilities at GSK and Marnix Mali, Director of Real Estate & Workspace Services at Booking.com. References: GSK Bangalore Video: Welcome to the Global Capability Center: our new site in Bengaluru PlosOne work environment pilot: An experiment to determine the optimal office design for a technology company

More and more businesses are focusing on their purpose and making a difference to society, embracing the desire to be purpose-driven. Blending the aim of benefitting customers, employees, stakeholders, as well as the shareholder, is paramount for the best businesses. What is business purpose? How are certified B Corporations considering the impact of their decisions on their workers, customers, suppliers, community, and the environment? How are companies using space to create a sense of community in a post-Covid world? For this conversation Michael Creamer was joined by Andrew Budgen and Nathan Lonsdale, founders of the lab_, a collective of free-thinkers; architects, designers, developers, engineers, social scientists, educators and technologists; who all share the same purpose – to constantly experiment and reshape the boundaries so that we can live our lives better.

We know that a creative workplace culture nurtures creative behaviours which in turn promote innovation. Research has also shown that the benefits of engaging with art can include decreased stress, overall better mental health, emotional wellbeing and a deeper connection with culture and community. How can an engaging workplace art programme, in both physical and digital spaces, play a role in engaging staff, nurturing behaviours and developing a creative culture in the workplace? For this conversation Michael Creamer was joined by Catherine Thomas, Managing Director at Art Acumen, a workplace art consultancy delivering creative, diverse and highly engaging art programmes with a whole range of creative activities to keep your workforce well, connected and happy.

When it comes to university accommodation, today's students have increased expectations of value across the accommodation experience. With more choice than ever before, providers have had to build for a generation that have been concerned with sustainability in their formative years and expect wellbeing, a sense of community, and hassle-free living. How can we build and operate spaces that promote inclusivity and support interaction? How should we think about creating sustainable and healthy buildings? How is the build-to-rent sector driving a sense of community, purpose and wellbeing? For this conversation, Michael Creamer was joined by Tom Rix, Managing Director, European Living Operations at Hines.

The past year has seen Facilities Management (FM) thrust into the spotlight and an acceleration of pre-existing trends. From enabling the mass transition to homeworking to ensuring employees can work in clean, safe environments, workplace and FM practitioners have played a key role in the response to the global pandemic crisis. What role will FM now play within hybrid workplace ecosystems? How can FM services and amenities help create company culture, and ultimately, a better workplace experience? How can a Vested Outsourcing model create a shared culture that ensures mutual success? For this conversation Michael Creamer was joined by Ingrid Fenn, President and CEO at SIREAS, and Bryan Jacobs, President, Global Integrated Facilities Management at Cushman & Wakefield.

The digital world has revolutionized how consumers shop. Digital retail experiences have rethought the customer experience across channels and devices, and have empowered the customer. What lessons can businesses learn from the retail world - which is much further down the digital transformation road? How can real estate leaders seek to create workplace experiences in hybrid work-from-home models? For this podcast Michael Creamer was joined by Ibrahim Ibrahim, futurist, retail strategist, designer and Managing Director at Portland Design, and Nicola Gillen, Head of Total Workplace EMEA at Cushman & Wakefield.

There is a fundamental misunderstanding that changes to how we work, post pandemic, are merely an acceleration of trends that were already underway. Are we in fact witnessing the start of a revolution that will utterly transform the dynamics of the real estate industry? As we move to hybrid working a variety of working patterns will emerge. How will we need to change the way we operate as individuals and as companies? How should companies pivot so that they are primarily thinking about real estate as enabling employees to be as happy, healthy AND productive as they can be? How should we think about 'space as a service' - where consumption reflects the needs of the 'customers' - the employees? For this podcast Michael Creamer was joined by Antony Slumbers, Co-Founder at Real Innovation Academy. Antony has been a software development and technology strategist in commercial real estate since 1995. He now consults and works with real estate boards on transformation, technology and innovation. A well-known speaker in property, he is a globally recognised expert on PropTech and 'space as a service'.

The world has endured systematic disruption in recent years with increasing global temperatures, rising income inequality and deepening geopolitical tensions. Now with a global pandemic and businesses reimagining how they want to operate, the world's largest investors are placing sustainability at the centre of their investment approaches. An imperative to focus on sustainability is emerging with an opportunity to reshape how we interact with our environments. How has the sustainability imperative given companies a purpose and focus, beyond profit, that will ensure long-term viability? How can business leaders steer organizations through today’s volatility and not only survive, but thrive? For this conversation, Michael Creamer was joined by Oliver Dudok van Heel, Head of Client Sustainability and Environment at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP and Katie Henry, Sustainability Manager at Cushman & Wakefield.

We live in extraordinary economic times volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. In the service sector, many traditional approaches are no longer relevant and the landscape of brand identity, employee engagement and customer experience is changing. Purpose and values set the foundation for an organisation’s culture, and are core to its way of working. Culture is not an initiative or a project, but the sum of habits and behaviours. How can organisations put their values into action? In other words, how can organisations design their internal culture, which is ultimately the organisation itself? For this conversation, Michael Creamer was joined by Alan and Sam Williams, father and son and co-authors of The Values Economy: How to Deliver Purpose-Driven Service for Sustained Performance

In an age where the pace and complexity of change is only increasing, the activation of what drives our behavior – our human dilemmas – is causing many of us to experience a heightened degree of anxiety. The pandemic crisis has been a powerful catalyst to thinking differently - to find greater success and fulfilment in our current times many business leaders have paused and reflected on their own sense of self and identity. How can leaders embrace and use their human dilemmas to help them achieve what they desire? Why should businesses identify a purpose beyond turning profit? How can business leaders bring purpose to life through their own practice? For this conversation, Michael Creamer was joined by Rob Cross, Founder of Muru Leadership and an author and speaker with a focus on people and coaching senior leaders. Rob brings together over 20 years of research, practical experience of developing others and hands-on leadership.