Research Study: Recruiting the Next Generation.
DEGW Munich

DEGW has always been concerned with the relationship between research and practice. A key mechanism for exploring issues related to building use and form has been the multi-client research study where a group of interested organisations – both public and private – to form a research consortium that investigates a single issue over the course of one to two years.

In the 1980s the ORBIT (Organisations, Buildings and Information Technology) series of studies sponsored by multinational clients, established the new parameters for office buildings to enable them to cope with IT and with the changing nature of corporate structures in the UK and the USA. Since then DEGW has undertaken a series (1992 – 1998) of multi-client research projects exploring intelligent building issues in Europe, South East Asia (published by E&FN Spon as Intelligent Buildings in South East Asia) and Latin America and in 1989 DEGW worked with the Building Research Establishment (BRE) on The Responsible Workplace. This study highlighted the impact of innovative organisational structures and environmental concerns on the design and management of office buildings for the 1990s. It proposed a model to guide thinking on the workplace which balances minimising cost against adding value through enhanced organisational performance. The study was published as a book by Butterworth Heinemann in 1993: The Responsible Workplace by Francis Duffy, Andrew Laing and Vic Crisp.

The New Environments for Working study, was also carried out by DEGW, with the BRE, in 1996. This study established the detailed specification requirements for new kinds of environmental servicing systems in offices, capable of responding to the demands of organisations that are using both space and time in innovative ways.

More recent multi-client studies have included The Multi-Generational Workplace, Phase 2 carried out by DEGW Asia Pacific in 2006 and 2008, and Recruiting the Next Generation undertaken by DEGW Germany in 2007-2008.

Research projects led by DEGW gives the practice the leading edge in our areas of specialism. Research projects have provided the time and resources to develop innovative workplace design and planning concepts. Individual clients using DEGW services benefit from the knowledge gained from research because it can be applied directly to their own concerns. Clients benefit in other ways from the research: in briefing their new developments or in selecting appropriate premises; in managing more effectively their property portfolios and assets; in envisioning the future of their organisations; and in determining the impact of change in information technology and work processes on building design and patterns of space use.