Workplace Trends: Designing for Inclusion

Charlotte Sweeney

Charlotte has specialised in large-scale change programmes with a focus on diversity, inclusion, engagement and wellbeing for over 15 years. She is seen as a thought leader in her field and works with companies and executives from the private, public and third sectors to drive leadership and cultural change.

Charlotte worked for Blue Chip companies in the Financial Services sector for 25 years (Barclays, Barclays Capital, HBOS and Nomura International) before creating her own consultancy. Charlotte is a Non Executive Director at the Mid Yorkshire NHS Trust. She conducted an independent review on the Voluntary Code for Executive Search firms in relation to getting more women onto boards for the Secretary of State Dr Vince Cable, which is now referred to as "The Sweeney Report".

She is Vice-Chair of the Dept of Business, Innovation and Skills external Diversity & Inclusion Advisory Panel and is leading the Lord Mayor of the City of London's Diversity Programme "The Power of Diversity" on behalf of Fiona Woolf CBE. Charlotte holds a number of NED roles in companies and charities including the City HR Association and Carers UK and, in 2014, became a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Management Consultants. Over the years Charlotte has won many awards, including from Harvard, for her work in the Diversity and Inclusion field. Charlotte writes for a number of professional publications globally as well as presenting and chairing at international conferences.

Steve Maslin, Building User Design

Steve is a Chartered Architect and Research Fellow at the Schumacher Institute for Sustainable Systems. He is also a member of the National Register of Access Consultants, BRE's Global Standing Panel of Experts, as well as serving on several British Standards Institute (BSI) committees.

Connect with Steve here. 

Richard Baldwin, Derwent London

Richard, a chartered quantity surveyor by background, joined Derwent London in 2011 to take up the Head of Development role. He has over 30 years' experience in the central London office market and is responsible for the successful delivery of our refurbishment and development projects.

Relaxations: family, Chelsea football club, cricket, cycling and the arts

Neil Usher, Sky

Neil is Workplace Director at Sky.

He is experienced property professional working in the sparsely populated area at the intersection of workplace, HR and social business. Neil has successfully designed, delivered and managed workplaces in over thirty countries in a variety of industry sectors.

Neil has an established personal blog (workessence), - he says becuuse "I am interested in what I do and want to talk about it and learn from others. I conceived the #workplaceblogs Twitter hashtag as a place to find great thinking, brought pecha kucha to the UK property industry, and may just be the UK’s only workplace poet".

"Use social technologies to extend my network to areas beyond property and the workplace in order to see what I do from different perspectives. I value creativity, openness, and the courage to experiment and change."

Read Neil's blog at www.workessence.com
Follow Neil on Twitter at @workessence

Paul Finch

Paul Finch is programme director of the World Architecture Festival; he is deputy chairman of the UK Design Council and chairman of Design Council Cabe (Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment; and editorial director of the Architectural Review and Architects' Journal.

Born London in 1949 he took a history degree at Selwyn College, Cambridge, before going into journalism. He was deputy editor of Estates Times (now Property Week), 1976-1983; editor of Building Design, 1983-94; editor of the Architects' Journal, 1994-1999, and editor of The Architectural Review 2005-2009.

He was a commissioner at CABE, and deputy chair, 1999-2007, and chair, 2009-2011. He chaired the Olympic Design Review panel from 2006-2010. He has been joint editor of Planning in London since 1992.

He received an honorary FRIBA in 1994; an honorary doctorate from the University of Westminster, 2004; and an honorary fellowship from University College London, 2006. He is an honorary fellow of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland; an honorary member of the Royal Society of Architects in Wales; and an honorary member of the British Council for Offices. He was awarded an OBE for services to architecture in 2002.

Paul Morrell

For regular Workplace Trends delegates, Paul Morrell needs no introduction, entertaining and informing us each year in the now infamous post lunch debate. 

Paul Morrell joined construction consultancy Davis Langdon after graduating, and worked on major construction projects in both the public and private sectors, with a particular emphasis on arts projects, hotels and commercial developments. He eventually became senior partner, before leaving in 2007.

Morrell was a founder member of the British Council for Offices (president in 2004–2005),[2] is a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects, and has served as a commissioner on the UK's Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (2000–2008; also serving as deputy chairman). In the 2007 Building Awards, he received the Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Construction Industry. He was appointed OBE for services to architecture and the built environment in the 2009 New Year Honours list.

From 2008 - 2012 Paul was the Chief Construction Advisor to the UK Government. He has also been keen to improve the efficiency, cost-effectiveness and sustainability of construction work for the UK government; he led the UK Government, Innovation and Growth Team, that produced an influential report, Low Carbon Construction, published in November 2010. Paul was also the instigator of the Government Construction Strategy (published in May 2011) which, echoing the earlier Latham and Egan Reports, told the sector to work more collaboratively and to use information technology – notably building information modelling (BIM) – to support the design, construction and long-term operation and maintenance of its built assets. 

Lee Penson, Penson

Lee founded & continues to ring fence globally renowned Architecture, Interior Design & Structural Design studio "PENSON". With the likes of Jay-Z, Sky TV and Google as regular clients and an enviable collection of very special HQ projects under his belt, Lee is one of the world’s leading architect-cum-interior designers in the sphere of offices, with high-profile projects globally.

Life in Lee’s eyes is far too short and this drives his desire that all things “office” should enhance the quality of life to, from, at and out of the office for everyone. His own life away from work involves tinkering with (and occasionally playing) his collection of custom electric guitars and what he describes as “boisterous” ocean yachting.

See more about Penson at http://www.penson.co/

Alenka Kragelj Eržen, Kragelj Architects

Alenka Kragelj Eržen has conducted in-depth research and studies on how buildings affect the environment, their occupants, and the efficiency of business organizations. She is the author of more than thirty articles in the fields of architecture and interior design expert and frequent guest programs and thematic discussions. Kragelj Architects have recently completed a large project with Si. Mobil in Slovenia and will be making a joint presentation with their client o take us through this fascinating case study.

Francisco Vazquez Medem, 3GOffice

I believe in flexible working for a better work-life balance.

I am an international workplace consultant and architect with expertise in facility management, workplace strategies, work-life balance policies, business needs analysis, corporate architecture & interior design, engineering, and corporate project management. Speaker on workplace innovations and business issues.

As a President of 3g office Consultancy Group, I lead a group of high qualified professionals working in the EMEA and LATAM regions, with offices in Spain, Portugal , Brazil, Panama, Peru, Colombia and Chile. 

Specialties: Workplace Consulting, Facility Management Consultancy, Corporate architecture & Space planning. 

Francisco blogs at www.insidenework.com