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Welcoming workplace: Rapid design intervention to determine the office environment needs of older knowledge workers

This book chapter details the context, methods, findings and implications of the Welcoming Workplace project (RCA, 2006–8), which was part of Phase 2 of the Designing for the 21stCentury Research Programme (AHRC-EPSRC), directed by Professor Tom Inns, University of Dundee. It describes (pp. 208–24) an interdisciplinary study to determine the office environment needs of older workers in the knowledge economy. Myerson was principal investigator on the project. The research uses a mix of architectural, anthropological and design techniques to give older workers a ‘voice’ in the workplace. At the heart of the study is a series of ‘rapid design interventions’ on sites in the UK, Japan and Australia to create temporary experiential work settings for testing and evaluation. It discusses how the research team worked with academic partners (Universities of Melbourne and Kyushu) to create these within the time and operational constraints imposed by large organisations.

The study generated evidence-based design guidance on the needs of older workers and significantly advanced the idea of inclusive office design. As a result, Myerson was invited to join the Workplace Productivity Group of the British Council for Offices (BCO), the professional body responsible for writing the BCO’s Guide to Specification (2009). Findings were also submitted to the Department of Work and Pensions and incorporated into its major strategy paper on an ageing society (2009). In addition, Myerson was asked by the Royal Institute of British Architects to contribute to its Good Office Design publication (RIBA Publishing, 2009, ed. David Littlefield).

Myerson led a masterclass at the British Library as part of the ‘WorkTech London 2008’ conference to launch the Welcoming Workplace study, and he accepted a number of international invitations to speak on the research: at the Office and Facility Conference Warsaw, Norwegian Design Council Oslo and Tongji University Shanghai (all 2010).