“It’s clear that 10 Downing Street isn’t fit for purpose and much of the muddled decision-making afflicting the U.K. Government may stem from not having a proper office to work out of.” So said Andrew Mawson, managing director of global management consultancy, Advanced Workplace Associates.
It is a valid point. Numbers 10, 11 and 12 Downing Street comprise a cramped seventeenth-century complex of over 100 rooms, including the Prime Minister’s flat. “No major corporation – or indeed government department – operates from a largely unreconstructed 300-year-old building or has the CEO living above the shop,” Mawson added.
It gives rise to the question: How does modern office architecture impact working relationships and decision making, and what does the optimum workspace look like for today’s cohort of more demanding, increasingly hybrid, workers?