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Experts to reveal key factors behind 'excellent' academic workspaces

University of Leicester psychologist involved in project

Published on 19 November 2009

The importance of careful planning and consideration in the design of future academic workspace in UK universities is emphasised in research being presented today. Experts from Leicester, Loughborough and Nottingham Trent universities have collaborated in an 18 month study looking at how universities can provide more innovative, effective and enjoyable working environments for academics and researchers.

The study – The Case for New Academic Workspaces – has been funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE). The findings will be presented at the Spaced Out? Delivering Effective Academic Workspaces conference at the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) headquarters in London.

The research team – which includes experts in architecture, estates management and psychology – has been looking at examples of best practice from across the UK higher education sector, universities overseas, and the public and private sector. A document has been produced which can be used by universities to offer guidelines when planning for future workspace.

The research findings make apparent that there is no single best design response, and that universities must understand each situation in terms of what they are trying to achieve and how they both want and need to work in the future. The cost of designing a good working environment will be repaid many times over by the benefit it delivers through research, teaching and administration, the researchers found.

For successful projects, conversations about workspace design needed to engage academics fully, rather than be driven solely by estates professionals and architects. Academics should be involved in briefings from the outset and recognise that their voice is essential in putting across what goes on in the building and how they would like to work.

The researchers also found there was strong evidence that, although time-consuming, an empowered and passionate academic ‘space champion’ would be extremely beneficial.

The provision of academic workspace is often underpinned by a number of conflicting demands, and the success of a new build or refurbishment projects depends on a university’s ability to understand and manage the tension between them. Trade-offs are inevitable, the report states, and hard work must be undertaken to find a solution where everybody wins.

From the University of Leicester, Professor Mark Lansdale of the School of Psychology will be talking about some of the issues that are raised when Universities seek to make bold new architectural statements. Specifically, from the point of view of their occupants, he considers the psychological issues that can make the difference between uninspiring buildings and buildings that can utterly transform the university and the teams working within it.

Dr Jennifer Parkin, a psychology research fellow in Nottingham Trent University’s School of Social Sciences, said: “UK higher education institutions have benefited from greater experimentation in recent years as architects and planners have strived to achieve greater openness, increased interaction and a more efficient use of office space.

“Our report will help facilitate more informed debate on academic workspace design and illustrate the roles stakeholders can play in the design of a workspace. The value of well-designed buildings goes far beyond material costs, and endures long after those costs have been forgotten.”

Simon Austin, Professor of Structural Engineering at Loughborough University, who led the project, said: “We are at a time of considerable change in the sector, where the decisions we make will have lasting effects on the HE estate and the people who work within it.

“Our investigations have revealed a complex situation of trying to balance a number of conflicting demands, which we have seen recurring time after time in the UK and abroad, and these reflect the quite variable individual and group roles of academics. We have found that thinking carefully about the goals, genuine stakeholder engagement, a well articulated brief and good design produces results that, most of the time, work well for the occupants.”

ENDS

Notes for editors:

For more on the project visit www.academicworkspace.com