Not Dead, But Definitely Different: The Workplace Overhaul

Jacob founded General Projects in 2016, a real estate developer and operator that creates experiential, innovative and dynamic buildings, designed around the needs of the new economy. Over his career he has the led the acquisition and development of over £1.5bn of real estate spanning over 2 million sq ft of mixed-use projects, winning a number of notable industry awards in the process. With a passion for architecture and design, Jacob has overseen the reinvention of the iconic Grade II listed One Poultry, the award-winning development of Alphabeta, and the creation of Expressway, an SME workspace and industrial complex.

Principal and Board Director, Michael Fern is a forward-thinking design strategist who leads multi-disciplinary teams working across workplace, retail and leisure sectors. Edge provides connected design expertise through brand, architecture and interiors and Michael is passionate about finding the best creative and business solution for every project he directs. His wide frame of cultural and design references ensures that he brings stimulating ideas, innovation and creative direction at every critical stage. Edge believes in the power of brand to create stand out and differentiation and everything the practice does starts with an understanding of the business and its brand. With a focus on perception and performance, Edge uses the physical environment to shape behaviours, improve efficiencies, create rituals and positively transform the experience for businesses and end users. Michael has worked with fellow principals Racheal Cadey (founder) and Mark O’Neill (technical director) to devise a new one-stop workplace methodology called Nimble to help businesses navigate a post-COVID-19 way of working. Nimble offers connected expertise in property, space planning and wellbeing for clients as they bring the workforce back to the office and plan for the future. Michael is heading the design team for a new 60,000 sq ft head office for Joules, the British lifestyle brand. He is guiding Edge’s holistic approach to create an inspiring open-plan office environment, bringing connected thinking and design, spanning workplace strategy, change management and 2D/3D design.

Dan is Head of Workspace Consultancy at Hollis. With over 17 years’ industry experience, Dan specialises in the delivery of commercial office projects for a range of developer, landlord and occupier clients to create beautiful workspaces that optimise commercial value, whilst ensuring the productivity and wellbeing of staff is maximised. Dan has successfully delivered office projects up to £47m in value and is currently helping clients prepare their workplaces for the return to the ‘new norm’ in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lyn joined Joules in May 2018, bringing over 15 years experience in HR. Most recently, Lyn was HR Director at Carpetright and prior to that, HR Director at Virgin Active. She has also held a number of roles at Dixons, Gamestation and Home Retail Group.

JanJaap is leading the Workplace Advisory team at Colliers International across Europe, Middle East & Africa. The team consists of 70 workplace and change advisors that help organisations develop efficient workplaces which enable organisations to work productively. JanJaap has a background in Organisation Studies and worked at Atos Consulting as strategy consultant before joining Colliers in 2012. Since that time he has developed workplace strategies for clients in more than 20 countries globally. He is also a mentor in the Techstars Proptech Accelerator program, mentoring Property Technology start-ups all around the world. During the COVID-19 period the Workplace Advisory team is working with many organisations on planning the step by step return back to the office and developing long term real estate and workplace strategies taking into account the learnings from COVID-19.