FOCUS INTERVIEW
The 2022 British Council for O ices
(BCO) Annual Conference, which
takes place in Manchester from Tuesday
14th to Thursday 16th June is aptly
entitled ‘our time is now’, focusing
on the unique opportunity for the
workplace sector in rethinking the role
of the o ice to deliver positive change.
The session ‘Transforming building
occupancy’ will bring together Vernon
Blunt, Global Workplace Operations
Director at Ericsson, Paul Casey, Director
of EMEA Real Estate at IBM and Andy
52 MAY 2022
With over 35 years of innovation and research into the workplace Despina Katsikakis,
Global Head of Workplace, Cushman & Wakefi eld believes now is the time for FMs to
play a critical role in the transformation of building occupancy
McBain, Head of Future of Workspace &
Design for the NatWest Group to discuss
the future role of the o ice in delivering
business value. It’s being chaired by
Despina Katsikakis, Global Head of
Workplace at Cushman & Wakefield,
who during a 35-year career, pioneered
workplace consultancy services for global
corporations and real estate developers.
Reflecting on her considerable experience
in forecasting and delivering future of
work strategies she says: “I worked with
Frank Du y at DEGW from 1984 and the
focus then was on how this thing called
the desktop PC would change how people
worked, and how it would a ect workplace
design. Forty years on we’ve come full
circle and now we’re asking ‘how is mobile
technology changing the way in which we
work and what are the implications for
buildings?’
“Now we’re addressing the same question
by looking at how the intersection between
technology and place impacts working
practises, where people live and work,
how we work and the role of buildings, real
TRANSFORMATIVE ADVICE