How an app could reshape your building

On the sixth floor of Great Portland Estates’ 160 Old Street development, EC1, a workspace revolution is under way. Open-plan seating areas and natural-look breakout spaces weave under a twinkling fibre optic star ceiling and walls are covered in graffiti by local street artists, but the bricks and mortar are only part of the story at the London Connectory. A QR code-accessible office occupied by Transport for London and engineering and tech firm Bosch is now home to the first workplace app in London and the real innovation stems not from the space in isolation, but from a razor-focused commitment to developer/occupier collaboration. On the delivery side is GPE, with director of workspace and innovation James Pellatt leading the charge. On the occupier side, Bosch’s urban innovation manager Laura Mack-Titelius is bringing into the mix the experience and firepower of a 400,000-strong global engineering company – not to mention one with an extensive smart cities’ strategy ranging from exploring mobility solutions to developing city-wide community apps. “We are looking at the world and city challenges such as urban mobility and, as a result, we are rethinking how we do business and how we build space,” says Mack-Titelius. “The Connectories are little islands – we have one in London and one in Chicago – where people can innovate. It is a different sort of space and a different way of working.” The hope is that through the combination of Bosch’s global smart cities agenda and GPE’s extensive experience in delivering commercial assets in the UK capital, the London Connectory will not only be an innovative space, but one that can be successfully knitted into the surrounding urban fabric. “There is so much potential from a building perspective in terms of how we can work together with Bosch and TfL,” Pellatt says, adding that the introduction of the workplace app, which launched last week, is part of GPE’s push to create spaces that centre around freedom, flexibility and choice. The developer has worked with Nitrous London – a platform facilitating collaboration between start-ups and government – to create the app which, with input from TfL, goes beyond the Old Street space itself. “For so many people the working day starts with travelling from A to B,” says Mack-Titelius. “The hope is that the app will integrate buildings into cities so, for example, if you are driving an electric vehicle, where can you charge it? If I travel by bike to the office, where can I put it when I get there, and if I have an e-bike how do I charge that during the day? All of these issues relate to the transition between the city and the building.” Pellatt and Mack-Titelius add that data collected and patterns mapped out will feed into future development. “We will be able to see how people are using buildings but also how they are travelling to and from them,” says Mack-Titelius. “This will help with the big question: ‘what should a building look like in the future?’” “We have always valued our occupiers,” adds Pellatt. “But what we are doing here is taking it to another level. “When you really listen and understand what Bosch as a business does it is tremendously exciting. We have learned a lot from attending the Connectory events. It is not just a case of the customer being right, we develop our portfolio off the back of this collaboration and explore new ideas, technologies and innovations. It is incredibly valuable to have an occupier we can work with and learn from like this. “We have not only installed this app at 160 Old Street. It will be rolled out across the portfolio, so by Christmas every one of our occupiers will have access to it and we will learn and understand what people want from buildings. That feeds into the development pipeline.” To send feedback, e-mail emily.wright@egi.co.uk or tweet @EmilyW_9 or @estatesgazette