How and where we work is fast being reimagined – as showcased in new hybrid workspaces – and this is a trend reflected in new sixth form spaces
Visit The Engine Room in London’s reinvented Battersea and you get a vision of what today’s students are set to experience in tomorrow’s workplace. Understated, modern, and with a distinctly clubby feel, it sits within a proud landmark of the last industrial revolution, Battersea Power Station.
Workers who sign in to The Engine Room are able to host meetings and conferences (real or virtual), catch up with colleagues in the business lounge, hunker down for a bit of quiet time or grab a coffee and light bite. Of course, endless shopping, dining and entertainment opportunities are just outside and, since this office is open 24 hours, you are your own boss in choosing the working and leisure hours you keep.
“Young people will enter a far more fluid working world, one that prizes self-starters who can get the job done without a boss standing over them”
This, then, is the challenge facing schools as they prepare post 16 students not only for higher education, but also for life in the working world. Young people will enter a far more fluid environment, one that prizes self-starters who can get the job done without a boss standing over them. Given that most universities now place a similar demand on students – plus less face-to-face time with lecturers and tutors than even a decade ago – students have to learn self-discipline, and learn it fast.
That’s why the sixth form is also being reinvented – with many schools investing in brand new facilities or ambitious redesigns of existing spaces. Often new sixth forms are in discrete blocks with access to social spaces, including that all-important coffee bar with cosy chairs. Tutorial pods, virtual conference and meeting spaces and breakout lounges are all a feature, alongside lecture halls – excellent technology and connectivity a given.
International Workspace Group (IWG) the flexible workspace provider behind Regus and Spaces – and also The Engine Room – points out that ongoing academic research by Stanford, among others, predicts that around a third of white-collar roles will remain hybrid for the long term. This means today’s students need to be prepared for dropping into an office (or different offices) on an ad hoc basis. There will be no familiar desk, family photos or personal drawer space for stashing personal clutter.
IWG says this has prompted new company roles, including Chief Hybrid Officer and Office Synchroniser (companies such as Meta already have a CHO). Both roles, as the title suggests, manage the logistics, productivity and smooth running of organisations where employees don’t routinely clock in and clock out but still need to be briefed, monitored and supported.
Another key trend, says IWG, is a far more diverse workspace – with office designs to suit neurodiverse employees as well as returners and much older employees. So, forget the noisy open-plan space, quiet and cosy are the way forward, alongside social spaces that encourage free flow of ideas in a non-confrontational way.
“Ongoing academic research by Stanford, among others, predicts that around a third of white-collar roles will remain hybrid for the long term”
Improved benefits will be offered to tempt in highflyers – from pet care and extended parental leave to mental health support. All positive news, as is IWG’s prediction of the return of the lunch hour as a thing, but how will today’s crop of students manage as new recruits when so much more responsibility for time management and getting the job done rests with them?
This, of course, is where schools come in by delivering a bridge between formal classroom and what follows. The environment certainly feels cooler, but schools are all too aware that the expectations placed on the age group about to enter the workplace are higher than ever. Today’s sixth formers will need to be able to check in to an unfamiliar coworking space, contribute to meetings with strangers without fear, manage information retrieval and connectivity and complete tasks accurately and to time.
New sixth form spaces are a calculated investment in confidence and independence building for the super cool but ever more demanding world of tomorrow.
The Engine Room at Battersea Power Station batterseapowerstation.co.uk
Further reading: Cool co-learning for Sixth Formers
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