Mind the gap

Office design can be a powerful agent in achieving organisational and cultural change; however, far too often office design is relegated to the side lines by supply side‐thinking in the property and construction industries (including architecture), and by ignorance and over delegation on the part of businesses. A wide gap separates supply and demand. Case studies are used to demonstrate what design has done for a handful of organisations who have been prepared to think strategically about office space in the current turbulent business environment. These case studies demonstrate that, if office space is to be used successfully to achieve business purposes, four essential factors must be in place: visionary leadership; integration of the design of the use of information technology (IT), human resources (HR), and office space; large scale user involvement in the process of change, ie change management; and, finally, systematic data collection to measure the relation between buildings and organisational purpose. With all four factors in place the gap that has been identified can be closed and a powerful managerial resource can be put purposefully to work.