Modus Workspace Turns 29!

Baking-in working from home – perhaps on a rota basis – is beguiling: it can reduce costs and is popular with staff. But it’s not without its challenges: it can be difficult to manage, risks damaging culture, stifling innovation, and even undermining staff development.

Is this approach really thought through, or is it just a reaction to what has happened?
How do you decide who should come in and on which day?
Do you downsize, chuck out your desks and put in collaboration booths?
Do you dispense with the office completely?

Our stance is that the role of real estate in a business strategy is personal to each company, and there are no rules. It’s all about management and starts with a root-and-branch review of how physical space supports your overall business goals. We should celebrate how much can now be done remotely, and that should be woven into the fabric of how the company operates. In its turn, the office must work hard to prove its worth as the home and beating heart of the business. The freedom from desks opens up a world of possibilities for what these spaces can become.

Our job becomes even more important now that the primary driver is no longer the density of desks; we’re working with a key component of our client’s business plans to create spaces that support their sales activities and their people’s collaboration, innovation, engagement, health and community. We’re imagining magnetic offices where employees want to go because they achieve more when they are there. Spaces that drive sales and client engagement through technology and beautiful design. Where the magic happens. The projects shown in our 29th book originated in a world before COVID-19. However, because we’ve been advocating activity-based design for many years, all the featured spaces work just as well post-pandemic; these clients are not seeking to change anything. This is a real testament to the clarity of thinking and quality of design that Modus is known for.

We’re now in our thirtieth year and looking at a future full of possibility and promise. Modus continues to be the company where the industry’s talent wants to be and we’re confident that there will always be demand for great places to work. So, as the world starts to recover, we’re very confident of a bright future. I want to finish by saying how proud I am of everyone who works with me for the way they dealt with life during the pandemic. Without missing a beat, the company moved online and continued to deliver for our clients. I am blessed by being surrounded by extraordinary people.

Toby Benzecry, Founder & CEO