Work experience
This month, Worktech 17 Dubai is bringing professionals together to explore the future of work and the contemporary office.
Worktech 17 Dubai is bringing professionals together to explore the future of work and the contemporary office
With the labour force in flux and globalisation necessitating the re-thinking of the nature and scope of work, top corporate leaders realise that preparing for the future of the modern workplace is the key to success. To address this and many other contemporary issues, the MENA region is pleased to be welcoming Worktech 17 Dubai (26 September).
The event is hosted at the breath-taking new Address Boulevard Hotel – designed by 2016 identity Design Award-winner Atkins Global – whose magnificent 63 stories boast jaw-dropping views of the lake below and of the Burj Khalifa tower. Its architectural aptitude is rivalled only by its luxurious contemporary interiors by HBA (Hirsch Bedner Associates).
Sponsored by Haworth, Orangebox, Human Space, The Furniture Company, Kvadrat Soft Cells and Teknion, the show will welcome international and local senior professionals from real estate, facilities, HR, technology, executive management, architecture and design, while professional advisors will use multiple platforms to discuss how workplaces can best prepare for the future.
Leading the conference will be Philip Ross – CEO of UnGroup (the business behind UnWired and UnWork) and chairman of Cordless Consultants and a founder of Building Zones and Building Sustainability – who will present his thoughts on ‘ the new digital / app-centric workplace’.
Uli Blum, Associate at Zaha Hadid Architects, will examine the self-learning workplace, and address how the office building can reveal daily usage patterns and develop into a continuously evolving ecosystem.
With his talk ‘ Invisible Cities: People, Place and the Future’, Primo Orpilla, Co-founder and Principal of Studio O+A, will share the latest trends and ideas from the USA, including the blurred lines between work and life and the integration of younger workers into the workforce. Based in San Francisco, he is one of the world’s most innovative designers’ whose portfolio includes some of the most cutting-edge workplaces in Silicon Valley and beyond. His work for Microsoft, Evernote, Facebook, AOL, Yelp, Levi Strauss and many others has pushed the boundaries and introduced a range of new ideas and concepts. In 2015, Orpilla and partner Verda Alexander were inducted into Interior Design magazine’s Hall of Fame, and in 2016 O+A won the Cooper Hewitt Design Award for Interior Design.
Brian Kelly, Sales Director of Haworth Middle East and Africa, will present Haworth Analytics – a new technology designed to reduce corporate real estate costs. Through a combination of qualitative and quantitative data collection, the technology produces a report on workplace utilisation. Decision-makers can then leverage this information to reduce the number of vacant workplaces, resulting in significant savings.
Carla M Arias, Assistant Professor of Interior Design, Canadian University Dubai, will speak on the importance of understanding natural working environments. She will discuss how the theory of ‘ biophilia’ in the workplace can engage employees and clients, and how to integrate health and wellbeing into everything we do.
Another key speaker will be Sean Heckford, International Corporate Real Estate and Facilities Director for Parsons. His area of responsibility includes all locations outside of North and South America, with a focus on the MEA region, in-line with Parsons’ global growth and delivery strategy. He primarily works from the regional head office in Abu Dhabi yet, due to a busy travelling schedule, must remain extremely flexible and able to operate and manage his portfolio from anywhere.