Attendees at the Office (Work) Future(s) workshop will have different interests but the ideas and materials included in this position paper are hopefully broad and diverse enough to provoke thoughts and responses from all. The central question to be addressed is how might we think about Office (Work) Future(s)? Related questions are:
• Where is the future office and whose office is it? • What will it look like and how will it be serviced? • Where and when will future office work take place? • What is the role of technology in these office/work futures? • What are the energy demand implications of these potential futures and how might they be steered?
This document is a first attempt at corralling and exploring some of these issues, and identifying questions that arise. It is an attempt to capture different ‘visions’ of the potential futures in this area that are identifiable at this moment in time. It is by no means comprehensive and part of the purpose of the workshop is to capture other work and particularly academic perspectives on this material – suggestions for material to be followed up on is particularly appreciated. In the different sessions of the workshop discussion will be prompted by presentations given by a number of people in response to this document. It is hoped that the responses to the paper and the discussions at the workshop will help to shape ongoing work on energy demand and the future of office work, and the creation of a research programme for a future funded project