Providing Better Workplaces

Southampton Science Park CEO Robin Chave, and Business Development Director Jane Holt represented Southampton at the UK Science Park Association (UKSPA) conference in Birmingham this December.

With environmental, social and corporate governance, and employee health and wellbeing high on the agenda of many businesses, UKSPA delegates discussed how they are adapting to these trends and how they will respond to future resident expectations to shape the UK economy over the next decade and beyond.

Jane Holt participated as a speaker on the topic of Changing Places: Collaboration and Flexibility. She commented: “Bringing this community back together in person was much needed. It’s so important to discuss learnings from the last couple of years, to share best practice and to bring fresh ideas to the table. While there’s no doubt that the innovation community was incredibly resilient and agile enough to adapt to the shock of a pandemic, their needs have changed and it’s our job to ensure that we deliver against these.”

Robin Chave added: “In the current challenging business climate, the innovation sector has a very clear requirement for quality, adaptive and collaborative workspaces. As talented employees are increasingly hard to recruit and retain, creating spaces that serve the needs of individuals, and their organisations as a whole, will be of paramount importance. To compete with homeworking, the science and innovation park community must ensure that it is offering high quality business accommodation which safeguards wellbeing with healthy green spaces, high-tech smart facilities, and creative areas which engender openness and collaboration. Technology businesses need to know that such working environments are available and that here is where they will thrive.”