Workspace Unwired

In this episode of the BCO's Office Matters Podcast, BCO chief executive Samantha McClary sits down with Alla Elmahadi and Peter Joaki, two finalists in the BCO NextGen Ideas Competition , to discuss their journeys, inspirations and ambitions ahead of the competition's grand finale on 22 October. Drawing on careers spanning architecture, workplace design and project management, both explai...

In the second of our trilogy of special BCO Office Matterspodcasts, host Samantha McClary continues her journey behind the scenes of the BCO Next Gen Ideas Competition, introducing listeners to finalists Stephin Abraham of Gensler and Ewan Howell of Arup, alongside judge Kathryn Cripps ofKnight Frank.  As anticipation builds towards the competition final, theconversation explores the diverse backg...

In this episode of the Office Matters podcast, BCO chiefexecutive Samantha McClary speaks with BCO NextGen Ideas Competition finalists Ben Mead  of Cundall and Leelou Coppleman of OD Group ahead of the competition’s grand finale on 22 October. The pair share what motivated them to enter the programme,the excitement of being shortlisted, and the challenge of preparing to present their ideas on a ma...

The commercial real estate industry spends a huge amount of time asking what occupiers want. But according to architect and strategist Fakhry Akkad, we're still missing the point. In this fascinating episode of Office Matters, Akkad, founder of architectural practice Manufacturing Taste, argues that while the sector has become highly effective at refining the supply side of the equation - desi...

In the latest episode of the BCO's Office Matters podcast host Samantha McClary sits down with Suzan Ucmaklioglu, architect and inclusive design specialist at Foster + Partners, for a candid conversation about what it really means to design inclusively. Ucmaklioglu explains the philosophy of "with, not for" - designing alongside the people who will use a space, not assuming their nee...

What do you get when you combine a passion for workplaceprojects, a talent for problem solving and a determination to make sustainability more tangible? Lauren Lemcke. In this latest episode of the BCO Office Matters Podcast,BCO chief executive Samantha McClary sits down BCO NextGen Ideas Competition winner, AECOM's Lauren Lemcke, to talk about careers, carbon, confidence and the power of agoo...

The narrative around AI and the workplace is often framed asa threat to office demand, but the data tells a very different story. In this episode of the BCO’s Office Matters podcast, BCO chief executive Samantha McClary sits down with CoStar's, Patrick Scanlon, to explore why AI firms are becoming some of London's most active occupiers, what the latest leasing trendsreveal about the future...

In this episode of Workspace Unwired, BCO chief executive Samantha McClary is joined by Tobi Crosbie, founder and chief executive of Making Moves, to explore how occupier expectations are reshaping the office market. From building his business from scratch to advising clientsacross London, Crosbie shares candid insights into what today’s organisations really want from their workplaces and why. The...

In this episode of Workspace Unwired, BCO chief executive Samantha McClary sits down with Nicola Gillen, EMEA lead for Total Workspace at Cushman & Wakefield, and chair of the national judges for the BCO Awards, to unpack what truly defines excellence in today’s workplaces. Drawing on insights from reviewing more than 100 buildings across the UK during her four years on the BCO national judgin...

In this episode of the BCO’s Workspace Unwired podcast, chief executive Samantha McClary talks with Clare Fielding about inclusion, workplace design and the importance of creating spaces where everyone feels safe, respected and able to thrive. Fielding, a former planning lawyer, managing partner and now coach, reflects on her experience as a trans woman and what she describes as becoming a “reluct...

In this episode of BCO’s Workspace Unwired podcast, chiefexecutive Samantha McClary is joined by Gary Elliott and Georgia Elliott-Smith of Elliott Wood to explore how engineering can move from simply reducing harmto actively shaping a more sustainable built environment. Drawing on decades of experience in engineering, propertyand sustainability, the conversation looks at why engineers must act as...

In this episode of Workspace Unwired, BCO chief executiveSamantha McClary talks to Elliott Sparsis about his journey from early entrepreneurial experience in a family business to co-founding Sociable Surveyors, a global internship platform that unexpectedly created a powerful industry network. After gaining foundational experience in real estate atSavills and Blackstone, where he honed a rigorous...

In this episode of Workspace Unwired BCO chief executive Samantha McClary talks with architect Julian de Metz about why he loves “crawling all over buildings”, why great workplace design is fundamentally about human experience rather than technical compliance and why we need to sometimes ditch the digital and be more analogue. De Metz is co-founder of dMFK, an architectural practice he founded wit...

In this episode of Workspace Unwired BCO chief executive Samantha McClary takes her portable studio to Birmingham and joins Bruntwood SciTech’s Moe Ali for a walking tour of the firm’s assets in the UK’s second city. Starting at Centre City, Bruntwood’s redevelopment of a Brutalist beast close to New Street station, the pair pound the streets of Birmingham visiting a handful of buildings from the...

In this episode of Workspace Unwired BCO chief executiveSamantha McClary is talking to Doug Higgins, a director at Socius, and Emma Goodford, consultant adviser at Railpen, about not one but two major developments they are delivering together in Cambridge. While both Mill Yard and Botanic Place offer plenty ofworkspace, like all careful development today, both also focus heavily on creating place....

In this episode of the Workspace Unwired podcast BCO chiefexecutive Samantha McClary is talking to Patrick Dumas, founder and CEO of Square Mile Farms, about how his company is transforming offices into hubs of urban agriculture, wellbeing, and community connection. Over the course of this 40 minute conversation, recorded onlocation in London’s Paddington, Dumas shares how what began as an attempt...

In this episode of Workspace Unwired BCO chief executiveSamantha McClary gets a lesson in proper due diligence with Dave Bebb, a partner at specialist construction and engineering law firm Fenwick Elliott. Bebb shares insights from his extensive career in constructionlaw about how to limit the risks to projects of insolvency somewhere in the supply chain. Insolvency remains a real threat in today’...

In this episode of Workspace Unwired Dave Cheshire,sustainability director at AECOM and author of Regenerative by Design , joins BCO chief executive Samantha McClary to make the case for regenerative design. This fascinating conversation covers everything from toiletsto civic rights for all living creatures and why delivering buildings that are “less bad” for the environment just isn’t good enough...

In this episode of Workspace Unwired Matt Flood, development director and head of commercial development at Related Argent joins BCO chief executive Samantha McClary to talk about the firm’s Brent Cross project. The scheme, which is three times the size of King’s Cross, will deliver an entirely new settlement in the London borough of Barnet, including some 3m sq ft of offices.  It is a project tha...

In this episode of Workspace Unwired, BCO chief executive Samantha McClary sits down with Lucy Heller, chief executive of education charity Ark, and Guy Cochrane, senior asset manager for EdCity. EdCity, winner of the corporate workspace at the BCO London Awards in 2025, is the HQ of Ark, but so much more. It is the heart of a new community in White City and a building that seeks to deliver social...

In this episode of the BCO’s Workspace Unwired chief executive Samantha McClary is in discussion with the co-founder of Muslims in Real Estate and Cushman & Wakefieldsurveyor Yusuf Javaid to talk about the importance of delivering spaces that work for everyone, about how multi-use rooms are just as important as multi-faith rooms and how real estate as the potential to provide endless opportuni...

In this episode of Workspace Unwired Mark Bourgeois, chief executive of the Government Property Agency, sits down with BCO CEO Samantha McClary to talk about the transformationof the government estate, the work the agency is doing to deliver value and the challenges and opportunities he is discovering as the team works to right-size the estate. Bourgeois also shares his love for leadership and how...

In this episode of Workspace Unwired BCO chief executiveSamantha McClary is in conversation with Avison Young’s London regional managing director Adrian Boyce about the firm’s recent big move to its new London HQ at The Met. Listen in as Boyce shares the journey from consultant toclient, the challenges that come from wanting to deliver the best that you can on a not unlimited budget, and how walki...

In this episode of Workspace Unwired Landsec portfolio manager and BCO NextGen committee member Chloe Prince joins BCO chief executive Samantha McClary to talk about the need for real estate industry to broaden its talent pool and why we need to be taking social mobility much, much more seriously if we really want to create a diverse and equitable industry and deliver a successful and valuable bui...

In this episode of Workspace Unwired, BCO chief executive Samantha McClary is talking to TFT director Martin Smith about all the amazing things that are happening in the world of workspace that no one knows about.   Listen in as the pair discuss the need for our workspaces to work harder and deliver more, the brilliant tangibility of real estate and how adaptability is key to a sustainable future....