Find out more about the MECD Pilot Workspace

13 Nov 2018

The MECD pilot workspace has welcomed its first group of users, now half-way through their 3 month stay, you can find out more about the space and the experiences of the first pilot group

The MECD Pilot Space has been officially open for business since 24 September, with the first group of staff and postgraduate students trialling the workspace. These users are the first to explore options for the 10,000m2 of allocated workspace within MECD.

There will be three phases of user testing over the next 12 months and colleagues trialling the space will work closely with the Project Team, change consultants, Advanced Workplace Associates (AWA) and project architect iDEA, to help shape the workspace brief for MECD.

If you are interested in finding out more about the user experience of the workspace a blog is now live on the MECD Staffnet pages. You can also see the space first-hand by booking on to a tour. To do so please enter your full name into the box where it current says "MECD Pilot Space" on the doodle poll link provided. 

The first participants in the pilot includes three groups from the School of MACE, one group from CEAS and part of the Faculty’s Planning, Compliance and Special Projects team. These staff and postgraduate students moved in on Monday 24 September and will be based in the space until 14 December. A range of activities will be undertaken throughout the duration of the pilot period to gather feedback from the users to understand how the pilot is meeting its objectives. 

The design of the pilot workspace and associated change process is being developed with our design partners and change champions. These are groups of colleagues from the participant groups and wider MECD community. The Design partners analyse how each pilot community works and develop a design brief which is then translated into a layout by the project architects. They have also developed the pilot success criteria and the change support process and this co-design approach ensures that the requirements of the different groups are properly represented to ensure that the design meets their needs. The Design Partners were identified by the Heads of School and include Academics, PDRAs, PGRs and PS staff, each bringing their knowledge and understanding of teaching, research and working in the University to the development of the design both in terms of space and ways of working.
 
Once the design for each pilot phase is agreed Change champions from each participating group work with their colleagues to raise awareness and understanding of the principles and practicalities of the new workplace environment.

The new engineering campus has been designed to deliver an inspiring environment for staff and students to work and learn. The vision is to provide an environment that delivers a range of spaces to suit the diverse activities that take place in the Faculty, and where communities can shape the layout of their area according to need.

The pilot space will test different workspace designs. This presents a fantastic opportunity to trial options and ensure we provide a pioneering workspace within the sector that meets the needs of all staff based in MECD.

The move to MECD will present a significant shift in the working environment and culture of the Faculty of Science and Engineering regardless of its eventual design, and the pilot space will help preparation for the adaptation of different working practices and processes. The pilot project will enable us to understand these change needs in more detail and shape the workspace brief accordingly. 

For more information including FAQ's and the floor plan for phase one, there is a dedicated Staffnet section for the pilot workspace.