Outdoor office space in Stratford London

IQL's outdoor working space, the Living Room

How IQL is leading the way when it comes to outdoor working

As restrictions ease across England, many workers will be considering the longer term effects of lockdown on traditional work patterns and settings, as well as how offices will adapt to the new approaches they’ve had to embrace over the last 18 months. For example, many people took to working outdoors in their gardens. Others arranged outdoor meetings with colleagues or clients, where the virus is less likely to be transmitted than indoors.

New London Architecture (NLA) is an organisation working to improve people’s lives by making London a better place to live, work and visit, through improvement of the built environment. The NLA’s new research paper, WRK/LDN: Office Revolution?, focuses on London’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of its impact on the city’s workspaces and urban centres. The report showcases IQL’s forward-thinking Workplace Beyond Boundaries concept, which has focused on delivering environments which enable and encourage people to utilise working outdoors in its office space in Stratford London, even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The report highlights The Living Room, the first of IQL’s series of outdoor working spaces. Completed at the beginning of 2020, this free, multi-use timber structure provides space for both working and community events. Power sources and USB sockets are provided along with integrated lighting, to encourage both outdoor working and night-time use. The Living Room provides a variety of seating configurations ideal for creating your own collaborative space within the structure, with tiered seating, benches, and a 7m timber table with swing out seating, all sheltered and protected from the weather. Among all the coworking offices in London, this one is unique.

A short walk from the Living Room, and opening in September 2021, is the Pavilion Roof Garden. The Pavilion will become home to a café and brasserie, restaurant, and rooftop bar. The terrace of the Roof Garden will feature seating and wide amphitheatre-style steps, providing the ideal outdoor space for work meetings and friend catch ups. The building is constructed almost entirely from sustainable timber, and the roof garden provides integrated solar powered USB and wireless charging, making it one of the most truly green offices in Stratford. All of that with stunning views across Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

With the publication of the WRK/LDN report recognising the need for a re-shaping of the way we work in a which helps deliver a healthier future for workers, it’s worth noting too the continuing creation of outdoor office space in Stratford London. 1 Westfield Avenue, 2 Redman Place and the Turing Building (opening 2022) all have exceptional outdoor spaces, with gardens, terraces, and the availability of bookable outdoor offices. The Workplace Beyond Boundaries concept which underpins each of these promotes safety by helping reduce virus transmission, but also provides sustainable workspace which maximise productivity, embrace nature, and encourage good health and happiness.

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