Social distancing will be a key element to the relaunching of hospitality businesses.
Office design guidelines include distancing in lifts and floors, reduced hot-desking and staggered shifts.
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We need to be preparing ‘getting back to normal’ properly.
Whether it’s in the office:
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Post-lockdown office design shake-up planned by government
New guidelines on coronavirus include imposition of distancing in lifts and floors, reduced hot-desking and staggered shifts
The proposals, contained in a draft plan from the business department (BEIS), also include encouragement of continued home working where possible, strict cleaning regimes and the avoidance of face-to-face meetings or sharing of equipment by staff.
According to the BBC, the draft strategy includes scant detail on personal protective equipment (PPE) advice but advocates hygiene procedures and physical screens for some workers and recommends employers consider the use of protective equipment where maintaining distancing of 2m (6ft) between staff is impossible.
The FT reported that limits will be imposed on people sharing lifts, with graphics showing lifts ’divided into sections by yellow and black tape, with only one person in each’ and that social distancing will be imposed in almost all areas, with exceptions made for emergency procedures, such as responding to fire alarms.
The BCO paper, drawn up by its technical affairs committee, including representatives from Make, Adamson and JMA, suggested extensive changes to offices including:
- Reversing the ’trend to share desks’, ie hot-desking, with more desks being individually allocated to particular users
- Extra cleaning of all spaces, especially shared desks
- Introduction of screens to protect receptionists
- Replacement of communal toilets, with individual pods featuring touchless doors, taps and soap dispensers
- An increase in bike storage to allow workers to avoid public transport
- Strict limits on the number of people that can use a meeting room or share a lift at any one time
- An end to communal cutlery, coffee pots and water bottles
- Adaptation of ventilation and humidification systems to create tougher climates for viruses
- Windows kept open even if rooms become cold
- Suspension of some heat recovery systems and filtering of certain recycled air
- Use of apps and other digital tools to maximise worker safety.
Post-lockdown office design shake-up planned by government
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Or our townscapes and housing:
Future planning: The UK’s approach to placemaking needs to change | pcbtoday.co.uk
How will housing design and placemaking be changed by Covid-19? | architectsjournal.co.uk (registration needed)
Here’s what our cities will look like after the coronavirus pandemic | kinder.rice.edu
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Or our restaurants and eating places:
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MASS Releases Spatial Strategies for Restaurants in Response to COVID-19
MASS Design Group has released a guideline for restaurants in response to the coronavirus pandemic, to help these business reopen safely, viably, and vibrantly. Based on world health recommendations, the drafted protocols aim to keep both staff and customers safe, as well as facilitate operations.
At the heart of the public realm, restaurants need to promptly find balance between optimizing operations and keeping people safe. MASS Design Group, founded ten years ago in response to an epidemic disease, has been working on the frontlines of the world’s major health challenges. With no formal design guidelines established, MASS developed 6 specific strategies that help restaurants respond to the novel coronavirus…
MASS Releases Spatial Strategies for Restaurants in Response to COVID-19 | archdaily.com
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The hospitality industry is key to Sidmouth’s economy – but won’t be allowed to open for another two months at least:
July Opening Date for ‘Some’ Restaurants Means Almost Nothing to Most Restaurants | londoneater.com
When could pubs and restaurants reopen in the UK? | telegraph.co.uk
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It’s all about distance – as today’s i newspaper reminds us:
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Coronavirus: From mannequins in dining rooms to tables in greenhouses, how restaurants plan to reopen post-lockdown
Social distancing will be a key element to the relaunching of hospitality businesses