Report predicts cordless office

Offices of the future will be cordless, claims a new report into communications technology which predicts the death of the workplace as we know it today.

The Cordless Office Report, by office planning and fitting-out specialist Morgan Lovell, suggests interior design groups face huge changes in how they design offices and other interiors, such as shops and hospitals.

Its author, Morgan Lovell director Philip Ross, claims portable telephones and computers will soon be commonplace in offices.

The report says the “emergence of more fluid company structures and work practices questions the need for rigidly planned office spaces as we know them today.”

Building on the concept of offices as hotels – with workers occupying spaces temporarily – the report says a new generation of office furniture will be needed.

The advent of the cordless office has “dramatic implications for interior designers”, says Ross. Jim Read, associate director at Ove Arup division Arup Communications, agrees that technology is now good enough for cordless telephony and will be quick and secure enough for cordless computer networks “in the long term”.

The success of the cordless office depends more on workers being willing to adapt to the culture change the technology will bring, says Read. “There will be tremendous impact.”

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