After 10 years of tenancy in Argyle House , we reach the end of an era as  University of Edinburgh Information Services Group move out and find a new home.

We have been through a lot in that space, most notably pandemics and floods. Our move to open plan working in 2016 was part of an ISG Change programme back in the day. which was about the same time that I started going on about EDI issues in the workplace Change Programme – Overview  

The  move away from everyone being hidden away in small offices in 20 different buildings was supposed to bring openness, visibility and make it easier for our diverse staff to meet each other and work together.  The senior leaders spent a lot of time trying to plan which teams would be best co-located. We also looked at our demographics and tried to mix up the directorates so that we wouldn’t have whole wings of men ( or women) which would make it uncomfortable for some to feel included.  We did not realise at the time how our thinking about workplaces would be so upended during the pandemic.

The building is mostly accessible and we have done our best with the things we could change. There are only accessible toilets on every other floor, and even then, they are in the ‘male estate’.

Our meeting room suite was designed  with glass walls and integrated art work. While I do think elevated the place, although controversially featured more than one image of a nude woman, which I was assured by men was ok in a workplace because it was art.

Our AV teams were really spoiling us with the service, support and top quality kit they provided. The receptionists have supported by odd requests to display sparkling awards  or issue fans as we have tackled the extreme heats of so many windows and so much menopause.

I am pleased we managed to name some of the spaces after inspirational women and particularly librarians, data scientists and Bletchley Park code breakers.

As Patrick Geddes would say, It’s all about Place, Work and Folk.  Let’s see what our new place holds.