BT office furniture has provided a quick guide to 5 of the best conference locations!

1. The Celtic Manor Resort, Wales.
This was voted the UK’s top conference hotel by Conference and Incentive Travel Magazine since 2006. The main conference suite can seat 1,500 for a keynote conference or up to 800 for a gala like dinner. The Celtic Manor also has a large exhibition hall and an extra 30 meeting rooms with break out areas.

2. The Grosvenor and Spa, Chester.
The Chester Grosvenor has been rated five AA stars. A highly formal location is certain to impress even your most prestige business guests. The location saw a four million pound investment last year resulting in suburb versatile meeting facilities, which are suitable for events from two to 250 people. Did we mention the cutting edge technology facilities - which allow you to deliver even the most high tech of conferences?

3. The Grove, Hertfordshire.
This Hotel is about 40 minutes away from central London. The grove is a tranquil, 18th century estate with a modern twist, set in 300 acres of parkland and open countryside.  A truly beautiful setting and since its opening in 2003 The Grove has won various awards for its contemporary design and first class service. The conference facilities cater for up to 1,000 guests and include 23 flexible rooms. If your meeting guests like golf (and most business men do!) there is an 18 hole championship golf course on site.

4. Altitude 360 London, SW1
Unusual conference venues are becoming more popular as businesses are keen to host a unique experience at an extraordinary venue that their attendees will remember for a long time. Altitude 360 London is one such venue, situated 29 stories high, at the top of one of London’s finest skyscrapers in the heart of Westminster. With its breathtaking views across the city you may be distracted by turning your attention to gaze out of the windows. However, inside this venue you experience stylish decor and a wealth of technology. Catering for up to 600 guests it is popular for private meetings and conferences, press launches, team events and exclusive private dinners. Full conference facilities are delivered as standard, and delegates can make use of the complimentary telephone and fax services, plus high speed wireless internet access and audio and visual technology.

5. The Foresight Centre, Liverpool
The current economic climate is forcing companies to rethink when it comes to holding conferences and big meetings. The Foresight Centre is renowned for providing quality conference facilities at competitive prices. Budget does not mean low quality, The Foresight Centre has received many awards and has also been short listed for Conference Venue of the Year on several occasions.

There are twenty flexible rooms to choose from that can be tailored to fit your requirements. You also can choose from an assortment of equipment, such as CD player, flip chart and pens, projectors and microphones.

The arrival of Spring often gives people the initiative to clean up some of the clutter and reorganise their homes and workspaces. Why not keep in line with the seasonal changes by giving your office a spring clean with some new office furniture and accessories?

BT office furniture, the UK supplier of high quality, value for money office furniture, has a great range of furniture and accessories that can help you with the office spring clean and brighten up a gloomy office. Here are some great ideas:

• Glass Office Desks - contemporary glass office desks can give your office a clean minimalist look. If your desk faces a sunny window your desk will nicely reflect those summer sun rays - so you can dream you are lying in an exotic beach somewhere!!
• White Office Furniture - white office furniture will give a clean, crisp look to your office. The benefit of choosing white is that it looks good with most other colours and materials making it a great base for creativity. A neutral colour also allows you to maintain your corporate identity.
• Artificial Plants - the flourishing trees and flowers do not just need to be outside, bring them into your office surroundings by investing in some artificial plants. They look just like the real thing, do not need watering or maintenance, and will bring a green woodland spring feel direct to your office.
• Office Storage - spring clean your office by purchasing some new office storage to help create a unique office space and achieve a clutter free environment. The BT Office range of storage includes filing cabinets, cupboards, bookshelves and sideboards available in both metal and wood.

If you are ready to add a touch of spring to your office and give your office a much needed clean then visit BT office to check out our fantastic range of office furniture and accessories.

• The building’s era or architecture
• The colour scheme within the office
• A favourite painting
• A large boardroom table or other statement piece of furniture

Research Office Decor

Before spending money on your office decor, it’s important to do your research first. Start with the internet as it will give you a range of suppliers’ details and ideas about making the most of your space. If you are on a really tight budget, look at auction houses or sites like eBay, as they may have bulk lots of desks or chairs available from a liquidator or business that has recently closed its doors.

Buy Office Decor in Bulk

If you can, try to find a supplier that stocks most of the pieces you require for your commercial property. By purchasing all of your items from one place, it will put you in a far better position to negotiate on price. Another great way to bring down the price of the items is to pay in cash. While it might not be ideal to pay in that method for cash flow reasons, it could save you hundreds, if not thousands on the total sale.

Ensure Office Decor has a Warranty

Finally, check to see if the supplier is willing to offer you a warranty on your purchases. The warranty should cover manufacturing faults and materials. After all, if you are spending a decent amount of money on commercial office furniture, you want to know that it is covered should something go wrong.

Always remember that shopping on a budget doesn’t mean that you have to buy poor quality items. By sticking to a style, researching your purchases and buying bulk, you should be able to furnish your new commercial property on far less than you think!

Due to today’s modern technology, enormous amounts of people are spending most of their working hours behind a desk in an uncomfortable office chair. Because of this deskbound lifestyle, more and more individuals are becoming overweight, out of shape, and developing other health problems.

Although a sedentary lifestyle causes health problems in itself, an uncomfortable office chair causes a completely new arena of problems. Hours upon hours in a chair without ergonomic features brings about back problems, neck pains and just overall body aches from bad posture.

Below are guidelines that can help you select the right office chair, therefore reducing body aches, stiffness and pains.

Buying an office chair is like buying a car. Would you buy a car without test-driving it first? Probably not.

The same applies to selecting your chair, you need to sit down and feel it. You want it to be comfy, just like you want a car to be comfortable for longer journeys. You will be spending most of the day in your chair so choose it wisely.

Guidelines for purchasing your next office chair:

Back support
Your chair should provide adequate back support. The back support of the chair should also be adjustable to fit properly to your back. The back support of the chair should remain the same as you move and recline in your chair. A good office chair with proper back support will improve your posture and therefore eliminate or reduce back pain and stiffness. Selecting an office chair without adequate back support can cause back problems that could stay with you for life.

Seating
The padding and design of the seat should be considered. The front of the seat should have a rounded edge. A straight horizontal front will cut off circulation on the backside of the knees.

Width of the seat and armrests
You need to fit into the chair. If you have to squeeze into the chair then it does not fit, no matter how comfortable it may seem once you are seated. There should be room between the armrests and your body. In addition, the armrests need to interact with the desk. A good office chair will have adjustable armrests. Quality armrests can help with tasks like reading and writing, and taking pressure and tension off the neck and shoulders.

Height Adjustments
People are not all the same height; therefore, your office chair must have a height adjustment. The specifications to adjust your office chair and to promote good posture are as follows: thighs should be horizontal to the ground while both feet are on the ground and wrists should be straight while typing.

If you cannot find an office chair height that allows both of the above, you may want to find a way to alter the height of your keyboard so that you can have straight wrists while typing and your body is aligned properly with the chair and the floor.

Stability
Your chair must be stable. Your chair tipping over when you are in it is not good. Serious and permanent injury can occur. Look for a chair on wheels that swivels and a five-point base that will not flip you over on your head when you recline.

So, when you are shopping for new office furniture, remember these points and once you have decided on your new office chair, make sure it possesses all of the above features.

BT office stocks a range of office chairs, check out the range here: http://www.btoffice.com/office-chairs

In a recent article in the Independent , journalist Roger Trapp makes some interesting insights regarding how advancements in ICT are revolutionising today’s office designs and office furniture choices. The result of this trend being that work spaces are becoming increasingly minimalistic and open plan.

However although the futuristic trend may be great for a new generation of younger workers who are comfortable in such settings, it is not so great for manufacturers and sellers of traditional office furniture.

Trapp reports that many office furniture manufacturers are trying to overcome the problem by working clodely with design agencies to make sure their furniture ranges continue to be on trend to drive sales.

To read Roger Trapp’s full article visit : http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/sme/the-shape-of-things-to-sit-on-1893182.html

Once the entrance scanner accepts your hand print you step into an office with numerous over sized screens on the walls, shiny floors, glass desks, cool mesh office chairs and contemporary glass panels with integrated lights.

For more inspiration tune in to 24 on SKY1 Sundays 9pm, or browse for similar office furniture online.

We might be bored of the dull grey skies associated with our cold winter seasons, but if you want your office to ooze modernism and be catwalk cool, you should turn your back on black and embrace the grey!

Grey gives a calm, clean, professional feel to any room, whilst retaining a coolness that makes it modern. The human eye can distinguish 500 shades of grey, so it need never be boring.

Some Grey Facts:
• Grey is used primarily in areas that use UK English whilst Gray is used primarily in areas that use US English
• Grey can mix well with any colour – making it a great neutral choice
• Grey is a longstanding favourite suit colour

If you don’t want a complete redesign, why not add a touch of your grey to your office and invest in some funky grey office furniture?

BT office has some eye catching grey office chairs and office desks that will help you add a touch of grey to your office.

Pod Car

Winter

Ski to the office
‘The big freeze’ may sound like the title of a disaster movie but is actually how we refer to the recent cold weather that we have experienced in the past weeks. With cold weather comes disruption and as a result most of us have found it hard, or even impossible, to get into work. But skiing to work? Those who have tried it can confirm that it is quicker, easier and safer than driving in these conditions. So with the pressure on the British workforce, not to use the snow as an excuse to stay at home, perhaps cross country skiing to work is not such a bad idea.

Skiing

Snow scooter
Most children may have a scooter, on wheels, but they are not that suitable, or safe, in wintery conditions. When the excitement of walking to school in the snow is starting to wear off this snow scooter may speed things up a bit! We are not sure if this product is available in the UK yet but it could be a best seller next winter.

Snow Scooter

Extravagant

Limousine - Travel in style
You know that you have made it in the world of business when a limousine is waiting outside your home in the morning. However, if you are not quite there yet one limousine hire company suggests that you could treat yourself to a week of limo commuting; now that should make you jump out of bed in the morning and give you something to look forward to all day! Give yourself a bit of ‘me time’ and total relaxation as your driver takes you from A to B. Some limousines are even customised for the executive business man or woman with DVD, iPod dock and MP3.

Limousine

Helicopter - Fast and Efficient
Some companies now use helicopters so that their top executives can fulfil a tight business schedule. As time is money, they realise that a helicopter can take them to several meetings across the country in one day rather than wasting several days with tedious hotel nights and frustrating road congestions. Compared to scheduled flights, with a helicopter you also avoid check-in queues and flight delays.
Source

Helicopter

Train - Virgin first class
If you like to travel in style and enjoy complimentary food and drink, Wi-Fi and a weekday paper; Virgin Trains first class offers a relaxing alternative to car and plane journeys. It is also a much greener option and apparently rail travel is nine times safer than travel by car.
Source

Green

Pod Cars - the future is here
Not that long ago Pod Cars were just a futuristic means of urban transport but they are now slowly becoming a realistic alternative to trains, buses and cars. Automated and driverless, Pod Cars are operated on elevated or underground shuttle networks, or on traditional roadways. Powered by electricity they can offer an effective and environmentally friendly way to get around urban areas. Pod Cars will be up and running this year in the City of Masdar in Abu Dhabi and a bit closer to home, at Heathrow Airport.

Electric Vespa saves Money and the Environment
Being an owner of the ‘Street Scoota’ can save you a lot of money as well as helping the environment. It is an electric Vespa-style scooter that costs under £1000 and, after purchase, battery charging costs 8p for an 8 hour charge that lasts 40 minutes. Apart from being petrol free, other pros include no congestion charge, free road tax and you can make use of 100s of free parking bays for electric vehicles.
Source

Electric Vespa

Get paid for cycling to work
Many people across the country are already seeing the benefits of cycling to work; it is a cheap, green and healthy alternative to shorter car journeys. But how do you get more people to start cycling to work? Scandinavian organisations are currently launching various cycle incentives that may be worth looking closer at. One such programme, in Norway, transforms cycle journeys to paid holiday, i.e. one week of walking or cycling to the office is equivalent to four hours holiday.  A Danish incentive offers a pay-back system where cycling employees receive two Danish kroner (approx £0.25p) per kilometre.
Source

Fictional

Water slide to work
We all have days when we don’t want to face the stress of running to the bus, standing close to people on the tube or get stuck in traffic “we wish we could just get on that water slide featured in Barclay’s TV advert.” It would make life so easy, just put on your swimming pants and go… If you think this would be a cool way to get to and from the office you are not alone, there is even a Facebook group called ‘I wanna ride the waterslide on the Barclays advert’ with over 6800 fans.

Barclays Water Slide

The Knight Bus - Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
During the London tube strikes the Empire cinemas posted a blog post on alternative ways to get into work, movie style. ‘Jet Packs’ from the Minority report, and ‘Speeder Bikes’ from Return of the Jedi were mentioned, as was the ‘The Knight Bus’ from Harry Potter. Despite the reckless driver and dubious fellow passengers you could enjoy a spacious bus with chandeliers and comfortable beds. The Knight Bus always takes the quickest route through small gaps and under low bridges.

The Knight Bus

Home Office Furniture

However, coupled with this is an increasing trend for the number of home workers. Changing work practices, redundancies and new technologies are making it both necessary and easier for more people to work from home. The result of this is that whilst furniture sales are declining in comparison to past years there is still a considerable demand for home office furniture.

According to Mintel* the most commonly owned and purchased items of home office furniture are workstations and office chairs.

BT Office, the UK supplier of value for money office furniture, has witnessed an increase in sales for home office furnishings, as well as economy furniture over the last few months.

About BT Office Furniture
BT Office Furniture is a national, privately owned company founded in 1994 which supplies and installs office furniture in the UK. BT Office has concentrated on providing great value for money without compromise on quality and service. Their furniture portfolio includes executive ranges that cover both contemporary and classic designs. For orders and queries please call 0800 298 7033 or visit the website to find out more.

Press Information
For further information on BT Office Furniture, its products and services please contact Derek Flood, Unit 9 Benridge Park, Holy Rood Close, Poole, Dorset, BH17 7BD

Tel: ++ 44 (0)1202 699 900  Email: mail@btoffice.com
*The market data in this press release was taken from the Mintel 2009 Report ‘Home Office UK’.

Las Vegas

Canary Wharf
The impressive office and shopping development Canary Wharf in London is home to the UK’s three largest buildings - 1 Canada Square, 8 Canada Square and the Citigroup Tower.
Historically the area was one of the busiest docks in the world but has now been turned into a major financial centre with Barclays, Credit Suisse, HSBC and Citigroup amongst its tenants. The 100,000 workforce can enjoy gyms, hairdressers and hotels on the doorstep and numerous food and retail outlets which are great for after work drinks and shopping.

Canary Wharf

Going underground..
The White Mountain office is situated 30 metres (100 feet) below the surface of Stockholm City, the Swedish capital. It was originally built as an anti-atomic shelter during the cold war to provide an escape from potential atomic blasts. However, in 2008 the shelter was turned into a 4000 square foot office and data centre for the Swedish ISP company, Bahnhof AB. The Architects who turned this space into an office and server location were influenced by the James Bond set designer Ken Adams. If you don’t think you could work down here it may still be worth to go on one of their guided tours.

White Mountains

Aloha - Working in Hawaii
The newest of US states, and made up entirely of islands, the state of Hawaii is located in the mid-Pacific and makes a great office location for several reasons. Hawaii offers companies a presence in the Asia-Pacific markets at lower cost than the Asian capitals and with the U.S. freedoms and stability.
With mild weather, beautiful scenery and friendly people Hawaii probably makes a rather nice place to work too. Here you can join a workforce known for their loyalty and strong work ethic. Hawaii has been rated one of the best states to live taking environmental factors, low crime incidence, quality of education, and longevity into account.

Hawaii

Into the woods
Italian Architect firm Selgas Cano has created a truly impressive office for their Madrid workers. The simple tube design is sunken into the ground to improve insulation. With a long window on one side the recessed floors also creates a feeling of being totally immersed in the woods. We think this is an innovative and inspiring location sure to stimulate the creative minds inside it.

Office in the woods

Flying to the moon
Still a fictional office location that only exists in a FedEx commercial but we had to include the moon in our 10 best office locations. This TV commercial, created for the 2007 Super Bowl, gives us an insight to the challenges that will face us when the first moon offices become a reality - challenges like drinking coffee and filing papers. View it on YouTube.

Moon Office

Arctic Fish
The social gaming company Playfish has an office in Tromso, Norway - 2000 km from the North Pole. Here you can enjoy the Northern Lights, two months of Midnight Sun, the Lyngen Alps, blue fjords and hundreds of islands. If this sounds like the place to be, then why not try your luck and send your CV to info@playfish.com.

Tromso, Norway

Underwater Post Office
This must be the best office location for post office workers, especially if you are a keen diver. The underwater post office of Vanuatu, off Hideaway Island near Port Vila, is situated 50 metres offshore and three metres below the surface. Since 2003 visitors to the island have been able to post special waterproof postcards here, cards that are regularly collected by one of Vanuatu Post’s four trained scuba divers. The working hours are usually about an hour a day but longer on cruise ship days. ‘I love working at the underwater branch,’ says VPL’s Samuel Robert. ‘It’s great fun and really pleasing to see so many visitors each day who cannot believe their eyes!’ Source/more info

Underwater Post Office

Rak Jebel Al Jais Mountain Resort
The United Arab Emirates are planning yet another master planned tourist village, this time on a mountain in Emirate of Ras al-Khaimah. This futuristic resort will be built on the top and sides of a mountain range and will include hotels, residences, shopping, restaurants, offices, a convention centre and exhibition halls. Cable cars, funiculars and elevators will allow guests and residents to travel to the various areas within the resort. The resort is designed by the Office for Metropolitan Architecture and will be a challenge in many aspects, including the extravagant design, an impossible building site and many will argue that it disregards the native landscape. Nonetheless, for a company seeking a Middle East presence it may be a location worth considering.

Mountain Office

Office in the sky
An office location above the clouds could be yours for a day, or during a flight on board the Singapore Airlines Airbus A380. The award-winning Business Class is the most spacious available on a passenger jet and includes all the conveniences of the modern office. An all-in-one business panel features in-seat power supply and USB ports. When the work is done you can relax and enjoy on demand entertainment from your personal 15.4-inch, high resolution, LCD screen.

Airbus A380

Please let us know of any other great office locations….