Emma Carter, Associate at Bell Phillips Architects, writes about applying the principles of community, identity and wellbeing to the next generation of workplace.  

From Homes to Workspaces: why go into the office anymore?
The answer is complicated. Work can now happen anywhere, so the office has to mean more than desks and square footage. As Basil Demeroutis of FORE Partnership said recently on The Detailer Podcast with David Taylor, the office is no longer just an aggregator of infrastructure, it must be an aggregator of purpose and meaning. 

And yet, too often, we default to shorthand solutions. ESG frameworks risk becoming tick-box exercises; certification can become an end in itself. We’ve misplaced metrics for meaning. Because you can’t measure your way out of the real challenge: creating authentic connection with place, with your values and to each other. 

This is where we believe architecture can make the difference. At Bell Phillips, our background in housing - particularly affordable, student living and Build to Rent - has always been about more than buildings. It’s about placemaking: creating environments where people thrive and communities take root. Increasingly, these same principles are shaping the next generation of workspace. 

Learning from housing
At Victoria Point, our student living development for Empiric, shared lounges, co-working zones, and landscaped communal areas blur the line between lifestyle and living. Meanwhile, at Smithfield in Birmingham for Lendlease, permeability, public realm and activated ground floors are at the heart of a city-centre regeneration. These aren’t just projects about space efficiency, they’re about community and belonging. The same tools now define the most forward-thinking workspaces. 

Shifting expectations
That crossover was clear at CREAM earlier this year, where conversations focused on experience-led workspaces that combine wellbeing, flexibility, and identity. It was echoed at the BCO Conference in Milan, where our Director Jay Morton reflected on how the office is shifting from a place of function to a place of lifestyle. On her Architects for Change podcast, she explored this further in conversation with Tyler Goodwin, CEO of Seaforth, discussing retrofit, sustainability, and what it really means to earn the commute. The conclusion was clear: offices now need to embody culture, purpose and identity, not just provide desks and meeting rooms. 

Beyond box ticking
Sustainability is part of this too, but it must move beyond performance certificates. As Demeroutis put it, ESG is “broken” if it becomes a lazy shorthand. Low-carbon design has to be lived and felt. At Bell Phillips, we have long embedded passive strategies, low carbon solutions and inventive reuse into our work, combining technical rigour with architectural quality. With our in-house Retrofit Coordinator, Sean Kitchen, we are leading conversations on how to adapt and repurpose existing stock responsibly, and imaginatively. 

Design as driver
In the end, it comes back to a simple truth: architecture shapes experience, and experience drives engagement. Exceptional workspace design can turn an office into a destination, a workplace into a community, and a commute into something worth making. 

At Bell Phillips, our cross-sector insight puts us in a unique position to rethink the modern office. Just as great housing is about more than shelter, great workspace must be about more than desks. Both are about places people value - generous, sustainable, and joyful. And in this next phase of working life, design won’t just follow change. It will drive it.