Workplace typically comprises the most significant component of space within our universities and colleges and yet is rarely considered in the context of "innovation", for the resistance of academic and research staff to any model other than private offices is well documented and not without a degree of justification. Yet even within an office-based approach there are planning strategies that can be adopted to enhance collaboration and interaction and to achieve space utilisation efficiencies. The key issues in addressing this

• achieving constructive and productive user engagement
• pilots and prototyping as a means of demonstrating value and mitigating concerns and fears
• obtaining agreement on new and unfamiliar planning approaches given the consensus-driven approach to decision making that characterises most institutions in the sector; and
• prioritising the remediation of existing space against the demand for new space

However this scenario is changing as the gulf between commercial and academic practice widens, as new technologies emerge, as education globalises and as the new generation of academics find its voice in challenging the status quo.