With the UK housing market currently experiencing a boom, comparethemarket.com has carried out an eye-tracking experiment to reveal what buyers really notice when they first view a property. Three different properties were viewed by buyers using eye-tracking hardware to capture the parts of the home that caught their attention. Whilst some of the key areas buyers looked at might be those you would expect, such as the radiators and tap pressure, comparethemarket.com can reveal that garden access, a clean and working oven, and accessories were also heavily observed. Based on the findings and what buyers noticed most during the experiment, comparethemarket.com offers insight on what sellers should focus on to prepare a property for viewings.   Radiators As we’re approaching autumn and temperatures start to cool, people are likely to start turning their heating on and buyers want to know that the radiators work. The experiment found that buyers went straight for radiators when looking around a property to check they worked. If you have viewings booked, consider turning your heating on before they take place to ensure your home is warm. Not only will this show that both your heating system and radiators work, but it’ll create a cosy atmosphere. Also, contemplate cleaning your radiators so they’re free of dust and marks. Garden access The eye-tracking experiment showed that buyers looked out into the garden as soon as they entered a room that backs onto it, and then checked the patio doors to see if they could access the garden. Not being able to do so can be off-putting for buyers as they want to be able to see every aspect of the home. Moreover, due to the recent pandemic, a lot of people are looking for a home that will give extra space, including a garden. Make sure viewers can access your garden if they wish and consider tidying it up and making the most of the space. Water pressure During the experiment, one of the first things potential buyers did in the kitchen and bathroom was check the taps to see what the water pressure was like. It’s important to check your water pressure is of normal standards before hosting viewings. To determine the pressure, you can either ask a plumber to look, or you can get a rough guide by turning your main feed tap on and off a couple of times. As buyers will be observing taps, ensure they’re clear of limescale and give them a quick wipe using baby oil for extra shine. Cupboard doors When walking around the kitchen, one of the first things buyers did was check the cupboards to see if they were well built and in good condition. It’s therefore worth seeing if the quality and durability of all your cupboards is up to scratch before viewings. Do they open and close well? Can they hold the correct amount of produce? Buyers were also seen looking inside cupboards during the experiment, so make sure they’re kept tidy. Bed comfort When buyers walk into a bedroom, the first thing they spot is the bed. Although you may take your bed with you once you move out of your property, buyers were seen to feel or sit on the bed when observing the room during the experiment. This is probably to help visualise themselves sleeping in the room. Before a viewing, ensure your bed is well made. You might also want to consider purchasing new quilts and cushions to ensure they have a good warmth and weight ratio. Oven Whilst in the kitchen, the first thing potential buyers looked at was the oven, which they also turned on to see if it works. Therefore, it’s important to make sure the oven works and is kept clean before a house viewing. Ensure the hobs and trays are washed and do not cook anything too fragrant prior. If you’re staying in the property whilst viewings take place, consider switching your oven on so buyers can see that it works. Just remember to switch it off once they have left. If you’re not going to be in the property when viewings are going ahead, leave your oven switched off. Scents While a scent isn’t something you can physically see, during our eye-tracking experiment diffusers and candles were one of the first things potential buyers spotted throughout the home and they were picking them up to smell them too. Therefore, it’s a good idea to purchase a couple of diffusers or candles and scatter them around your home before a house viewing. Not only will potential buyers pick up on the pleasant aroma, but you’ll also banish any unpleasant smells such as pet odour. Lighting Buyers were also seen to check if the light switches work, so make sure they do. If rooms are dim, consider leaving the lights on to add brightness so viewers can properly inspect the room. Many buyers also looked at ceiling lights as soon as they entered the room, so consider purchasing a new lampshade to make your room look more appealing. Accessories Buyers want to visualise themselves living in a property, and whilst their interior preference may differ, they still want to look at a room and think “wow, I could live here”, and the more a buyer can picture themselves living in a home, the better it is for a seller. Accessories such as blankets, throws, and scatter cushions on sofas and beds were one of the first things potential buyers looked at while in the bedroom and living room especially. These accessories do help give a room a homely finishing touch, so invest in some if you can.

If you are hoping to refurbish your office, then you may find it difficult to know where to start. It may be that you have a specific look in mind, but you are overwhelmed with the amount of choices that are available. On the flip side, if you only want to change a couple of details in the workplace then you may still find it hard to know what’s going to benefit your team and what isn’t. Open up your Space It doesn’t matter how big or how small your space might be because you can always end up making the most out of it by introducing a more open-plan layout. If this means knocking down your office partition taking down cubes or even rearranging desks, then you need to make sure that you do this. If you do, then you will soon find that your open-office layout is way more efficient and that you are also able to capitalise on a much bigger space too. Adding More Light Another thing that you can do is try and add more light to your space. There’s no better workspace than one that is super bright and airy. Natural light has proven time and time again to make people way happier and much more productive. This can be useful if you have the ultimate goal of building an efficient workforce. It’s helpful to make sure that your office space allows as much light in as possible, and there are a few ways that you can do this. You can either add some skylights, or you can try and install some artificial lighting. Adding more windows could also be an option. Remember that any changes you do, may require you to make changes to your insurance policy, so look up business insurance quotes if you can. Consider Glass Partitions One of the best and the easiest ways for you to keep your office up to date would be for you to try and install some glass partitions. They are often seen in glass-fronted sky-scrapers that are in city centres. Glass partitions are ideal if you want to maximise the amount of natural light, not to mention that it’s a great alternative when compared to solid walls and doors. The great thing about this is that they won’t disrupt the design of your space, in fact, they can actually enhance it. Create some Break-out Spaces Most modern offices are more than just rooms filled up to the brim with desks and computers. If you want to give your team the help, they need to stay calm and collected at work then break-out spaces are ideal. You would be surprised at how much they could help your team to stay focused and they can also help you to give them the mental break they need from work. Break-out spaces could include having games consoles, or even bean bags so they can relax. Either way, you need to make sure that you incorporate this into your new building design.

There’s always a certain magic to a night at the casino. It could be the flashing lights, the excitement of the games, or that feeling of having absolutely nowhere else to be. Maybe James Bond has something to be thanked for; after all, there’s little more glamorous than a martini and a spin of the roulette wheel. Whatever it is, that feeling is only amplified in a beautifully designed casino. Incredible architecture has the ability to turn a great night at the casino into one that you’ll remember forever. These casinos are some of the most spectacular in the world. Casino de Monte Carlo, Monaco Whilst online casino games offer good entertainment and can be played from the comfort of your own home, there’s a certain charm in visiting the actual casino. Those who are fans of playing slots online will be delighted at the variety on offer in the Casino de Monte Carlo. There are no less than 1000 different slot machines, each with differing price levels, so there’s one to suit all budgets. Better still though, is the table games room. This room is heavily decorated with golden chandeliers, red velvet drapes and dark wood paneling. It feels like the most sophisticated club room you could imagine. This combined with classical portraits adorning every inch of free wall space makes the building feel almost gallery-like. Views across the Riviera complete the feeling of opulence. Stepping outside you’ll immediately notice the ornate baroque facades. Whilst minimalism has been the prevailing trend for some time now, when maximalism looks as good as the Casino de Monte Carlo, you wonder how it ever went out of fashion. The Venetian, Las Vegas Anything that’s inspired by a visit to Venice is likely to feature some stunning architecture, and the Venetian in Las Vegas is certainly no exception. It recently celebrated 20 years of roaring success, in no small part down to the relatively tasteful design of the building. Whilst many of Vegas’ casinos are, to put it nicely, rather tacky, the Venetian has a genuinely classy atmosphere, both inside and out. Perhaps the largest stroke of genius in the casino design is the canal that encompasses the entire building. This means that guests each receive a valet gondola service, from car door to casino door. This kind of detail is exactly the sort of thing that creates the right mood at the beginning of the evening – and also encourages guests to stay and play a little longer. Of course, being in Vegas, the Venetian is no small operation. At 36 stories high and 120,000 square feet, it more than holds its own against the big boys. Resorts World Sentosa, Singapore Up until fairly recently, the largest casinos were almost exclusively found in Las Vegas. However, over the last decade, Asia has increasingly found itself at the center of mega-casino building. Sentosa, a small island off Singapore, opened Resorts World Sentosa back in 2010, at an eye-watering cost of nearly $5 billion. Although nowhere near as enormous as the Venetian, the casino still boasts an enormous 16,000 square feet of playing space. Not only this but the resort also includes a huge aquarium, a Universal Studios park, and plenty of restaurants. Whilst some resorts can feel a little disjointed, this one was designed entirely by Michael Graves. This single architect-approach creates a sleek, futuristic feel throughout. There are no jarring design differences, just clean lines, smooth flowing shapes, and an overall feeling of being somewhere really rather special. There are certainly plenty of very special casinos in the world. One thing that seems to unite all of these ones, though, is a single visionary approach. Allowing one person to create their dream casino does seem to reliably yield beautiful results. Whether it’s the dream of a time gone by, the memories of a special vacation, or a trip into the future, each of these casinos shows what a strong individual vision can bring to building design.

What makes a business great? Is it the products and services it offers? Is it the employees that carry out their duties with aplomb and bring the company’s mission statement to life every day? Is it the branding that resonates with the target market. It goes without saying that all of these elements play a part in how successful a business is (or isn’t). But a business lives or dies by its operational efficacy and expediency. And those in the realms of architecture and construction understand that the physical and data infrastructure that they build into the workspace can either hello nascent businesses to hit the ground running or hobble ambitious startups at the first hurdle.  Office architecture has always been intrinsic to operational success. Indeed, we’ve seen a recent example where a “touch free” architecture can also help to keep employees safe and mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and other diseases which can be communicable in the workplace. But there’s often a disparity between what’s trendy, chic and desirable in the startup world and what’s conducive to productivity and collaboration. So, when a client comes to you and says “we’re thinking open plan”, there are a few reasons why this should give you pause. While it might make for easy data cabling and offer some cool design opportunities, there are also some caveats. You should discuss these with the client… Open plan offices inhibit face to face interactions Ambitious startups invariably want to create an atmosphere of dynamic collaboration. But while it may seem like the openness and space of an open plan office are conducive to this, studies by the Harvard Business Review actually actually suggest that face to face interactions fall by as much as 70% in open plan offices. It’s hard to be truly collaborative in a wide open space. Not only does it make us feel smaller and more vulnerable, the acoustics make clear communication in groups challenging.  Confidentiality is difficult in open plan offices If your client’s company deals in confidential or sensitive information which needs to be communicated verbally, this creates complications in open plan offices. As hard as everyone may try to exercise discretion, sound can travel far in open spaces. While it’s relatively easy to assign a separate space to confidential communications, this can disrupt the operational flow of the workplace.   Employees have less autonomy over their space Every employee has their own personal sweet spot in terms of natural and artificial light and ambient temperature that’s most conducive for their productivity. But when the workspace is open plan, it’s virtually impossible for individual team members to make the space their own in this way. And while they may be able to decorate their desks with personal baubles and trinkets, this can still prevent team members from  feeling truly comfortable at work.  Sickness and infection can be more apt to spread Finally, while it may be easier to socially distance in an open plan office space, fewer physical barriers to infection mean that virus-laden droplets of moisture can be transmitted between employees. Especially if they have to raise their voices to be heard over the hum of background chatter. Something that’s particularly resonant in the post-COVID age.

GRAHAM has been awarded a £3.5m contract by CMS to complete the interior fit-out of the international law firm’s new Sheffield office, located at 1 Charter Square. The privately-owned contractor will undertake the CAT A and CAT B development of 47,500 sq ft of space across four floors within the landmark building, which is situated in Phase 1 of Sheffield City Council’s Heart of the City II regeneration project. Since March 2020, GRAHAM has worked collaboratively with CMS to develop the design to Stage 4 to ensure the dynamic new space meets the modern expectations of approximately 350 people, with the in-built flexibility to accommodate future growth in line with the firm’s strategy in the north of England. The construction programme began in August 2020 and is scheduled for completion in early December 2020. Discussing the detail of the fit-out project Sue Blanche, GRAHAM Development Director, said: “We are delighted to have been awarded this prestigious contract with internationally renowned law firm, CMS. As part of a Pre-Construction Services Agreement, we have been working closely with CMS and its professional team to fine-tune the design so that it includes first-class facilities that promote a collaborative environment to enable CMS to continue to deliver exceptional services to its clients. “Some of the notable aspects of the complex fit-out include glazed and moveable partitions, state-of-the-art AV/IT systems, feature reception areas, bespoke joinery as well as wall and floor finishes throughout. It’s an exciting project, and we are confident that, once complete, 1 Charter House will perfectly represent CMS’s reputation as a global leader.” CMS has signed a 20-year lease for the new premises, with the relocation coinciding with the firm’s 30-year anniversary in Sheffield. Expertise GRAHAM continues to expand its interior fit-out presence across the north of England, and has recently completed projects for Apart Hotel (Liverpool) and (Leeds). Currently, it is delivering Leeds Building Society’s new headquarters in Leeds city centre, and has recently been selected to deliver a £10m interior fit-out development at Citylabs 2.0 – a world-leading precision medicine campus in Manchester. Notably, GRAHAM has built a strong reputation as a trusted partner for a range of leading corporate firms, counting KPMG and Grant Thornton among its prestigious clients.

Schneider Electric, the leader in digital transformation of energy management and automation, has announced the release of the 6” T2 Ceiling Pendant Set with decorator cover (GPEND62G2) and T2 Ceiling Batten Holder with decorator cover (GBATG2), two new ceiling accessory products fitted with additional decorators cover. The new accessories have health and safety in mind, addressing lighting fitting issues when decorating new and refurbished properties.   The simple, safe and easy to install accessories provides electricians personalised control and added convenience for the homeowner. Both accessories are permanently fitted to both batten and 6” pendant and once wired simply clip into place covering the terminals. Any paint which would normally come in contact with the live terminals or any accidental contact by the decorator is safely protected with the cover. “Health and safety issues when decorating new and refurbished properties have grown in recent years. To overcome this, lighting circuits should be disconnected to avoid any risk of electrocution from contact between the uncovered terminals in the batten and the person painting the surface,” said Nico van der Merwe, VP of Home & Distribution at Schneider Electric. “Correct working practices require the lighting circuit to be fully isolated and temporary lighting installed, this can be time-consuming and can often result in uneven coverage of paint. The new ceiling accessories with integral decorators cover tackles this issue and ensures safety is at the forefront of decorating.” Van der Merwe continued, “The 6” T2 Ceiling Pendant Set and the T2 Ceiling Batten Holder puts total control in the hands of the electrician and decorator – allowing them to easily install the fixtures and ensure that all future decorating remains secure and time-efficient.” Installation and design  The new accessories from Schneider make it ideal for retrofit applications and allows for electricians and decorators to efficiently install the products in any home. It enables the decorator to paint neatly around the fitting and when the outer cover is screwed back in place provides a neat painted edge, thus avoiding paint on the outside visible cover.  To access the terminals, the inner cover can be unclipped using the locking tab but ensures with its locking method that it cannot be accidentally removed. The decorator cap remains in place, so all future decorating is consistent.  Both 6” T2 Ceiling Pendant Set and T2 Ceiling Batten Holder with additional decorator covers also include functions such as:  Slightly oversized base covers any unsightly witness marks when replacing existing fittings Raised mounting fit held to ensure the lamp holder is fitted to an uneven surface Clear terminals provide easy visibility of terminals during installation Large cable knockouts around the base moulding for ample cable entry Terminals are located around the perimeter of the fittings to provide maximum cable entry and wiring space