A History of the Office and Office Work

From Castle to Condominium

Rob Harris

$336

Hardback

Forthcoming
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English

Routledge
31 March 2025

Labour economics; Management of real estate, property & plant; Office & workplace; Building construction & materials

This book brings together the office and office working as an economic construct, as a business function, as a building type and as a mode of work. It explores social and economic relations, and it traces the evolution of work and the environment and equipment needed to support it over the last 400 years. In so doing, it helps to fill a void in popular understanding of the office.

The role of the office has been examined over the past three years in ways that it has never been examined before. Whilst the existential crisis arising from COVID-19 has settled somewhat, there remain big questions over the future of office workers and office real estate. This book is a timely, well-researched and fascinating contribution to the debate.

Rob Harris explores how the nature of work has changed, and continues to change, placing the events surrounding COVID-19 into a longer-term perspective and asking what is the future of the office? Will it go through a radical reinvention? How will office work evolve in the future? Whither office buildings? The book emphasises the continuum of change and that today’s events are simply the latest stage of change, rather than something entirely novel.

This book will be of interest to anyone with a stake in the built environment, whether as an investor, occupier, owner, manager or advisor. It is equally accessible to those with a non-technical background, including students on courses such as economic history, economics, geography, real estate and urban planning.

By: Rob Harris
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 246mm, Width: 174mm,
ISBN: 9781032948911
ISBN 10: 1032948914
Pages: 394
Publication Date: 31 March 2025
Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , Primary , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Acknowledgements Foreword List of Illustrations Chapter 1 Perspectives on offices Part I 1670-1770: building blocks of the office economy Chapter 2 The basis of trading Chapter 3 A new economy of mercantilist capitalism Part II 1770-1870: bank house to office building Chapter 4 Banking business Chapter 5 Clerking: laborious and monotonous Chapter 6 Offices take shape Part III 1870-1945: the white collar factory Chapter 7 A new organisation of society Chapter 8 Gentleman all-rounder to office worker Chapter 9 The machine age Chapter 10 Cultural and rational filing cases Part IV 1945-1990: the corporate office Chapter 11 Blitz to Big Bang Chapter 12 New environments for working Chapter 13 Three centuries of change: from clerk to nomad Part V 1990 onwards: the digital office and beyond Chapter 14 The digital office Chapter 15 The office in the network era

Rob Harris is a consultant and analyst in the commercial real estate sector, where he has spent over three decades advising developers, investors, occupiers and public sector bodies. He established Ramidus Consulting Limited in 2003 as a specialist, independent built environment research and advisory business. Rob presents widely on a range of property market issues.

Reviews for A History of the Office and Office Work: From Castle to Condominium

""In taking us from ‘castle’ to ‘condominium’, Rob Harris takes us on a journey that might be seen as circular in nature. We start with private banks in grand residences and arrive in the era of home working assisted by Artificial Intelligence. In moving from ‘market’ to ‘factory’ to ‘corporate’ to ‘digital’ – the four office ages described in the book – we are given a rigorously researched expert view of not just how the office and office work has developed over time but how it might fare in the future."" Jeremy Myerson, Professor Emeritus, Royal College of Art; Chairman, WORKTECH Academy