In 2026, it will have been thirty years since I first set foot on a construction site. At the time, I was a student on a gap year and was working as an assistant on the land planning team at Wimpey Homes. I remember feeling no sense of being at a disadvantage—only optimism, enthusiasm, and the confidence that my resolutely feminist high school had instilled in me.

Throughout my career, I have often (though not always) been the only woman in the room. And yet, I felt like an equal among my peers. I felt like I belonged. I realize today just how lucky—and privileged—that makes me. So the question I ask myself is this: “If it seemed so simple three decades ago, why does the construction sector still have the lowest female participation rate of any industry in the UK today?”

Since 2018, ILAT has recorded an increase of 21.62%, rising from 112.74 in the 3ᵉquarter of 2018 to 137.12 in the 3ᵉquarter of 2024.

This index, which adjusts rents for tertiary activities, follows inflationary trends and reflects the cost of construction and economic growth.

Let's take a concrete example: a company having signed a lease in 2018 for an annual rent of €300,000.

With the ILAT evolution, its rent for 2024 will reach €364,875, i.e. an increase of +€64,875.

"This positioning enables us to address most corporate real estate issues without any conflict of interest. Today, 70% of our customers are tenants, while the remaining 30% are owner-users. Over the years, we have built up our expertise in three main areas.

Michael Kaplan, Partner

Living spaces imagined, designed and built by Parella to embody the Unyck promise: "Managers, never alone again".

When you walk through the doors of Maison Unyck, you might think you were in an apartment. Yet this is where the most beautiful transformations take place. Because Unyck is not a traditional consulting firm, the company wanted to mark this break with the past in its premises.

In order to offer an environment conducive to exchange and confidence, the layout has been designed to make customers feel at home.

To achieve this, Unyck has adopted the codes of "as at home". No offices as we know them, but an apartment rich in warm, antique objects.

A dining table where we can discuss the most strategic subjects over tea, a library where everyone can help themselves, becoming a player in the place... Proximity is the key word. Customers feel at home at Unyck.

Who hasn't preferred to climb the stairs in the metro rather than take the escalator, seduced by a playful, colorful or interactive challenge? These messages of calories burned, rewarding or educational, even if they make us smile, urge us to act.

Active Design will be able to accompany companies' key messages on a day-to-day basis. It can help all organizations in their practices. CSR implementation, for example. Active Design can help in this direction.

Beyond this, we can imagine pathways contributing to well-being (QCVT), instilling values (employer branding), or new ways of working (flex-office). Active Design is really about the natural adoption of practices whatever they may be.

To combat sedentary lifestyles, Active Design has mainly developed around solutions encouraging sport. However, although athletics tracks are appearing in corridors, their role is to create routes, designed to activate employees in a natural way.

However, the aim is not to get them to run around in suits and arrive at meetings with wet shirts. Physical activity is one of the levers, but not the only one. Brain activity is just as important.