Working better together at Civil Service Live

Civil Service Live – Excel, London

14 & 15 July 2026

Come along to the Working Better Together hub to meet with our experts in future ways of working, workplace design, property technology and workplace experience. Together we’ll discuss opportunities to embrace collaboration, and overcome barriers to cross-government working, enabling a more productive and collaborative Civil Service.

We’ll be presenting a programme of talks throughout each day, delivered at the hub through silent conferencing facilities. Find us in the main exhibition hall.

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Agenda

10:00 What’s the Plan for London?

Key speaker: Rupert Palmer, Whitehall Integration Director

The Plan for London will see 11 government buildings exited in the capital by 2030, delivering £94 million in annual savings and supporting the Civil Service to become more productive and agile as part of the Places for Growth programme.

Find out how the Government Property Agency is consolidating the London estate while creating workplaces which meet the needs of a modern workforce and power cross-government collaboration, ensuring London remains a vibrant Civil Service location.

11:00 Working better together across the UK

Key speaker: Al Gardner, Head of Technology

The Government’s Interoperability Programme aims to create a shared, flexible and efficient office estate where civil servants can collaborate and work productively from any government office in the UK.

Learn how technology is making this possible.

This session will examine the philosophy behind interoperability and how you can harness inclusive technology and workplace design solutions to connect, collaborate and perform seamlessly across the UK.

12:00 The Government Workplace Design Guide

Key speakers: Sam Carey-Smith, Head of Workplace Design and Andrew Nelson, Workplace Design Manager

Modern Civil Service workspaces should enhance digital connectivity, allowing people to move seamlessly within and between buildings, supporting collaboration and smarter ways of working across departments and locations.

Offices need to be people-centric too, placing inclusivity, wellbeing, safety, security and flexibility at the heart of every decision – supporting diverse needs and different ways of working through different spaces and zones.

The new Government Workplace Design Guide sets clear design standards for the central government office estate to create inclusive, accessible, modern, sustainable and digitally-enabled workplaces that support collaboration and align with the Government Estate Strategy.

Meet the authors of the Design Guide to learn how you can optimise your workspaces to create the right environment for diverse, skilled teams where everyone can contribute their best.

13:00 Cultivating your future workplace

Key speakers: Stuart Watts, Head of Customer Insights and Workplace Change; Jenny Davies, Future Ways of Working Lead; Ruth Smethurst, Workplace Experience Business Change Lead

This dynamic session will explore the evolving landscape of Civil Service workplaces and the part we all play in sharing spaces better together to fulfil organisational efficiencies and performance improvements.

Through an interactive look at smarter working and the future of shared spaces, we will explore improvements to nurture collaborative working (interoperability) and what a cohesive public office estate looks like in practice. We will engage in activities that help us reflect on how we can align behaviours and needs both locally and organisationally.

Supported by a real-world case study, delegates will understand the importance of creating environments where people can come together with a common purpose to innovate and support one another to achieve shared goals, where inclusivity, flexibility and sustainability are the default and intuitive approach.

Designed to inspire, this session will challenge colleagues to reflect on alternative practices and leave them with a clear, actionable takeaway to implement in their own space/business area.

14:00 Listening to the people to build better workplaces

Key speaker: Susan Schofield, Senior User Researcher

This interactive session will explore how user research helps to shape office technology – taking you behind the scenes of how the Government Property Agency works with people, uncovering hidden pain points and finding workarounds that colleagues use everyday.

We will share how small design decisions can have a big impact on your experience and how you can contribute to transforming your workplace.

Join us to find out how to make your own work environment more intuitive, inclusive and supportive of how people actually work.

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Civil Service Live is the UK government’s annual staff learning and development conference, bringing together thousands of civil servants from across departments, professions and regions.

Register your place and view the full range of talks, stands and workshops available to you.