NATWEST’S ANDY McBAIN TAKES BCO HELM AS UK OFFICE SECTOR FACES AI AND WORKPLACE RESET
OFFICES AT AN INFLECTION POINT AS BCO UNVEILS NEW LEADERSHIP TEAM
The British Council for Offices has appointed NatWest Group workplace design chief Andy McBain as President as changing occupier expectations, artificial intelligence and sustainability force the UK office industry to rethink how workplaces are designed and operated.
The British Council for Offices has elected Andy McBain, head of branch and workplace design at NatWest Group, as its new President as the commercial property industry confronts significant changes in how businesses and employees use offices.
McBain succeeds Helen Hare, director of projects at GPE, and will lead the organisation alongside Vice President John Wright, director at Stride Treglown, and newly appointed Junior Vice President Ben Cross, founder of MORE.
The presidential team brings together occupier, developer and architectural expertise spanning Scotland, Bristol and London, with collaboration, sustainability and the changing workplace among its priorities for the coming year.
The appointments come at an important point for Britain’s office market as businesses continue to reassess workplace strategies and the role physical offices play in attracting employees, supporting productivity and building corporate culture.
AI AND EXPERIENCE RESHAPE THE WORKPLACE
McBain brings more than two decades of workplace and occupier experience to the presidency.
At NatWest Group, he leads workplace design and contributes to the bank’s future workplace strategy and colleague experience, while also overseeing branch design across the UK.
He said conversations at the BCO’s 2026 Annual Conference, Festival of Enlightenment, had demonstrated the speed of change confronting the industry.
“The conversations at this year’s Festival of Enlightenment highlighted the pace of change across society and our industry, with growing emphasis on experience, sustainability and the transformative potential of AI in shaping new occupier expectations towards their workplace,” McBain said.
“I look forward to working closely with John, Ben, Beth, Sam and our wider membership across the UK to ensure the BCO continues to lead the sector through its industry-leading research, trusted guidance, the renowned awards programme and over 140 brilliant UK wide events every year.”
McBain has been involved with the BCO since joining its Scotland Committee in 2010 and has spent two years on its presidential team.
His previous work for the organisation includes helping establish NextGen Scotland and leading the 2024 research paper Towards Experience Utopia and the launch of the BCO’s Customer Experience Award.
NEXT GENERATION GAINS A FORMAL VOICE
The leadership changes also reflect an attempt to bring younger professionals more directly into decision-making.
The presidential team now formally includes a NextGen representative, with Beth Starling, director at Broadway Malyan, becoming National NextGen Chair. She succeeds Oliver Hall of Make Architects.
The position was created in 2025 as the NextGen network grew in influence within the organisation.
It now represents around a quarter of the BCO’s approximately 4,000 members — giving the network a significant presence within an organisation spanning the UK’s office development, design and occupation industries.
Ben Cross, founder of MORE, meanwhile joins as Junior Vice President after the BCO opened nominations for the position to its entire membership for the first time.
More than 20 nominations were submitted.
‘THE OFFICE SECTOR IS AT AN INFLECTION POINT’
Cross has more than 20 years’ experience across architecture, development and investment and founded MORE after senior positions at General Projects and HUB.
“The office sector is at an inflection point,” he said.
“How and why people use workplaces is changing quickly, while the expectations placed on buildings continue to rise. The BCO has an important role to play in helping the industry respond to that change and shape the future of the workplace.”
John Wright, director at Stride Treglown, moves into the Vice President position previously occupied by McBain.
His experience in commercial architecture, workplace strategy and sustainability is expected to support the organisation’s focus on environmental performance alongside wider workplace innovation.
FROM BUILDINGS TO HUMAN EXPERIENCE
BCO chief executive Samantha McClary said the leadership team would play a strategic role as the organisation responds to feedback gathered from members over the past 12 to 18 months.
“The presidential team plays an incredibly important, strategic and powerful role at the BCO,” she said, adding that the number of nominations for Junior Vice President demonstrated the “talented, passionate and purpose-driven” nature of its membership.
McClary also thanked outgoing President Helen Hare and Pete Crowther, who leaves the presidential team after four years.
The next phase, she said, would place greater emphasis on helping members “design, develop and operate workspaces that work for human beings”.
That objective captures the wider challenge confronting the sector.
The debate over offices is increasingly moving beyond questions about how much space organisations require. Employers, developers, investors and designers must now consider what makes employees choose to use workplaces, how buildings support human experience and productivity, and how technology — particularly AI — could change those requirements again.
For McBain and the BCO’s new leadership team, those questions will sit at the centre of an office market still determining what the workplace of the next decade should become.
