Did you know 1 in 4 people in the workplace are neurodivergent? Or that Barclays reckons every £1 spent on inclusive design at their new Glasgow campus saved them £100 in retrofitting? In this episode of Design Lives Here, I sit down with Martha Andrews, interior designer at Keppie, to dig into what neurodiversity really means for workplace design — and why it's so much more than a box-ticking exercise. Martha's background in healthcare design gives her a fascinating perspective on how offices can (unintentionally) make people feel exactly like those big, daunting hospital buildings we all dread. We talk acoustics, lighting, colour (why red is a no-no!), pattern, wayfinding, biophilia — and the great fake plant debate. Plus why choice and flexibility are the golden rules, what SMEs can do without a Barclays budget, and why Gen Z are turning down jobs because of the office environment. This conversation follows on from my episode with Morag Dearsley of Form Design on perimenopause and menopause — where "perimenopause made me neurodivergent" was the line that stuck with me and inspired this one. ⏱ Chapters below — and if this resonates, subscribe for more conversations about the spaces we live and work in.

What does it really mean to design for the people who'll use a space — not just the people paying for it? In this panel, recorded live with the next generation of design students, I sat down with three professionals doing some of the most human-centred work in the industry: Evelyn Gallagher (Senior Strategy Consultant, MLA), Andy Anderson (Maggie's Centres), and Hannah Hermitage (Studio Director, Bennetts Associates, on the rebirth of Glasgow's Citizens Theatre). We talk about what it takes to truly understand who you're designing for — from the nine-page brief for a Maggie's Centre that barely mentions square footage, to bringing a 150-year-old theatre back to life without losing its soul, to why "hotelification" is changing the modern workplace. Along the way: gold elephants, pink ribbons, kettles you can actually hold, and why listening might be the one skill design school doesn't teach. If you care about how buildings shape the way we feel — this one's for you. 🎙️ Hosted by Sara Seravalli, founder of Il Salotto 📍 Recorded live at the Scottish Interior Design Students Showcase

Brain fog. Anxiety. Hot flashes. These aren't personal failings — they're real, they're disruptive, and for too many women, they're the reason a career quietly ends before it should. Small design shifts can signal something much bigger: quiet zones, adjustable temperature, natural light. But this isn't just about square footage — it's about culture. About normalising conversations around hormonal health the same way we talk about mental health or neurodiversity. This is a snippet from my recent conversation with workplace specialist Morag Dearsley of Form Design — recorded for both Design Lives Here and The Peri Survivor. It's one of those interviews that stayed with me long after we stopped recording. What's one change you think workplaces could make right now?

A snippet of Design Lives Here AI Special with Andy Pennington and Peter Kerr

A snippet of the interview with Martin McKay for Design Lives Here - Urban Regeneration Special

Snippet from the interview with Martin McKay, CEO of Clyde Gateaway

What does it actually take to bring a city centre back to life? Spoiler: not another row of identical beige boxes and a Costa on every corner. In this episode of Design Lives Here, I sat down with Martin McKay, CEO of Clyde Gateway, and Lisa Blyth of 7N Architects to dig into one of the most ambitious regeneration projects in the country — 840 hectares straddling the Clyde, built on three simple words: people, place and jobs. We talked about why the best cities are a little bit messy, why the spaces between the buildings matter more than the buildings themselves, and why landscape and biodiversity belong in the infrastructure budget, not the "nice-to-have" pile. Martin makes the case for tech and manufacturing living happily next door to homes, schools and a proper cup of coffee — and yes, I made him promise to back independent cafés over the chains. There's leadership, there's a brilliant takedown of cookie-cutter volume house building, and (because it's me) there's a lot of love for food, hospitality and the people who actually make a place feel like home. Grab a coffee — independent, obviously — and have a listen. 🎙️

Snippet of the newly released episode: Ai Special with Peter Kerr and Andy Pennington

What if everything you thought you knew about AI was only half the story? In this special edition of Design Lives Here, Sara sits down with Peter Kerr (Cameron Kerr) and Andy Pennington (Float) for an honest, unfiltered conversation about where AI is really taking us — and how close the tipping point actually is. They get into: — Why the money funding the AI revolution may be its biggest vulnerability — AGI: what it actually means, why it matters, and why the timeline is anyone's guess — The jobs that are already disappearing — and the ones that won't exist in five years — What the Industrial Revolution can (and can't) tell us about what's coming next — Why young people entering the workforce right now face a fundamentally different challenge — Universal Basic Income — not as a political idea, but as a practical inevitability — And the question everyone in the room avoided answering for themselves: if your career was gone in two years, what would you do tomorrow? No jargon. No hype. Just two people who've done the research, built the businesses, and are willing to say the quiet part out loud. 🎙️ Design Lives Here is hosted by Sara Seravalli at Il Salotto, Glasgow's home for architecture, design and the conversations that matter.