The problem with the typical office environment is that it is constantly changing. New people join the company, old people leave, and staff make changes to their office environment either to satisfy personal tastes, to sit nearer the window or further away from the boss.
On top of which the needs of the company, either in terms of staffing, storage or growth, or in some cases contraction, can often conflict with what represents good business practices.
Everyone within an organisation values space, whether it is simply their proximity to a work colleague in an open plan environment or the size of their office or meeting room facilities.
Of course you don’t need me to tell you that these days, the company accountant is the first person to remind you of the cost of office space on a square foot basis. However it is often harder to quantify the effect on productivity on the bottom line on providing an environment that makes it easier for your employees to get the job done.
It goes without saying that whether you are considering an office refurbishment on your existing space or indeed moving to new premises using a space planning expert should be the first stage of the process.
Effective office space planning is a key element to getting the most out of your office space and creating a functional and efficient environment for you, your employees and visitors.
It is important to think carefully about how your space needs to work. What kind of look do you want to achieve? Does the image you convey to visitors need to be one of calm, and reflective efficiency or of feverish activity?
The number of desks and equipment within an office space can make a huge difference to how you are perceived let alone how employees interact. If you try to squeeze too much furniture in a space people begin to feel uncomfortable, too few desks and employees start to feel remote.
Interference from neighbour sound can also pollute individual work areas making it at least difficult to concentrate and in some more extreme examples difficult for people to hear others whether in person or on the telephone.
Probably the most important thing to remember is that at the end of the day the finished results will have a small impact on the building and a huge impact on the people. It is therefore vital to ensure some form of work place study is carried out, before plans are even considered to canvas the opinions of the employees and to get a detailed view of their working habits. Do they tend to have a lot of small informal, internal meetings or do they have a large number of large scale highly formal meetings and presentations with clients?
How much time to they spend in the office, which rooms are used most, which never seem to get used. I have seen large meeting rooms locked for months on end whilst the company complains about a lack of storage.
The number of employees, the equipment needed and storage requirements in a space should all be considered so that you can then establish how much space is required for each person to work and move around comfortably.
Organising an office is more than just installing random items of furniture, you need to take into consideration what kind of image you want to portray, how departments function and how employees need to move around the office to enable them to do their job effectively?
How often do meetings take place? Is there a need for separate meeting areas? How much privacy is required? How many toilets are required and where are they located and where will employees take breaks? Other important things to consider are lighting, heating, distribution of noise, power and data requirements, colour and flooring.
Whilst visual design is important, workplace standards also need to be met. All designs should comply with the latest Building Regulations, Health and Safety and Fire Regulations, ensuring that you and your employees not only have a comfortable working environment with the necessary amount of space to carry out your day to day tasks, you also have a space to impress visitors.
Attention to detail and effective space planning at the outset ensures the finished environment meets all requirements, legislative and cosmetic. This level of detail almost invariably leads to a happier environment and in my experience can even see results in smaller areas – something the financial director loves to see too!
Nicola Young is a director of Whitespace Consultants, a highly regarded office interior design company based in the UK. Whitespace are a specialist in office space planning.