Office Refurbishment – best practice guidelines
1. Maximise light and space
Natural light is a much overlooked benefit in office design, but it should be one of your major considerations in office design and layout. There are numerous studies showing productivity improvements with natural light, particularly in manufacturing environments.
To improve the amount of natural sunlight within an office, create an open environment by tearing down interior walls, using glass walls for private offices and benching desks instead of claustrophobic workstations.
2. Create break-out spaces
Break-out spaces aren’t just somewhere your employees can eat lunch—they provide a crucial place away from the desk, which can aid creativity. Where possible look to designate casual meeting or lounge areas in your office for employees not only to relax but also to exchange thoughts.
3. Keep things tidy
When it comes to small offices, it is even more important to make sure that everything works together. In a large office, clients might never see the work area, because there is a ‘behind the scenes’ space, but there is no such thing when it comes to small offices—everything is out in the open. It’s crucial to keep your workplace free of clutter, organized and tidy.
Storage is often an afterthought when companies take on office space, but it is usually the second biggest complaint—after temperature. When you space plan your office, make sure you incorporate a storage audit.
4. Invest in furniture – comfort increases productivity
It may be a relatively small object, but workers spend the majority of their workday sitting in an office chair. Only when they begin to suffer the ill effects of an uncomfortable chair—low back pain and general discomfort—do they begin to pay attention to where and how they are sitting.
5. Use technology to increase working options
Use technology to make working in the office easier. Wireless connectivity in the office enables staff to work anywhere, giving them an excellent way to change their scenery. Impromptu meetings are easier when you can take your laptop with you.
6. Branding the workplace
If your workplace does not stand out from others, then you’ve gone wrong somewhere. Branding your office is just as important as branding your stationery.
The physical appearance of your office can lay the foundation for your corporate culture.
In designing your office space, inject your firm’s slogans, logos, philosophy, attitude, products and colour palette into the environment in order to showcase your firm’s corporate culture at the most elementary level.
