Redesigning your office does not have to be expensive, nor does it have to be a case of re-inventing the wheel. Through small but important changes, you can increase the value of your office space with minimal investment. Here are a few ideas for a great office design in London or elsewhere:
Reduce Filing and Storage Space
The average cost of office space is around £30 per square foot, more if you are in a preferred area of London. How much of that is “wasted” on storage space? To minimise the amount of space you need for storage you can replace small storage cabinets with tall cabinets and built-in floor to ceiling shelves or cupboards. Move older, rarely used documents to offsite storage and/or digitally archive older documents and shred the paper copies to eliminate the bulk altogether.
Use Flexible Design
A well-designed office is a flexible office. Instead of partitions, consider using stylish bookshelves, potted plants, and filing cabinets to break up space. Not only are these items easily rearranged as and when necessary, they save money should you decide to move office by eliminating some costs.
Create Break-Out Spaces for Meetings
Instead of creating several traditional meeting rooms, why not consider informal meeting spaces instead? In addition to reducing costs for extensions, soft seat areas are pleasant to look at and most employees and clients really enjoy using them.
Use Natural Light to Your Advantage
By maximising the way your office space uses natural light, you can see a significant savings on your energy bills. Natural light is also known to enhance employee mood, which can work towards reducing absenteeism and improving productivity.
Consider Bench Desks
Traditional L-shaped desks not only take up more room, they generally cost more whereas bench style desks not only have a smaller footprint, they are less expensive to purchase. Bench-style desks do not have to be bland or ugly either; with a little thought and innovation, bench-style desks can look amazingly stylish.
Design Around Existing Mechanical and Electrical Systems
While this may seem obvious, you would be surprised at how many people fall into the trap of designing the office space and then moving items such as data points, air conditioning ducts, and lighting to suit the new design. To obtain the most value from your space, make note of these features and design your office around them whenever possible. Doing this can potentially save you thousands.
Try to Stick with a Single Floor Design
This is a tip for before you commit to a lease; however, it is a good one to remember for next time, if you are already in a multiple floor space. Using a single floor not only provides immediate savings via the capital outlay, it also means less investment in office items such as coffee points, copiers and printers, and meeting rooms.
Consider Open Plan
Open plan offices require less investment in partitions, which also means less investment in the space required for partitioned spaces. By putting everyone in an open plan area, including senior management, and arranging the space in a flexible and conducive way, you can not only save money, but benefit from better communication and a real team spirit.