Spaces Taylored can transform any environment into an amazing place to work. We passionately believe your office should look great and feel comfortable. This is where space planning comes in when looking at creating an office interior design you will love to spend time in. Essentially it is about making sure your people, furniture and resources physically fit into your workplace. However, the space has to work for the business and its people. Therefore, it is a good idea in taking the time to properly plan how to use the space for maximum benefit is a powerful tool that can help the organisation get the most from its people, processes and resources. Designing it around what your people need to perform best at work and achieve their full potential.
This blog outlines space planning, highlights the benefits of space planning and looks at the process step by step. Let us help you transform your office into a stylish, functional and comfortable place to work.
What is the definition of office space planning?
Office space planning is a commercial interior design stage where you consider how the workplace can produce the best possible environment for staff and visitors alike. It is an opportunity to analyse how the company is structured, how this correlates with how specific teams work together and how the layout of the office can aid a positive working environment.
At Spaces Taylored, we start this process with a workplace evaluation, where we analyse your current space use by meeting with key people from your organisation to set out the project parameters and review your main project objectives.
The Benefits of Office Space Planning:
Provides individuals with the spaces they need to work effectively
Allows for future growth
Saves floor space and reduces rental costs
Allows for enhanced cross-communication between departments
Creates synergy between people, place, and technology
How to Office Space Plan Effectively
There is no single correct way to plan and design an office space. Every workspace should be designed to suit the specific needs of the user – the business and its people. But, there is a set process you can follow to ensure you plan your office space effectively:
Analyse your current space use
Define your needs
Plan space around requirements
Step 1: Analyse How You Use Your Current Office Space
The use of current office space should be reviewed, how it is currently used, what is good about it and what can be improved. It is good practice to carry out a workplace survey to involve all team members by gaining their input and thoughts on what works for them and what could help. Assess how much time is spent in particular areas. Factor in communications, IT and consider how staff currently communicate.
Spaces Taylored works with clients at this stage to analyse their current workspace and suggest ways to optimise the space to improve engagement, enhance performance and drive meaningful change throughout the organisation. By doing this we tend to find that some areas are being used in a different way than initially intended.
A common issue we come across is the belief of more meeting rooms being required as they are always in use. However in reality employees are using the space to break away from working desks to have quick conversations as there is no where else available. The solution we suggest for this is providing more break out spaces and informal spaces to allow for such ad-hoc discussions and meetings.
Step 2: Define Your Workplace Needs
Prior to even thinking about a new office design, it is important to first of all consider what is needed to best support employees currently and to allow for future growth planning. A few common questions we ask clients are:
Have you considered the number of people currently need to use the office space?
Are there any particular departments that work collaboratively?
Have you considered adding informal social spaces?
How do you want people to behave in the new or refurbished workspace?
What is it you need to actually achieve within the space?
Does every role require a designated workstation?
Are you likely to expand the workforce in the near future?
Do you want to allow space for future growth?
Do you want to encourage agile working?
Have you considered providing private spaces to allow for better concentration
Are you looking to bring new office furniture into the workspace?
In considering these key themes allows you to best support your workforce and what you need from your current workspace. Allowing you to decide to either invest in your current space or to relocate to a new workplace instead.
In our experience, our clients tend to believe they have grown too large for their current workspace but the reality usually is that their current space just needs utilised to unllock its full potential. This is the reason it is key to define your workplace needs prior to physical office design and space plan. In doing this you can work out what your business needs from the workspace so that it can become alligned with future aims and ambitions.
Step 3: Plan Your Space Around Your Needs
This is the final and most exciting part. You now know what you want and need from your workspace and so can begin to explore the look and feel of the environment. Although you can now start to look at how much space is required to need your needs. It is key to remember that the aim of the design and space plan is to make sure your people, furniture and resources physically fit into your workplace but also the space has to work for the business and its people. Spaces Taylored work with our clients to select the latest workplace products and design visual drawings to help clients visualise how their new space may look, ensuring they get the most out of their working environment. We strongly believe that we can transform any environment into an amazing place to work. The wellbeing of your people is the foundation of a successful workplace culture and to success. It is essential not to over load every square meter of space. We passionately believe your office space should look great and feel comfortable.
Call us on 0843 122 9545 or drop us an email info@spacestaylored.com to find out how we can transform your current working environment into an inspirational place that you’ll love to spend time in. Be proud of your office space with the help of Spaces Taylored.
Web - www.spacestaylored.com
Email - info@spacestaylored.com
Call - 0843 122 9545
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