Choosing the right space:
Whether you are looking to re-locate, refurbish, or re-furnish, the key priority has to be how best to use the available space.
It is important that the floor space allows for future growth for issues such as further staff growth, meeting room and training room, and storage areas.
A good furniture supplier or interiors company will be able to provide a space -planning and design service, and the best time to do this is whist you are looking at the various options i.e. new space or using your existing space.
They should have the ability to take a brief from you in terms of your requirements such as staff numbers, teams, and how teams should be situated to compliment the running of the business.
They will also be able to apportion areas of the office for reception, cellular offices, meeting rooms, training areas, kitchen, canteen, and storage areas.
The other big priority is that they will allow for the required walkway distance to meet fire and health and safety regulations.
After carrying out an initial survey of the space, the Supplier should provide an initial layout to scale in drawing format which you and your colleagues can use as a discussion tool. Usually, after some changes, this document becomes the template for how you are to use the space and determines the size and shape of the furniture required.
Choosing your supplier
To a certain extent selecting your supplier depends on the scope of your project.
If you are looking to re-furnish your office space or relocate without needing changes to the internal wall layout you can use a furniture dealership.
If you are looking to refurbish and re design the internal space my advice would be to use a company that can provide the Fit out and the furniture.
The Benefit of this to you is that you get complete ownership of the project by one supplier, that leads to a smoother running project and generally a cost saving.
Make sure that you supplier has been established for a long period of time.
Most products supplied come with a 5 to 10 year guarantee, so you want the supplier to be around to back up that guarantee.
Also ask for references, a good company that has been working in their field and providing good service and reliable product will have references and testimonials from clients that they have carried out works for.
With a project of this nature their has to be lots of communication, calls and emails, during the project duration you will be communicating with the contractor on a weekly if not daily basis .
monitor their initial response time that's to say when you make your initial enquiry see how long it takes for them to come back to you, that will generally determine their work ethic and ability to communicate over the contract period.
Desking
Your layout drawing will determine the size of the desks you will use and at this point it is worth mentioning that with the fairly recent introduction of flat screen technology the average size of and open plan desk has become smaller.
Another recent introduction has been bench desking which allows pods of desk to be linked by one framework therefore reducing the legs required when compared to a traditional desk, bench desking normally goes up to 10 people per pod.
Another consideration should be the wire management of the desk, modern desking has the ability to carry wires from desk to desk from the perimeter wall.
Or the floor and accommodate power and IT, systems also have sliding tops which allow easy access to the power and it and this is recommended.
Generally offices have power access from the floor or the perimeter.
It is more convenient for the power to come from the floor as this is usually within a floor track system which can be easily moved to give you more flexibility in terms of where you can locate your desks .
In terms of material desk are usually available in MFC (a hard wearing melamine faced chipboard) or wood,in the open plan areas MFC should be selected.
As it is far more hard wearing over a longer period of time and does not show scratches.
In Terms of build quality a good steel frame that is bolted together and has the ability to bolt the top to the frame.
Most British and European Desking products will be built to this standard.
The alternative is desking products that are screwed from metal to wood or wood to wood, generally over a period of time these desk will weaken.
It is worth pointing out at this point that over the last few years their has been an influx of products for the far east and our experience is that although their may be an initial cost saving the quality can be lacking.
Screen Dividers
When desks are in pods there is normally a requirement for a screen divider between desks, these can be desk mounted and normally act as a way of stopping paper movement between desks hiding the back of the opposing persons PC monitor and give people a feeling of have their own space.
Screen dividers also have the option to accommodate power and it.
Generally the screens are fairly low 330mm to 400mm.
Any higher than this can become obtrusive.
Pedestals -Drawers
Generally each person has their own personal underdesk pedestal,these are available in MFC or metal with both options it is recommended for longevity to opt for a metal runners on the drawers rather than plastic, traditionally the pedestals have been fixed to the desk but for flexibility they are normally chosen as a mobile unit on wheels.
Seating
This is probably one of the most important issues to address when looking at product mainly because every day it affects the most important aspect of your business, the staff.
Office seating has come a long way in recent years and seating and ergonomics is a subject that is well documented.
Because every individual is a different size and weight the modern task chair should have the maximum adjustability these include seat height adjustment (standard) back height adjustment (generally standard) back rake adjustment.
Tension adjustment on back rake,Sliding seat adjustment, arm height adjustment, arm width adjustment.
It is generally recogonised that sitting still for long periods of time is not good for the body so it is far better to select a chair that promotes movement whilst sitting.
Every task chair has a wide range of moving parts so it is important to ensure the chair has a long guarantee the standard guarantee is 5 years and there are also products with a 24 hour use 10 year guarantee.
Filing and storage
Whilst in the planning stage it is a good idea to determine how much filing and storage you actually have currently and how much you actually need ie is their old filing etc you can dispose of or archive and also what will your future requirements will be.
Once this has been achieved this will help to determine what type of storage systems are going to be the most suitable.
Every office has a requirement for local filing close to the user this has traditionally been in the format of a four drawer filing cabinet the modern alternative is the high cupboard that can accommodate traditional suspension files (used in filing cabinets) and lateral files (access from the front ) and shelves.
Essentially you have a cupboard which comes empty and you choose the internal fitments to suit the filing systems that you currently use in your business.
The main benefit of using cupboards is that they take up the same amount of floor space as a traditional filing cabinet but because of the heights available (up to 2000mm) you can accommodate two to three times the capacity of a filing cabinet so in quantity this can make a big difference to the floor space available.
If you have large amounts of semi archive storage it may be worth considering a roller racking system which will accommodate a vast amount of filing in a small amount of floor space.
Storage units can be big in size and is is important to check that your supplier has checked the access to your building and that the lifts or and staircase can accommodate product this is particularly important when ordering boardroom tables.
I hope this guide is useful.
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