Looking to Downsize? We Show You How to Squeeze Productivity From Every Centimetre of Floor Space

The uncertain times that we are currently experiencing is forcing every company and organisation to consider every element of their expenditure and make what ever savings they can achieve.

One of the biggest expenditures for any organisation is rent and rates and consequently significant savings can be achieved by reducing the office space required.

The key elements to be considered in this space saving strategy are the number of people to be accommodated and the level of storage required on site.

Once this is determined, you can begin to look at designs that ensure the number of desks is minimised and the floor space taken up by the storage requirements is minimised.

A simple strategy is to look at combining the storage requirements for a number of offices or the entire organisation into one office area.

Figure 1 shows a typical office area with 4 desks which uses a number of 4 drawer filing cabinets to provide the storage requirements offering 17.6 linear metres of storage space.

If we were to replace the 4 drawer filing cabinets with four rotary systems as per figure 2, we could accommodate the storage equivalent of 3 comparative offices offering a superb 56 linear metres of record storage.

If we then consider that by removing the floor space previously taken up by storage facilities, we could replace these with an extra 4 L-shape desks to 5 of the 6 offices and transforming the seating levels from 24 people to an amazing 40 people – this takes into consideration the requirement to install an extra mobile system to meet the storage demands of the extra staff.

However, a key factor in space planning is in desk design. With most companies now switching from large CRT monitors to LCD screen, the additional spaceoffered by the L-shape desk is more of a luxury than a necessity.

There is a growing movement towards the bench style desk from both furniture designers and space planners to provide highly attractive but very functional units that are perfect for the modern office environment.

If we look at the dramatic effect that these can have on the effectiveness of office interiors.

Figure 4 shows a typical office environment which combines L-shaped desks and low level storage units to comfortably accommodate 12 members of staff with a storage level of 32 linear metres.

However if we look at taking the available office space to the extreme capability as in Figure 5, we could replace all of the low level storage units with a mobile and replace the L-Shaped desks with a series of bench style desks and the number of seats could be easily increased to 20 whilst still offering an excellent 112 linear metres of storage space.

Clearly this design will not suit every application but if you consider the options available to you, there are significant savings to be achieved.

To view our checklist for maximising your office environment click here

For more information on Thistle's unique approach to Corporate Interiors click here to download our Brochure now.