First things first, when you are conducting an office refurbishment, you need to be clear on your objectives. What’s the main driver for the refurbishment? It could be down to a need for modernisation, a change in the way you work or because you need to accommodate more people. It could also be because you are wanting to improve the moral of your staff, or to increase productivity.
Whatever the reason, it’s important that everyone involved is clear on what needs to be achieved. This will make the whole process much smoother for the person in charge of sourcing the furniture through to the person looking after the redesign. Once you are clear on this, there are a few things you should consider before pressing ahead. To help, we’ve come up with the following tips.
Sometimes, the signs are clear that you need to conduct an office refurbishment, here are 5. However, some signs are not so clear, this means that you need to evaluate the performance of your staff to ensure that your office is set-up for maximum productivity. An office refurbishment may be able to help with this.
1. Appoint a Project Manager for your Office Refurbishment
Whether you want everyone to chip in or not, it’s important that someone is in charge of the overall refurbishment. These projects can be time consuming and the individual in charge will need to have a clear diary and be able to take time out from their every day duties.
It can be a difficult task especially if you’re planning a complete overhaul. This individual will therefore need to be able to allocate duties to other members of staff to ensure deadlines can be met.
Should you not wish to use someone internally as the project manager for your refurbishment, you should ask your fit-out company to see if they can appoint one of their project managers to your project.
2. Prioritise
Depending on your budget for the project, you may not be able to make every single change on your list. Therefore, it’s important that you are clear on priorities and can make cutbacks where necessary. Thinking about what’s most important for your business and the key drivers behind your refurbishment will help ensure those priorities are met.
Something that can really help with prioritising is getting your staff involved. Hold a session where everyone feeds back what they’d like to see and any changes they think need to be made. This will help to guide your priorities and ensure your staff are happy in the workplace.
3. The Way You Work
As you’ll probably know, the way we work is constantly changing. From hot desks and break out spaces to quiet pods and private study rooms – workplaces have evolved in the past ten years. This is mainly due to technology and company values which have impacted how employees conduct their jobs. There’s been a surge in remote working in recent years, meaning companies have increasingly turned to hot desking. This has helped businesses to save on space and use their offices in a more economical way.
Therefore, be sure to consider if the way your company works will change in the near future. Will you replace set desks with hot desks or will there be a requirement for more quiet working pods? Taking a global view on this will help to ensure your office refurbishment will continue to meet your business needs.
4. Minimise the Disruption your Office Refurbishment Causes
Whether you’re planning a complete office overhaul or a simple move-around, there will be a certain amount of disruption caused. So, it’s important that measures are taken to ensure business continues as normal.
For instance, can contractors come in on weekends? Do you have a period in the year when business is quieter or are there areas of the office that can be refurbished during normal office hours? By planning out the refurbishment around your business, you’ll ensure that any disruption is kept to a minimum.
If you are looking for a reputable company to quote for your office refurbishment works, get in touch with us today! Our team are experts in the refurbishment sector and we are able to operate in Nottingham, Derby, Leicester refurbishments and beyond! Give us a call on 0115 939 7572, or drop [email protected] an email.