Exploring the benefits of an effective office layout through space planning

Step 1: Analyse your current office layout and space

Before you start planning your new space, analyse your current layout and consider how you and your employees are using your space. What areas are used most? Are there any pain points – areas that just aren’t quite fit for purpose? For larger companies, conducting a workplace study over a whole working week and observing how employees interact within the space can provide valuable insights. Otherwise, chat to employees of all levels and ask for their suggestions or qualms with the office space. While both may seem time-consuming initially, they will provide valuable solutions to problems you didn’t even know were there – saving everyone time in the long run!

At DENTON, we work with our clients to conduct an objective study of their office space and cast our expert eye over how it is currently used. We then present our findings and bring modern, innovative, and best practise solutions to any office layout for any sized space.

Step 2: Define your workplace needs

With a clear analysis of your office layout, you can begin designing destinations that can be used in multiple ways and can fulfil various workplace needs. Do you need a collaborative workspace that inspire creativity? A welcoming social space for break times or evening gatherings? Employing agile work practices allows you to create an environment that changes with your business’s needs. A break-out area can be transformed easily for an evening gathering and can even be utilised for collaborative meetings with cleverly hidden interactive boards or glass screens you can use for note taking.

Social spaces don’t need to be limited to socialising. They can be comfortable areas for some employees to work in for short amounts of time and can often be quieter during busy office hours allowing for more focused and private work. Private meeting rooms can become agile workspaces used for focused work, respite areas, wellbeing rooms and even a room to have a private call. And if you install these rooms with seamless AV there are even more opportunities for use. The list goes on, but luckily if you partner with a leading design and build company like DENTON, we know what to look out for when creating bespoke agile solutions to creative problems.

Step 3: Plan your office space

It may seem obvious that you should ‘plan your office space’, but this is step 3, which means you should only do it after you have assessed your current space and considered the needs of your employees and business. Use block planning techniques to create destinations where various tasks can be completed, and check adjacencies of different teams works for the overall business. Fundamentally, it is important to plan your office layout with a human-centric approach – considering what your team needs and planning the space around that.

One last tip from our expert designers – the location of an office can highly impact an effective office layout. Make the most of your exterior views and natural lighting but pay careful attention to noise and disturbances from outside.

The benefits of space planning

If done well, and we can’t stress that part enough, space planning and an effective office layout can lead to many benefits for your business and your employees. And we are not just talking about how nice it will look!

Enhances the interaction between people, place, and technology

Employees can interact with the office and each other more effectively when the space is designed with their needs in mind. It lends to seamless integration with technology that can benefit overall productivity and employee wellbeing. Having a space designed specifically for a task makes it easier to accomplish it, and we all appreciate it when work is not unnecessarily complicated by bad space planning or technology.

Ensures that individuals have the space they need to work effectively

Everyone is different, and everyone’s needs at work are different. Effective space planning while employing an agile work style ensures your employees can complete their tasks with their needs considered.

Improves communication between departments

Creating areas for collaboration and considering team adjacencies do wonders for inter-department communication. Need the marketing and sales teams to work more closely together and share more information? That’ll be easy when they’re situated next to each other in the office layout.

Provides flexibility for future growth

Great planning not only looks at your current needs but considers what could be coming and prepares for the desired growth. An office designed around the needs of your business and employees helps you to provide flexible solutions to new endeavours, meaning you can grow within your space.

Maximises the use of square footage

With prices in all industries rising, it has never been more important to make the most of the space for which we are paying optimum rates for. Well-planned agile spaces mean fewer areas are under-utilised and wasted day-to-day and ultimately improve the overall efficiency of your business.

DENTON, the leading design and build experts

As the longest-established design and build company in London with offices throughout the UK, we’ve partnered up with businesses and organisations of all shapes and sizes to design and craft incredible bespoke offices that solve unique space planning problems. Check out our ESG policy for a in-depth look at how we aim to reduce our company’s carbon footprint, promote social responsibility, and champion diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

Let’s work together. To discuss your next office layout or fit-out project, drop our friendly, experienced team a line today.