One of the signs of a successful business is not being able to fit into your office any longer.
You have likely survived the start-up stages of your endeavour, and now need to hire additional staff and require more room to operate your business.
To stop storing your overflowing files in the conference or break room, and give each employee their own cubicle, you need to either move to a new location, or simply expand your office space.
In this article, we will provide advice on how to do the latter.
Reorganise
The most cost-effective way to expand the much-needed working space is to reorganise your office.
This will not require adding any additional square footage, simply shuffling your current set-up around to create a more efficient layout.
Consider areas in your office that are not being used, and end up as dead space.
For example, perhaps your team prefers to meet in your office, or outside, so your conference room stands unused.
Or, you may have designated an employee lounge area that is being forsaken for an outside space.
These spaces can be utilized to create offices or cubicles for additional employees.
Consider The Floor Plan
You should work with a professional architect to redesign your current set-up.
Just adding square footage may not be the most useful strategy. You may add a second story, but will that interfere with the need for certain departments to communicate?
While they may have simply walked over to each other’s desks before, they may get tired of walking up and down the stairs.
Another aspect to consider is possible future needs for expansion.
Your business may continue to grow, and even the current plans for a larger space may not be enough in a few year’s time.
It may be worthwhile to evaluate whether your current space will be able to accommodate your growing needs, or if it may make more sense to move somewhere else.
Account For Electric Capacity
One vital aspect that is often overlooked during an expansion is the electric capacity of the building.
Although older business are the ones that do not have an electrical system that is powerful enough to handle many computers and other electronics, even modern buildings may not have enough electrical outlets to accommodate your needs.
It is important to evaluate your current set-up to see if simply reorganizing will provide more workspace.
If that is not possible, consider the floor plan and electric capacity of your building to make sure an expansion is possible.
Thanks again
Mark Williams
Head of Training and Development
Updated on: 13 May, 2016
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