In the first two parts of this series of articles we have looked at the tasks required to source and secure new office premises along with the initial and detailed design of the new office layout. You have chosen a main contractor and may have appointed a project manager or quantity surveyor to help you oversee the fit out project and control the project costs.

The period you need to allow for the fit out of the new office will depend on the size of office accommodation you are fitting out and the complexity of the design, neither of which are elements we can speculate on in an article such as this. Both elements will be so unique to your project that you should get initial indications from your contractors and designers when you start the tendering process followed up by detailed programmes before you start the fit out works on site. Under our scenario of a relocation within six months from the start of the process we have used three months, leaving three months for the fit out programme which should enable a fair amount of work to be undertaken.  By getting indicative timescales from your professional team early on, you can decide how different buildings and different fit out schemes compare and if you need to make compromises or fast track certain elements to meet your deadline. Your professional advisors should also be able to assist on elements such as IT, telecoms, furniture procurement and occupational health and safety elements, all of which will have implications on your relocation project.

Once the fit out is underway, you can focus on the physical relocation itself. As with the other elements of this project so far, it is likely you will need to tender the project to obtain prices for this part of the office relocation. Whilst relocation companies are very experienced in moving companies from office to office and within offices, they will all have a different approach and it is therefore a good idea to think through the processes involved and define the brief as fully as you can, before you meet with them. You should understand when your staff will be able to start packing and how long it will take. Will you need assistance from the removal company to pack and unpack or will your staff carry out this task themselves? Are you taking furniture and if so when can the removal company start to relocate this, and what are you going to do with the furniture, equipment and old paperwork that is not being relocated. On this last point an office relocation is a great opportunity to discard the rubbish that has been horded over the years and a series of ‘throw it away days’ in the weeks leading up to the move can help avoid taking this rubbish with you.

Finally, when you have all the planning complete and you are ready to relocate into your new office, give some thought to a welcome pack to make the staff feel at home in their new office. Include information on how the new office runs, local amenities, and transport links; some companies also provide a welcome gift or a moving in party.

Read More... When To Start Planning Your Office Relocation, Part 3

In the first article in this series, we set out a scenario where a company has decided to relocate offices and has set a timeframe of six months to achieve the relocation, from start to finish. Whilst this is an arbitrary timeframe, it is not an unusual one. The question we seek to answer is it long enough to satisfactorily complete this business critical project, or can an office relocation be properly completed in less time.

At the end of the last article, we were three months into the allotted six, but have researched, sourced and acquired the new office premises.

You have also carried out an initial assessment of the amount of space your company requires. Before you get to the point of instructing solicitors to agree terms for your new property (whether to lease or to buy) you need to know the office will work  as you need it to, so I propose to take you back to the point you are instructing commercial property agents to look for your new property.

What you also need to be doing at this early stage is to find a design company or architect who can complete the detailed design of your chosen office. This designer may be part of a design and build contractor who will take responsibility for both these elements of the project, or you may choose a separate contractor to work from the plans drawn up by the designer or architect. Whichever route you take, you need to have the designer on board to provide indicative designs around your shortlisted buildings before solicitors are instructed so that you know the office can be designed with a layout that will work as you need it to.

If you are following the design and build route then you will also be selecting your main contractor for the project. There can be time benefits for using a single source for these roles but it will mean that the contractor will need to be selected before they are able to price against detailed designs. This is a common occurrence but you should draw up some benchmarks on which to compare contractors and their costs.

If all of this is sounding a daunting task and you have concerns that a contractor may wow you with their designs abut then not be able to perform to a budget or the timescales you require, then you may want to consider an overriding professional to bring the process together. This can be in the form of a Project Manager who can tender the design and construction elements for you as well as advise on the suitability of the shortlisted building. They will look after the construction process and monitor timescales and costs throughout the project and advise you on construction elements you may not have experience of. The time you will save in personally monitoring the project can easily offset their fees and you have the reassurance that construction costs are properly accounted for. An alternative to a project manager may be a quantity surveyor who will be able to advise specifically on the project costs but is unlikely to provide the project monitoring elements.

In the final part of this series we look at the fit out and physical relocation into the new office premises.

Read More... Office Relocation Guide When To Start Planning Your Office Relocation, Part 2

What would you say if your boss was to come into your office this afternoon and tell you that the company needed to move to a new office? He then goes onto tell you that he feels you are just the person to organise and implement this project. As he is leaving he says, as a throw away comment, that the lease on the current office ends in six months, which should be plenty of time for you complete this task.

Whether you are going to be able to succeed will depend on a number of factors and the size of the office and the number of people you have to relocate is probably the biggest determining factor, but the good news is that with six months notice you have a fair chance of succeeding. For smaller companies, or where your company requires very little customisation of the office environment your will be moving into, less time may be needed and for more complicated projects involving many staff or very specific requirements a time frame measured in years may be more appropriate.

But you have six months, what should you be doing first to get the project moving? Unless you have specific knowledge of the real estate industry, and even if you do, you will probably need some professional advice along the way. However, the first task is to assess how much office space you occupy now and how much space you will need in the new property and this initial assessment is something you can carry out relatively easily using benchmarks appropriate to your business.

Once you have this and you know how much space you need you can go and find your new office. This will usually involve either speaking with the local real estate agents to establish which suitable properties they are currently marketing, or as time is not on your side, instructing an agent to carry out a detailed search for you. This has several benefits, not least that this is a time consuming process and an agent should have speedier access to industry information.

From these enquiries you will be able to draw up a long list of suitable properties carry out initial inspections to narrow this down to a short list and then to a preferred option, or options on which you, or your real estate agent can negotiate the best leave terms available before instructing solicitors.

This process, through to having a lease ready to sign, is likely to take up to three months, considerably eating into your available time before you have to relocate.

To make the best use of this time, you should also start considering the design of your new office and drawing up your plans for the office refurbishment, something we will look at in the second part of this series.

In the meantime, you can review a detailed programme that shows what you need to be doing and when, in order to achieve a successful office relocation and refurbishment project.

Read More... When To Start Planning Your Office Relocation

The UK government set some fairly tough goals for the reduction of energy use and carbon emissions with targets to reduce emissions by 35% by 2020.

The good news, on the face of it, is that the country is well on the way to meeting those targets, with the emissions for 2009 significantly lower than for the preceding year. The figures record an 8.7 per cent drop across a basket of measured emissions and 9.8 per cent lower for carbon dioxide.

Digging into the numbers a bit more suggests the reason for this and it is not because of a dramatic improvement in energy efficiency. Industrial process show a drop of more than thirty six per cent with energy production, business, transport and residential all showing a decrease in emissions as well. These across the board drops coincide with a marked decrease in the economy and as such it is most likely that emissions have dropped because less is being produced than because there has been a correspondingly sharp improvement in efficiency.

But that does not mean that as the economy grows, carbon emissions should grow at the same rate. Investing in low carbon policies, procedures and technology now should have both economic and environmental benefits in the long term. This will particularly be the case as fuel costs continue to rise and the payback period of installing new technology falls.

Times of change are good opportunities to implement environmental changes throughout a business however if your company is in a state of consolidation there may be no appetite to spend money now even with a prospect of saving later on. If this is the case there are still steps that can be taken to save energy and reduce emissions from your offices.

Firstly see what manual processes you can put in place to ensure lights are not left on unnecessarily at the end of the day. Is it possible to group staff who work similar hours in a common location so that you are not heating and lighting empty areas.

Make sure staff turn off computers and screens when not in use and that equipment with energy saving functions have these features turned on.

If your office is air conditioned, ensure the system is well maintained and properly balanced. Have staff regulate their temperature with extra layers rather than having one part of an office very hot and another very cold as this will cause the air conditioning plant to work harder than it needs, using more energy and creating more emissions.

By engaging with staff there is the opportunity to save energy and money and creating a greener office, without significant cost.

Contact us today and see how we can help reduce your energy consumption and cost accross your office properties.

Read More... Cutting Office Energy Use and Carbon Emissions In a Move Towards Green Real Estate

R22 Refrigerant In Air Condioning And What It Means For The Office Owner/Occupier

R22 is a gas used in many air conditioning systems and other refrigeration equipment (such as used in food and drink production).

R22 is also a HCFC gas, responsible for the depletion of the ozone layer and because of this its use has been outlawed.

Initially this meant that new R22 gas could not be used after 2004. Recycled R22 gas can still be used for maintenance and repair purposes, where it is available, until the end of 2014.

Therefore, from the end of 2014, any existing air conditioning systems running on R22 will need to have been replaced.

What does this mean for building owners and occupiers?

If you are looking to purchase or lease new premises with air conditioning equipment, you should be aware that you will probably have to factor in the cost to replace the systems.

It may be possible to modify your existing system to run on a new refrigerant which has the advantages that the process should be quicker and cheaper than a whole system replacement.

The disadvantages are that there may be a loss of efficiency in the system, it is not applicable to all systems and there is not the benefit of life extension that comes with a new system

Installing a new system will provide the opportunity to improve energy efficiency and give the building plant a life expectancy of 20 – 30 years. A careful cost analysis needs to be carried out at this stage because the increased efficiencies and lower ongoing maintenance may make replacement a cheaper long term solution.

It does however mean greater disruption and potential time when cooling plant is not available which may impact on critical services like computer rooms.

An office refurbishment is of course an ideal time to implement these changes and conversely you may want to take advantage of the disruption caused with changing the air conditioning system to carry out additional refurbishment works.

One thing that you should not do is leave the decision too late. The date of 31 December 2014 has legal force and you need sufficient time to plan source and implement any changes, including the possibility of a temporary relocation whilst work is being carried out.

In the meantime there is an obligation to leak test existing systems at least annually (and more often for larger systems) to ensure there is no loss of existing R22 into the atmosphere.

How we can help:

• If you are acquiring new air conditioned office accommodation talk to us first. We can advise on the implications and what you should expect from the vendor/lessor so that you do not lose out now or at the lease end.
• If you are looking to carry out an office refurbishment or fit out, we can assist with cost / benefit analysis to assist you in making the right decision in relation to replacement of R22 systems.

Read More... R22

Improving an office environment is often seen as an expensive and disruptive process that must involve a physical upheaval.

In these current times of austerity, your company may not have the funds to justify a full scale refurbishment, but there are steps you can take to enhance an office environment without costing a great deal of money.

In addition. whilst a broad brush approach is often beneficial and sometimes necessary to reorganise working teams, or to incorporate more, or less people into an area, all improvements need not come about in this way.

Here are five cost effective ways of making what can be significant improvements to an office environment without too much disruption.

The Colour Splash

You can brighten up an office or change the look and feel, without necessarily redecorating the whole area. Consider adding feature panels of colour to individual walls, or painting columns or pillars in certain areas. This can usually be done cheaply and without needing to decant an entire office and yet can transform an environment. If bright colours are appropriate go bold; even if they are not and a more formal appearance is required a deep contrasting colour can work wonders.

The Water Splash

People need water to function. Although the law only requires an employer to provide adequate access to fresh drinking water this can be enhanced relatively cheaply by installing either bottled water machines or a supply from the mains, which is then chilled. The advantages are that staff will probably get into the habit of drinking more, which in turn should help them be more alert and function better. Also, if the coolers are spaced closer to staff there is less time spend walking to a main kitchen area every time a glass is refilled.

The Green Effect
Adding plants to an office can help in a number of ways. They help improve the air and humidity and also break up long dull walls with a natural soothing effect and colour. Similarly, adding fresh flowers or potted plants with a display of colour either from flowers or leaves in a reception area can help make a good first impression on staff and visitors.

Pictures

Pictures can work in a similar way to adding a block of colour and need not be expensive. Photos can now be printed relatively inexpensively onto large canvas frames. As an additional way of involving staff you could not run a competition to find the photos that will go on the walls.

Dump It Day

If these four changes are still more than your budget will bear, then why not settle for a good clear out. After a few years in an office rubbish and debris accumulates and spending half a day filling bin bags can give an office a new lease of life. Arrange for all staff to come into the office in mufti and provide a pizza lunch as an incentive and take the opportunity to reorder filing and clear out desk drawers and cupboards to make for a more efficient and smooth running office.

For more advice on how to improve the working conditions in your office or to discuss a reorganisation in your office give us a call or drop us an email and we will call you!.

Read More... Simply Improve Working Conditions In Your Office

Workplace Consultancy will help you get the best out of an office refurbishment and in turn help you get the most out of your staff.

Do you really know what kind of office your organisation needs? Almost certainly, if you had a blank piece of paper the design you can up with would be different from the current configuration. Given a blank cheque, the design may change again.

Whether you would change how teams interact, how staff within teams are positioned, how many people you have in an area and the availability to meeting rooms are all important considerations in arriving at an optimal office environment.

Just as the views of no two companies are the same, individual directors and department heads within one company can have differing views of how their staff could operate most effectively.

A workplace consultancy audit will identify how your company uses its offices, how the staff interact and establish how changes could help make your staff more productive.

Workplace consultancy is an ideal first step in the office refurbishment cycle and should lead to

• Increased productivity
• Improved working environment
• Greater staff retention
• More efficient use of space
• Increased Capacity
• Potentially lower overheads

What Does A Workplace Consultancy Audit involve?

Our Workplace Consultancy Audit will be tailored to your goals and depend on what the circumstances are. There will be common elements including interviews with key members of Staff. In this we would include Directors as it is important that any resulting change is led by them.

We would look at team structures and ancillary requirements including meeting room requirements, right down to how much filing you have and how much expansion you need.

The results would be presented in a practical way that provides solutions that can be implemented, whther your intention is to stay in the same building or relocate elsewhere.

Read More... What is Workplace Consultancy and Why You Need It?

The Code for Leasing Business Premises in England and Wales 2007 is the result of collaboration between commercial property professionals and industry bodies representing both owners (Landlords) and occupiers (Tenants).

The documents produced by them and available for use by tenants and landlords in negotiating new lease terms include:

Landlord Code

Occupier Guide

Model Heads Of Terms

You can review these and print for your own use.

Read More... Leasing Guides For Landlords and Occupiers

This is an important question that will determine your office move and lease planning activities.

Unfortunately, it is difficult to give a precise answer to this very generic question, without knowing the specifics and requirements for your office refurbishment.

In estimating the time that an office refurbishment will take, account needs to be had to the following factors:

Size of the space being refurbished and number of people to be accommodated.

This will be the largest determining factor, although depending on the space that is being fitted out, it may be possible to run various elements concurrently. So for example a 30,000 sq.ft fit out split over three equally sized floors may be able to be completed faster than the same size refurbishment situated on a single floor as you can have multiple teams working at the same time. Conversely if time is not important, your contractor may run the different trades one after another through the building, so slightly extending the programme.

Design

This will depend on the complexity of your fit out and how many revisions you require, but will probably take several weeks, mostly at the start of the process

Contractors lead in

Contractors will probably need one to two weeks to gear up for your project

Statutory and other legal consents

Start this process early, as it should be possible to get some in principal consents in advance of your detailed design being available. If you have a difficult landlord, or have complicated requirements this element can take some time to complete and if you start the work without consents then you run the risk of having to strip it all out, at additional cost. If you need planning this can take several weeks (usually at least six in the UK).

Time for strip out

This will depend on the condition of the building when  you start works. For new buildings there may be very little strip out required, for previously occupied properties the strip out can take as much of 20% of your total programme.

Scope of work:

The following factors will need to be considered in developing a programme of works. Some can be run concurrently, whilst others will need to be carried out in a set order. In addition some of these elements will be split into several phases, for example a first and second fix for electrical and mechanical works.

• Flooring
• Ceiling
• Electrics – Lighting, Power and Data
• Mechanical (plumbing, ventilation, heating and cooling)
• Partitions
• Decorations
• Final Clean
• Furniture  Install

Read More... How Long Will An Office Refurbishment Take?

If you are responsible for planning an office relocation then our guides should help you plan and implement a successful office relocation.

These are what we believe are the most important elements to any office relocation.

Time

Make sure you can start your office relocation project with enough time to complete all the preparation that will be required.

It may be obvious to say, but the more people you are looking to move, the more time you should set aside in advance for planning, and whilst moves can be carried out with little notice, they will often not be successful.

Plan

Work backwards from the move date and develop a plan that includes all the elements required to complete the office relocation.

There are certain elements that have a longer lead in time than others, so it is important to recognize these and ensure that they are progressed in good time. An example may be telephone lines where the lead time to install into a building may be weeks or months.

Delegate

It is important to understand that one person is unlikely to be able to do all the tasks necessary to complete the relocation. Identify early on the key people who will be working on the project and if appropriate, form a relocation committee.

These people are likely to include representatives from the property or facilities team, the IT department, HR, Finance, Unions, and other directors and business division heads.

As IT and telecoms are nowadays so critical to the smooth running of a business it can be a good idea to specifically assign critical tasks to make those responsible know what they need to deliver, and by when.

Inform

Opening lines of communication within your business is important in a period of change. Staff will be concerned about the prospect of change so keep them informed about move plans and dates. That said, do not be surprised if your detailed instruction about what to do leading up to the move are ignored by some who think they know better, or just do not want to follow instructions.

Control

Know what you want to happen and when and monitor to make sure you know at what stage each aspect of the office relocation project is and which may be falling behind.

Read More... Office Relocation Guide