Look for ways to maximise value in your London office space

Throughout the course of the blog, we have covered many ways that can save you money when searching for office space in London. You will see by the end of this post that it’s not all about minimising your outlay (though this plays a part), it’s also about maximising the value of your decision and thinking ahead when possible.

It was high time to put together some of our most important tips, so here they are:

1. Negotiate

There are a a variety of negotiable costs when dealing with London office space. We have talked before about the current economic climate spelling opportunity for tennants to negotiate. While we’d recommend using experts (ahem!) to do this for you, this article will provide you some key insights into what can be negotiated.

2. Communicate

Due to the sheer volume of process that goes into finding and securing a London office, it’s easy for a breakdown in communication to occur between landlord and tennant, agent and landlord or tennant and agent. While we can attest to good communication being a foremost priority with FindaLondonOffice, it still happens all the time. It is an essential part of negotation and being thorough can save an awful lot of time, which as you know, equates to money.

3. Reconsider Your Actual Office Requirements

Have you considered opting for office space that has already had a fitout? Depending on what you need, you could stand to save a lot of money by finding an office that has already been fitted out to your requirements, or perhaps broadening your criteria. The money saved could also cover alterations that you require.

4. Maximise Use of Your Space

If cramming something into every cubic metre is what you think I mean by this, you couldn’t be further off the mark!

Remember that your number one asset as a business is your people. Ensuring they have a properly designed office environment can dramatically increase productivity. This might influence your decision towards choosing a larger office space, however if it means staff can work more efficiently it will very likely be a worthwhile move. Of course it also means vast savings if you have plans to expand. Thinking office ergonomics through properly can not only improve productivity, it also reduces the likelihood to your staff developing health issues.

5. Think Carefully About Your Location

I have to highlight the fact that for many seeking London office space, their chosen London office location is not based on much more than a personal preference. This is all well and good, but as you can see from our rental guide, the cost per varies substantially. If your premises is not client facing, you have considerably fewer reasons to shell out on premium ground level office space in the most prestigious area you can think of. If you can attract business based on your location, it may in fact be worth doing, in which case doing so could pay for itself many times over.

The Value of Thinking Ahead!

So as you can see, our guide to saving money isn’t necessarily to take the most frugal approach possible, it’s more to do with maximising the value of whatever office space move you intend to make and making the most of what you get.

We would be happy to advise you further should you wish to contact us.

Confined office space is a demotivator for staff AND clients

We have talked about making the most of your office space, especially how office space design is a significant influence over productivity. It is easy to see the conflict of interest that this entails.

Crammed Office

The sardine effect

Businesses are squashing more workers into tighter spaces due to the pressure to cut costs. There is a growing feeling of unhappiness among employees who feel they are not getting sufficient personal space. If you are wondering what the situation regarding crowding is in London, please hop on the tube during rush hour! I have full confidence that you will have a new, more sardine like perspective.

Remember this when you are looking for an office, it is important to maximise the use of your space, but also keep in mind that turning your office into a battery farming experiment is a bad idea!

Over the last few years, the amount of office space available per employee has fallen by over a third. Planners now consider every square foot of office space right down to the size of the toilet! Your budget allowing, you should consider leaving some headroom, it is especially useful for if you plan to expand in terms of staff number as well as giving your current employees more space.

Telecommuting
If your business fits into the category of one that uses hot desking and flexibility through telecommuting, it might be somewhat more acceptable to employee tactics suck as reducing space between desks, dropping partitions and cutting storage.

Implications
One only has to look at the animal kingdom to see the effects of overcrowding, it is natural to get bad tempered and defensive in a confined space. In an open plan environment, a lack of room can make people feel threatened due to a lack of privacy. This even foster an unhealthy feeling of competition amongst workers through being always on display. Ultimately, it could go as far as causing absenteeism and staff turnover levels to soar.

The bottom line
The biggest cost in business is going to be your staff, so why waste that money by demotivating them with an awful work environment?

My previous post suggested companies looking for new office space can make substantial savings if they are lucky or shrewd enough to find an office that has already been designed and fitted out. I receieved quite the response on this subject and the majority were similar enquiries:

• How much can I actually save by doing this?
• Open plan may be preferable anyway if the saving is not significant.
• What is the cost of decking out each individual work station?

Well, without wishing to glibly answer how long is a piece of string? I have come across a  canny office design and fit out contractor called PPC, who have made a name for themselves advising tenants  how to adapt new office space all over Central London to meet their requirements. As they are always completing a variety of projects, they are able to give good cost comparisons.

I mentioned my previous blog post to them and they have kindly agreed to give indicative cost estimates free of charge to FindaLondonOffice Blog readers. Mention FindaLondonOffice to them to receieve your free estimate. You can find them at http://www.ppcllp.com/.

You may recall the post on why choosing the right style of office is important. It touched on a frequently overlooked fundamental; ergonomics. Although the design of your office has a bearing on productivity, perhaps one of the most important aspects is ergonmics. Back problems are responsible for a large amount of work abscence and even as you are reading this now, there is a good chance your ergonomics could do with improvement.

We have put together a quick FindaLondonOffice guide to better ergonomics:

You don’t need to break the bank to improve your office space ergonomics, in any case, you can usually improve for free.

Computer Monitors

Place monitors a good distance away from seating, ideally, staff should keep their monitors at a minimum distance of 22 inches from their eyes.

Tilt monitors slightly up from the bottom. The top of the monitor should be further away from your eyes than the bottom as this will reduce both eye strain and neck discomfort.

Consider switching to LCD (flat panel) monitors if you happen to still have any old CRT ones in use. CRT monitors refresh their image constantly, a slow refresh rate can cause eye strain and headaches. If you absolutely must use CRT monitors, set the refresh rate as high as possible, 75Hz or higher is ideal. In any case, ensure that the resolution, brightness and contrast settings are optimised so that the picture is sharp and sufficiently bright.

Lighting

It is important to get sufficient levels of lightning. A well designed office space incorporates suitable lighting through use of ambient and natural light. This has been proven to boost brainpower in comparison to artificial sources of light.

For spaces with a plethora of workstations, softer background lighting is ideal to reduce glare.

Stationary and Utilities

Arranging tools so they are easily accessible sounds simple enough, however, moving a printer can be enough to save several hours over the course of a few months. Consider the location of all your tools.

Foot position

Use a footrests or even small boxes. Feet should be firmly planted on the floor and knees should be slightly higher than chair seats.

90% of Microsoft employees said their office space design had a direct bearing on their productivity.