Often the importance of good interior design for the office is overlooked. It is often said that a well thought out office design, utilising space and lighting to their best advantage, helps to boost the morale and increase the productivity of the workforce. This leads to greater staff retention, saving a great deal of time and money, which would otherwise have been tied up in yet another recruitment drive.

A good office design is not just for the benefit of your employees. Customers and other visitors to your offices must be made to feel comfortable and welcome too. Your office is after all, an extension of your brand; it is a statement of intent and a measure of the level of commitment you are prepared to make, towards achieving your companies aims and objectives.

For these reasons it is imperative that when thinking about an office refurbishment, you seek the advice of an expert in the field. Experienced office interior designers will work closely with you to achieve the exact look to compliment your business and to comfortably accommodate your staff, ensuring that they have the right tools and the right amount of workspace in which to do their jobs as efficiently as possible.

An office design team will look to gain a comprehensive overview of your company’s activities. This, together with a detailed description of your staff task list will enable the designers to draw up plans for your new office that will align perfectly with day to day running. This will result in a highly efficient office space and a happier, more committed team.

The implications of your lighting scheme

With modern office work being largely computer based, it is vital that any view of the computer screens is not affected by adverse lighting conditions, since this can impact heavily on staff productivity and comfort levels. It is important therefore, to spend time considering the fall of light and shadow and the displacement of glare, whether it is from natural or electric light. Do not place VDU’s close to windows or under direct light as this will lead to screen glare, making life difficult and uncomfortable for the operator.

Consider also the colour of your light; certain hues of electric light can be jarring and lead to headaches whilst others may lead to rooms looking or feeling, smaller or larger than they actually are. Appropriate workplace lighting is essential to the smooth running efficiency of any office environment and since every lighting decision will have an immediate effect on its surroundings, it is important to employ the services of an office interior design specialist, to get the lighting right.

Interior design for your office reception area

Your reception area is your first and only chance to make that all-important first impression. It may be the only part of your building that your customers actually get to see and for this reason, it is perhaps the most important area to get right. Every reception area needs a focal point. Without one, new customers will be left wondering where they are supposed to go. This may lead to them becoming embarrassed and feeling uncomfortable. A cleverly positioned focal point will immediately give your customers something to aim for and allow them to orientate themselves quickly. This removes any feeling of discomfort and helps them to quickly feel at ease. Interior design for your meeting or breakout area

The breakout area is a relatively modern phenomenon but one that has been greeted with open arms by office and factory workers worldwide. Designed as a relaxing area in which employees are able to literally “break out” from their normal working day, to concentrate on a project for example, that may require input from other team members. The breakout area could be looked upon as an informal office within an office. Normally demarcated through the use of different coloured, softer furnishings, the idea behind this space is to encourage freedom of expression and the exchange of ideas. These areas have been proven to make a major contribution to a company’s success and profitability as team members work together to achieve a common objective.

Interior design for your Washrooms

In designing a commercial washroom, that being any washroom facility for the use of staff and/or the public, there are a number of legal requirements that need to be fulfilled.

1. It is a legal requirement that any new public building have at least one bathroom facility for the handicapped.

2. Public washrooms must have a minimum of one stall that is equipped for use by the handicapped.

These laws aside, there are the simple matters of functionality, durability and ease of maintenance. It is essential that any public or commercial washrooms be easy to keep clean. All surfaces should be washable and easy to maintain

Reducing noise levels through interior design

Within a normal office environment it is quite rare for noise levels to rise to a damaging level. Where there is a danger of this happening to the point where noise pollution interferes with productivity, then steps need to be implemented to offset this.

These steps can range from the simple relocation of a piece of noisy office machinery, a printer or fax machine for example, to the erection of full or partial office partitioning. If quiet is an essential element of your business then office partitioning could be the answer.