A Helpful Guide to Office Refurbishment

Starting an office refurbishment project can transform your workplace environment and improve business performance, but with so much to think about, it can be difficult to know where to start. It’s also a big investment, so it’s important to take a structured approach to make sure your new office aligns with your team’s needs and business goals, and delivers tangible ROI.

We understand there’s a lot to consider, so we’ve put together this step-by-step guide to help you decide if you should refurbish, relocate, or even do a bit of both, along with the key factors to consider.

1. Space utilisation: Are there areas in your office that are rarely used? Do certain spaces feel cramped or uncomfortable? This can help identify what’s working and what isn’t.
2. Employee feedback: Get input from employees on the current layout, furniture, lighting, and amenities. They can offer valuable insights into what they love about your current space, as well as any pain points.
3. Brand and culture: Does your current space reflect your company culture and branding? Modern workplaces increasingly focus on creating environments that reflect their values and brand personality to improve employees’ sense of belonging and feeling of community.
4. Growth potential: Consider how much growth your business might see in the next few years. If you’re expanding quickly, you may need additional space or flexible areas.
5. Hybrid and flexible work requirements: With the rise of remote work, consider if your office needs more collaborative spaces rather than individual desks.
6. Functional requirements: Assess the specific functional needs of your team, like breakout rooms, meeting spaces and areas for focused work, and if your current setup meets these requirements.
7. Building age and condition: If your office is in an older building, certain upgrades might be needed to meet safety and compliance requirements, improve energy efficiency and improve sustainability.~
8. Location benefits: Consider if your office location is still accessible for your workforce and close to key clients. If you’ve been in your current space a while, the location may no longer meet these needs, so relocating might be beneficial.

Undertaking a workplace consultancy process, which explores how you use your current office space and what’s needed from your future workspace, will help with all of the above. By analysing valuable insights and making evidence-based recommendations, the process will help you create a brief that is tailored specifically to your business needs.

After assessing your current space, consider the following to help decide if refurbishment is your best option or if it could be time to relocate:

1. Budget constraints: Compare the costs of a full refurbishment with the potential cost of moving to a new location. Consider factors like lease penalties, moving expenses and the cost of setting up the new location. If budget is limited, refurbishing or refreshing your office may be the most practical option. Also explore if there is an option to expand your current space within the existing building.
2. Time constraints: Refurbishing an existing office is likely to disrupt day-to-day operations. Relocation may offer a smoother transition if you can create your new space without disrupting workflow.
3. Space limitations: If your current space simply doesn’t allow for a change in layout, facilities, or future expansion, relocating may make more sense.
4. Lease expiry: If your lease is coming up for renewal, relocating might be financially beneficial, especially if other locations are more cost-effective.

If you decide to refurbish, creating a clear plan will ensure the process goes smoothly:

1. Define key objectives: It’s important to agree what you’re hoping to achieve from the start of any project, so you can provide a clear brief to any professional partners you decide to work with to help bring your vision to life. What are the current challenges with your existing office and how do you want your new space to address these? For example, improving productivity and efficiency, attracting and retaining talent, increasing capacity, improving sustainability etc.
2. Engage key stakeholders: If you haven’t already, now is the time to partner with an office design and fit-out specialist who will manage the entire process for you. They will guide you along every step of the way, from initial ideas through to the design and build of your new office. It’s also important to consult with your team including managers, department heads, and a sample of employees to ensure their needs are factored into the design.
3. Plan for minimal disruption: Any office refurbishment or relocation project will bring an element of disruption but there are ways you can minimise this with careful planning. For large spaces, you could consider refurbishing in phases to minimise disruption to daily operations. You could also arrange a temporary workspace for when certain areas of the office will be out of use for those who cannot work remotely.
4. Consider sustainability: A sustainable office design can help you reduce your carbon footprint and meet sustainability goals, as well as lower operational costs, improve brand reputation and support employee wellbeing. If this is important to you, opt for sustainable materials, energy-efficient lighting, and improved ventilation. Green certifications like LEED or BREEAM can provide guidelines for sustainable refurbishments. Your design and build partner will be able to guide you on this too.
5. Planning for the future: Keep future growth in mind. Consider flexible furniture, adaptable layouts, and additional storage to accommodate evolving needs.

Establishing a realistic budget and timeline is essential for keeping the project on track.

1. Set a budget: Your chosen design and delivery partner will create a budget for your project, within the parameters you set, that includes materials, labour, furniture and technology. It’s also important for you to consider the associated with any downtime or temporary relocations.
2. Create a timeline: Agree a timeline upfront which takes into consideration any internal deadlines you may have – for example, a lease expiry. Your professional partner will plan each stage if your project in detail, from design to completion, factoring in lead times for materials and time on-site to complete the works.

1. Fit-out: Once you’re design, budget and timeframe are agreed, your delivery partner will manage the fit-out process on-site. Depending on the scale of your project, the delivery process could take anywhere from a couple of weeks to months. Regular communication and progress updates will ensure the project runs smoothly and disruptions to your business are kept to a minimum.
2. Feedback: After the refurbishment, gather feedback from employees to ensure the new design meets expectations and has improved the work environment.

In summary, the decision to refurbish or relocate ultimately depends on your long-term needs, budget and the flexibility of your current space. A well-thought-out refurbishment can revitalise a space and offer a fresh, functional environment tailored to your team, while relocating might be the best option if your current office doesn’t align with your future needs.

If you think your office space could be refreshed to inspire your team to be the best they can be and improve business performance, why not get in touch? We deliver projects for companies of all sizes and provide a complete range of office design and refurbishment services, from small furniture-only projects to complete redesigns and builds.