Common fit-out concerns
A few common workplace fit-out concerns we’ve come across that may help you in your next workplace refurbishment. If you have any additional questions, please get in touch.
Knowing how much space you need is quite important for when you start your office premises search. In general, you can work this out by a head count of roughly 150 sqft per person. But the best way to determine the amount of space needed is to get a specialist design & build company to put together an indicative space plan based on your wish list for a preferred building.
Depending on the way your business operates will certainly impact on your office design and space needed. Consider some of the following questions:
How much space do you have now?
How often are some of your spaces utilised? This is a great question! For instance, do you have boardrooms and meeting rooms that are empty more than they are occupied in the month?
How often are people in the office? A good exercise before considering moving or refurbishing is to research your current ways of working.
Do you need permanent workstations per person, or is shared/hotdesking a possibility?
Storage can take up a fair amount of sqft.. could this be downsized? Or do you need more?
Where do you see yourself in 5 years’ time?
Will you need expansion space?
Putting a price on an office refurbishment, refresh or relocation can depend on a huge variety of variables making it difficult to accurately fix a budget due to the individuality of every business and their chosen office environments.
The best way to determine your budgets is to get a couple of fit-out contractor to prepare budget costs and a quotation based on your ‘Wish’ list, then go from there.
But If you still just want a quick idea, in 2016 Cushman & Wakefield put together a London Occupier fit-our cost guide report. In this report based on companies in London, fit-out costs were on average £48 per sq ft for a low spend fit-out and reaching £129 per sq ft on average for a high spend fit-out. Again depending on your requirements, these can vary either way. You can view the report via the following URL: https://www.novexsolutions.co.uk/inspiration/top-tips-for-a-stress-free-office-move-or-refurbishment/
At Novex Solutions we’ve been successful in winning jobs for being competitively priced and are able to find solutions to fit most budgets.
YES! You don’t have to use cash or bank facilities to fund your furniture or fit-out project!
Instead of tying up large amounts of capital, an alternative could be to use a leased facility. Leasing is a tax efficient and cost-effective method of achieving your ideal workspace whilst retaining capital in your business.
Depending on project size and what is involved, a Typically a Design & Build Project can run from 5 – 22 weeks.
When choosing a contractor on paper you’ll need to consider:
- Experience
- Credit checks
- Due diligence, and insurances
- Visits to view previous projects
- Accreditations
- References
- Cost
However, in addition to the paperwork, once you embark on your office fit-out/refurbishment, communication will be key. So, it’s important you feel confident and comfortable with the person/company you’ll be dealing with. No point choosing the best candidate ‘on paper’ if you can’t get along with them, very much like a job interview.
Why Choose Novex?
It takes the right team of consultants, designers, and installers to deliver on our promise of helping facilities managers, department heads, and business owners/directors to get the most out of new or existing offices and workspaces.
Whether you are relocating, refurbishing, resizing or redecorating, we can help guide you through the whole process or just where you need us.
Every type of commercial and public organization wanting to carry out an internal fit-out, refurbishment will need to conform with Building Regulations.
The primary objective for Building Regulations is to protect the health & safety of your employees, by insuring works carried out comply with various access requirements, environmental requirements and so on.
The good news is that if you choose to carry your refurbishment works out with a design & build company, such as Novex Solutions, getting approval and relevant documentation will all be covered in the preliminaries section of the quotation.
Lease breaks are designed so businesses have the option to move if needed. You may have outgrown the space? or need to down size. Consider all the options available to you. And if moving isn’t ideal – consider a space audit of your current premises to see how you might be able to change the space to accommodate your employees in a more productive manner.
