Workplace Concepts appointed by international electronics Corporation to project manage the refurbishment and relocation of their European office to 33,800 ft2 in Farnborough, Hampshire. The appointment includes the design and project management of their research and development facilities and office space.

Workplace Concepts successfully completes the project management and design of a large data centre facility (8,500 ft2) and supporting offices in the centre of Maidenhead, Berkshire for a leading International seminar organisers and trainers.

Workplace Concepts has been appointed for the Design & Project management of Hyundai Securities (Europe) Limited UK headquarters offices in the City of London. The Client is taking the second floor of Micheal’s House, 10-12 Alie Street, London, E1.

Workplace Concepts is delighted to announce the launch of its new website, which has been designed to improve navigation and to provide visitors with more information about our professional services. The new site includes lots of additional useful information to assist Clients in making informed decisions.

We hope you like the changes we have made and find visiting our website both enjoyable and informative.

Workplace Concepts has been appointed for the Design & Project management of a luxury residential refurbishment project to a Grade II listed building in the exclusive area of Belgravia, London. The building is over five levels and requires an extensive amount of refurbishment work to meet the Client’s requirements. Careful consideration will be afforded to every detail to ensure the period features are not compromised.

A critical element of this project will require the installation of a new structural steelwork frame, to support all floor levels and the roof. The project is scheduled for completion during spring 2010.

The aim of this article is to explain the importance of developing your requirements before even considering appointing a Contractor to undertake the works and also looks at some of the tools that are used to gain a thorough understanding of your requirements.

You may be a board director or a senior manager and you have been tasked with the job of arranging the refurbishment or fitting out of a commercial office on behalf of your employer. You have been provided with an overall project budget and time frame when the works are to be completed. This task may appear a very daunting challenge given the possible pitfalls ahead.

The skill set required to undertake medium to large projects is very specific to this business sector. Just as you would refer to a solicitor for legal advice, you need to appoint a professional firm of project managers, such as Workplace Concepts Ltd, who would manage all aspects of the project on your behalf.

There are lots of important considerations and decisions to be made during the time line of your office refurbishment or fitting out project, some of which you may have knowledge of and others you most probably have never even considered due to their technical nature, such as building services. All major decisions can have a financial and non-financial impact on the performance of your business. So it is really important to afford sufficient time to understand what options are available so that you can begin to develop a clearer understanding of your requirements.

It is fair to state that one of the most common reasons for Contract disputes between Clients and Contractors is a direct result of either party not understanding what is required or what is going to be provided. Unfortunately, these types of disputes happen far too often within the industry and can prove very costly and time consuming for both parties. It is particularly disturbing when disputes of this nature do happen, because they should simply not occur in the first instance if your Employer’s Requirements have been fully set out before a Contractor is appointed.

When the decision has been made as to whether your are going to refurbish your offices or fit out new office space, it is then the right time to contact Workplace Concepts Ltd, who will add value to your forthcoming project. This is achieved by working closely alongside you and your colleagues in developing your requirements or referred to within the industry as the “Employer’s Requirements”.

The purpose of the Employer’s Requirements document is to set out precisely your requirements to facilitate Contractors to price the works accurately. Whilst at the same time removing any risk of unforeseen costs for elements of work that have not been accounted. The size of the project and the complexity of your business requirements will be the driving factor as to what your Employer’s Requirements should contain.

The Employer’s Requirements document is developed for individual projects, but would typically incorporate the following pre contract information. Once completed these documents would form the basis of the Contract between the Employer and the Contractor.

Employer’s Requirements:

• Project overview
• Pre acquisition or survey reports forming part of the building due diligence
• Building appraisal report • Proposed form of Building Contract and completed appendices
• Contract specific Terms & Conditions
• Proposed tender and construction programme
• Detailed scope of works, which would include:

1. Requirements for the works to comply with statutory requirements
2. Health & Safety compliance o Acoustic requirements
3. Mechanical & Electrical performance specification
4. Voice & data requirements
5. Audio visual specification
6. Wall and floor finishes schedules
7. Furniture specification and space standards

• Proposed drawing package
• Concept and detailed design proposals
• Form of tender

Too often the importance of Building Services are overlooked by Clients as these works are concealed from view within ceiling and floor voids and can represent as much as 55% of the contract value. This percentage could even be higher in business sectors that require specialist services installation such as Laboratories.

Project Champion
It is important from the start of your project that a senior member of staff within your company is appointed as project champion. Their role will be to appoint the professional team and have authorisation to issue both financial and non-financial instructions. They will also be responsible for identifying key personal that would form an essential part of the work groups. The project champion must have a thorough understanding of your business and the requirements of the project.

Work Groups
Work groups are normally identified by department, discipline or business sectors. Work groups are an effective medium to communicate the business objectives to your staff and for attaining buy in from employees during the process. Where it is applicable work groups should be provided with set objectives, which are measurable and time specific.

Work groups should be a good cross section of the department/discipline and should be kept to a minimum number of staff to ensure productivity. The aim of the work groups is to find ways of improving your business performance by creating a working office environment that will meet the business objectives. The outcome of the working groups would then form an integral part of your Employer’s Requirements.

This method of communication can be extremely effective if your business is wishing to implement new ways of working in an effort to improve efficiency across the business.

Room Data Sheets
If your business has several different departments and facilities, which have a high dependency on Building Services, the use of room data sheets is a very effective means of collating your requirements by either room or department. The completed data sheets will record both current and future facilities and would from an integral part of your Employer’s Requirements.

New Ways of Working
When contemplating your forthcoming refurbishment or fitting out project, it is an ideal opportunity to give careful consideration to the various options for new ways of working that are available. These options could reduce your requirement for office space, which could result in reducing annual operating costs. Once all options have been duly considered and a conclusion reached, the findings should be embraced within your Employer’s Requirements.

Communications
Effective communication to your staff and customers is an essential part of achieving a successful conclusion to your project. The participation and contribution from employees will play an important part in the development of your Employer’s Requirements. However it must not be overlooked that the outcome of the consultation period with the work groups is communicated at the appropriate stages. As a result of adopting this process you will have a much greater chance of ensuring your Employer’s Requirements fully embrace the requirements of the business and your employee’s.

Conclusion
A great deal of emphasis must be placed on the importance of developing your Employer’s Requirements, as the success of your project will be reliant on its ability to communicate your requirements to the contractor. Well-prepared Employer’s Requirements will result in tender returns being competitively priced, because contractors have not had to price for risk and items of works not properly specified.

Whether you are a Landlord or a tenant and are considering either refurbishing or fitting out commercial offices to meet your business requirements for now and in the future, the investment associated with either buying the freehold or leasehold of a commercial property is substantial. It is therefore vitally important to ensure you procure the right building that meets your business needs.

A building appraisal should not be confused with a building survey, as they both cover very different aspects of the building. A building survey inspects the structural envelope of the building which includes the structural walls, floors and roof, with the aim of identifying any defects. This is normally done by way of a visual inspection only and does not require the opening up of floor and ceiling voids. So in other words the building survey is specific to the building structure.

However the aim of a building appraisal is to look at the available internal office space and environment and carefully consider whether the building will meet your business requirements for now and in the future. You may have decided already on the right geographic area for your new office based upon the demographics of your staff and you have shortlisted two or three buildings based upon your site visits.

The aim of the building appraisal is to identify the advantages and disadvantages with each building and to assist you in making an informed decision as to which office building is going to accommodate your requirements best. The building appraisal would typical consider the following key elements:-

1. Measure the efficiency of the building footprints in terms of good useable office space.
2. Consider the suitability of floor and ceiling voids and whether open plan space is interrupted by structural columns and walls.
3. Identify building limitations and shortfalls
4. Cost of fitting whether it is an office refurbishment or fitting out project.
5. Summary of the total project cost which should include building purchase price or asking rent, service charge and rates. This is then expressed as a cost per Ft2 and M2.
6. Is the building likely to contain hazardous materials that need to be taken account of in the overall project refurbishment cost.
7. A programme of works setting out how long it will take to carry out and complete the proposed scope of works.
8. What additional works would be required to the building to make it compliant with the current Disability & Discrimination Act?
9. Visual inspection of the building services taking into consideration the suitability of installed systems, the remaining useful life expectancy of the central plant and cost associated with adding or altering as required.
10. What works need to be done to the existing building services to make them compliant with statutory requirements?
11. Will the building utilities meet the demand of your business requirements?
12. What is the likely variance in running costs of the building services between the office building options?
13. Is there sufficient provision of male and female toilets to serve the total number of employees?
14. Provision for car parking for both visitors and employees.

Aesthetically one building may look similar to another, however don’t be deceived that the cost to either refurbish or fit out will be the same. A very important cost factor to any office project is the mechanical and electrical services. With various mechanical systems being installed in office buildings it should be noted that they all provide different environment conditions and levels of flexibility to suit either open plan or cellular office space.

Typically as much as 40% of the total cost to refurbish or fit out your office space could be spent on the mechanical and electrical services which are concealed in the ceiling and floor voids. Depending on the extent of cellular space you wish to create for new offices, meeting rooms etc could see this percentage increase.

The cost of carrying out a building appraisal is minimal compared to procuring office space that either does not match your requirements or hides substantial unforeseen building costs. In summary a building appraisal document is essential to assist you in making the right decision when considering your refurbishment or fitting out project which should not be overlooked by Tenants or Landlords.

If you require more information as to how we can help you with a building appraisal please complete our enquiry form and send it to info@workplaceconcepts.co.uk or telephone 01252 – 653454.

Workplace Concepts is appointed to provide professional services to assist in the refurbishment of Compass House at Heathrow, which will be occupied by BAA during the summer 2009. The site consists of three buildings linked together over the ground, first and second floors and provides approximately 9,292m2 (100,000 ft2) of office space.

As the recession takes a tighter hold of the UK economy companies are looking at how they can reduce their operating costs. Workplace Concepts works closely with its Clients to show how substantial cost savings can be found in businesses today. Business overheads can be broken down into two main categories, those being people and property costs.

Workplace Concepts is experienced at carrying out workplace appraisals to assess if Clients are utilising their office space efficiently. Whether you own the freehold or lease your office space, the cost of office space per square foot is normally the second largest overhead cost to a business.

A workplace appraisal will record your current space standards and access these against your business needs for now and in the near future, whilst giving careful consideration to alternative workstations solutions and space standards. The aim of the workplace appraisal is to reduce running costs, whilst creating a better working environment for your staff.

If you require more information as to how we can help you enhance your business performance please complete our enquiry form and send it to info@workplaceconcepts.co.uk or telephone 01252 – 653454.

Workplace Concepts has successfully completed the design and project management of the refurbishment of the 13th 14th and 15th floors of Orion House, 5 Upper St Martin’s Lane, London, WC2 on behalf of Marathon Asset Management (services) Ltd. This was a major refurbishment project in a multi let building. All floors were stripped back to the building shell and totally refurbished to meet the Clients requirements, which includes new mechanical & electrical service.