by Peter Selnar
Doing business in the 1990s has become synonymous with adapting to change, and nowhere is this reflected more than in the workplace. Technological advances and organizational changes have spawned new concepts such as teleworking (working away from the office and communicating by phone and modem), hotelling (sharing office space with others and booking it in advance when you need it) and teaming (working on teams to complete tasks as opposed to the traditional, more hierarchical organization).
As a result, landlords, tenants, property managers and realtors are faced with a continually shifting set of parameters regarding office space and are having to come up with new solutions to meet these changing needs. Here are some of the trends they've been seeing.
Office spaces are generally smaller. Until recently, the average area per employee was 200 to 250 square feet, a number which included meeting rooms, storage areas and coffee rooms. These days, however, the average is closer to between 150 and 200 square feet, with the standard, 125 square-foot private office being quickly replaced with offices as small as 65 square feet.
Open officing planning (as opposed to having a number of individual , enclosed offices) is gaining popularity. This trend seems to be in response to tenant requirements for flexibility and for minimizing time frames and costs for tenant improvements. Manufacturers have picked up on these new designs as well, and are developing systems furniture that is lighter in weight and easier to configure.
Smaller office sizes and an increased use of open office environments means that more areas are now needed for meetings. This scenario has given rise to the need for "encountering" spaces, which can accommodate the casual meetings that take place regularly in an office. In response to this growing demand, many landlords have also created common meeting facilities as a value-added benefit for their tenants.
Environmental concerns associated with office buildings are also being raised with more frequency, the most significant of which is the phasing out of CFC refrigerants in mechanical systems.
And fewer tenants want expensive finishes such as wood paneling, vinyl wall-coverings and drywall ceilings. The mandate today is to do more with less.
Now that we've looked at the present scenario, here are a few of my predictions for what we'll see in office space in the near future:
Peter Selnar is the President of Officeworks, a Vancouver, B.C. firm specializing in office planning, interior design and construction management of office interiors.
CONTACT:
Peter Selnar
Officeworks
Phone: (604) 688-5757
Fax: (604) 688-5760
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