Spaceist has listed below a few office space planning guidelines for 2023. These are just a few guidelines to start you off with the process of designing an office spaces from scratch.
Details include measuring the office space and making a note of room features like doors, windows and pillars. The basics of drawing a space plan include arranging the office desks with workplace technology and storage efficiently.
Measure your office space accurately, including any doors, windows, office partitions, fire exits and pillars. It is very important this is done correctly because it will be too late once the office furniture arrives and it does not fit. Use a laser measure if possible, it is very accurate over long distances and easy to use.
To design the best working environment note down all the doors, windows, pillars and any other features that need to be included in the plan. Check the measurements twice to make sure the workplace design is correct.
Add all the measurements for your collaborative spaces to a simple program like PowerPoint. It is a very quick way to get a basic 2D plan of the office space. If you don’t know how to use this just use a pencil, paper and ruler. When using the ruler just convert 1 cm to 100 cm in scale this will keep everything acuate in your office design.
The simplest way is to get the basic plan printed on an A2 or A1 piece of paper. Depending on how many people the office is for cut out some other pieces to match the size of the desks and office storage. These can then be moved around the workplace design easily and accurately. Always double-check the sizes including hot desks and meeting rooms before you make the final decision.
There are several layout software programs available online to design your working environment. The most advanced is AutoCAD down to very basic room planning software. If this sounds too difficult just use pencil paper and a ruler and some employee engagement for a quick solution.
For safety compliance, you need to leave approx 100 cm between the desk edge and the back of the user’s operator chair. This allows enough room to move around, stand up, sit and provide agile working. When the chairs are back to back the gap does not change it should be 200 cm between the desk edges. For more detailed information please read our minimum office desk distance requirements guide.
See our minimum desk size guide. when designing a new office space the minimum desk size for anyone is 120 cm wide x 80 cm deep. For managers and accounts, the size should go up to 160-180 cm wide
See our what size meeting table guide. When considering your office space design you need to leave a minimum of 80 cm of space per person at a meeting table.
Office space planning is a process of calculating the number of people you need to seat with the amount of space you have. This is an important process in the office space design process and if done properly will create an inviting place for clients and a nice place to work. See our free guide on the minimum desk size to help you achieve the best end result.
