Personal space may start to become an uncomfortable issue in some workplaces amid the city’s ongoing office market squeeze.
Personal space may start to become an uncomfortable issue in some workplaces amid the city’s ongoing office market squeeze.
In a commercial sense, the amount of space per person in office’s across the CBD is falling, presenting interior design professionals with the challenge of how to accommodate a growing workforce within existing space.
Marshall Kusinski Design Consultants director, Kathy Kusinski, told WA Business News she had noticed a marked increase in the number of Perth clients seeking refurbishment and requesting a decrease in employee space ratios.
“In a normal market, the traditional ratios would be 18 square metres per person, but now it’s anything between 16sq m and 13sq m, depending on the type of business,” Ms Kusinski said.
Of her recent clients, the Department of Education and Train-ing required a ratio of 13sq m/person within its 4,800sq m of office space.
The design consultants achieved this through designing radial work stations, where lines of desks are drawn from a central point within the office.
Other space-saving methods becoming more common relate to storage and the adoption of electronic document imaging and archival retrieval systems.
Ms Kusinski said corporate clients were also considering off-site storage for paper-logged offices.
Woodhead interior design regional principal Jacqui Preshaw said companies were trying to reduce employee space ratios.
“The general approach is to go as small as possible, resulting in the design of open-plan work stations and changes to storage methods,” she said.
Blake Thornton-Smith interior design principal Ben Blake said client Woodside had managed to fit 500 additional staff within its 33,000sq m office by reducing the space per employee from 17 to 14sq m.
“Three years ago they looked into what their future space needs would be and chose to pioneer their own L-shaped rectangular detachable desks in an open layout to increase the density of floor space,” Mr Blake said.
Schiavello furniture design state manager Rod Hewson told WA Business News the Woodside furniture design was radical and an original for his company, but the design had since taken off and was being used in other fit-outs.
Through his work he had noticed more variations in the shape of desks, but said designs were often subject to fads, such as the 120 degree cluster or the clover pod.
Property Council of Australia WA senior policy adviser, Lino Iacomella, said employee space was decreasing in response to the tight office market, from an average of 18sq m/person in 2004, to an estimate of 14sq m currently.
Employees are not only subject to shrinking work spaces but a change in office culture, which interior designers say is significantly influencing office layouts.
Mr Blake said the idea of an executive floor with a secretary standing guard out front was becoming outdated, with some senior executives now comfortable to be seen in the work environment to the point they were moving into general workspaces.
Ms Preshaw said more clients were requesting executives be included in open-plan designs.
One such client with 70 employees in Perth had requested its chief executive be moved onto the general floor among staff, apparently reflecting a more progressive culture and a wish to lead by example.
Mr Blake said technology would be the biggest driver in commercial interior design, with many clients already choosing to go wireless and using laptop computers.
