What can a modern workplace do for an organisation?

As businesses focus on being cost effective and operationally efficient, getting the most out of their office space and those within it becomes crucial.
 

What is 'agile working'?

Using your property to enhance your business by getting the most out of the people in the office for the longest possible time.

The best agile environments offer a range of mixed work areas: traditional desks, soft seating areas, formal and informal meeting space, areas to concentrate and areas to collaborate.
 
The driving emphasis should be on encouraging people to move themselves to complete a task in a space that feels right, rather than staying tied to their allocated desk, all day, every day.
 

Sharing versus owning

By sharing workspace, rather than owning it, the number of people who can work in a typical office building increases by 25 – 40%. On average, only 53% of workstations are occupied at peak usage so business are paying for 47% of unused office space.
 
The mantra to be adopted by office occupiers of all sizes is 'fewer workstations and personal space, more workplaces and communal workspace'.
 

MAGIC NUMBERS

• 12 – sq m of workspace per person
• 1.3 – people per workstation
• 80 - % utilisation
Source: Barry Varcoe, past chair of CoreNet Global
 
Operating to these benchmarks will enable collaboration and communication between multiple teams through shared, flexible space and more open areas – a universal aim for businesses.
 
Creating the modern workplace inherently changes the culture of a business to be more open, collaborative, flexible and productive – staff retention and employee satisfaction are just two of the benefits to be had from providing the right combination of space tuned to the needs of employees. 
 

Case study - Tripadvisor relocation in Oxford

Lambert Smith Hampton advised Tripadvisor on the acquisition of its two new Oxford offices on Oxford Science Park – providing transactional advice, workplace consultancy and project management advice. 

The challenge

• Bringing together two business divisions, Holiday Lettings and T4B into one location in Oxford
• The target buildings provided large, open-plan floorplates offering flexibility and efficiency of use whilst building in plans for future growth

The Lambert Smith Hampton solution

• Full and in-depth market appraisal to identify likely opportunities 
• Negotiating a financially attractive lease deal on tenant friendly terms
• Undertaking workplace consultancy, due diligence surveys and agreeing dilapidation contribution from vendor's tenant
• Ensuring that the design of the space provided maximum efficiencies but also would encourage employee collaboration and motivation
• Procuring and managing tenant fit-out building contracts to deliver within agreed timescales to set cost and quality

Results achieved

• Lambert Smith Hampton was able to secure significant financial packages for Tripadvisor to off-set against the refurbishment and fitout works required to the building
• The end product is a modern office environment which not only looks fantastic, but also creates a productive working environment for a very modern business