• How much office space do I need?
• Is it right for my organisation?
• Should we consult our staff?
• Reflecting your culture
• Does it work?
• BLOG

How much office space do I need?

Given the annual cost of office space is now £500/m2 in London and £280/m2 in Manchester, investing a small amount of time and money to establish your space budget will quickly pay back in the form of reduced overheads and overall financial performance

A rule of thumb calculation often quoted by clients is 10m2 NIA (Net Internal Area) per person, which in the days of 100% occupation (everybody has their own desk) would be correct. This includes space for meetings, filing, reception, staff refreshment and so on.

However, current economic reality, increase in the use of technology and the changing nature of office work have made this calculation rather out of touch with reality.

Key drivers to determine a more accurate calculation are:

• The proportion of your teams who could work flexibly
• The nature of the tasks being performed
• Size of existing workstation furniture (if being retained)
• Volume of filing
• Requirement for offices & meeting rooms
• Need for informal work settings for communication/ networking
• Staff facilities such as refreshment, break out etc.
• Required ambience (quiet through to trading floor)
• Space efficiency of proposed office floor plate

Benchmarking against current best practice is a great way to focus on these key issues and start the process of calculating the space you need.

We are happy to talk through your requirements, provide initial guidance together with an objective assessment of how and where we can add value.