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How To Design A Happy Office

A lot goes into designing an office space. There’s choosing the right fixtures and fittings, working to often tight budgets and of course making sure that all your employees are reasonably happy. The latter is possibly one of the bigger challenges.

Designing the perfect office doesn’t have to hurt. It is easy to design a space for you and your employees that not only looks good but also promotes productivity and happiness.

Designing a happy office is as much about art as it is science. The science comes in with things like measuring the space you have accurately and finding places to install equipment. The rest is largely down to art.

In the 1980s it was all about Feng Shui but now it’s more about the natural arrangement of your office. Many business owners actually fail with their office design because they focus too much on the artistic or practical side and don’t allow for the natural day to day elements that go into creating the ideal office environment.

Open space is vital and allowing natural light in will create a much happier workplace than one that feels more like a prison. Colour choice is also important.

If for example you want to impress clients with contemporary youthful energy then bright coloured furniture against a neutral white background can work well. It may also stimulate staff and give a boost to energy levels which is unlikely to be achieved in a dull grey office with vertical blinds hiding any light.

The thing to remember is that we spend the majority of our time sitting behind computers in the office and this can bring its own stresses. Investing in happy office design has the potential to pay off with happy more productive staff.

5 Advantages of a suspended Ceiling

March 16, 2015 / admin / 0 Comments

Adding a suspended ceiling to your office space is a simple and cost-effective solution to a number of common workspace issues. Suspended ceilings can;

1. Reduce noise levels – installing a suspended ceiling in your office can facilitate office acoustics. They absorb sound levels so that surrounding rooms will not be affected as much by noise from individual offices.
2. Assist in humid rooms such as kitchens and toilets to avoid mould build-up
3. Help to meet Fire-safety standards. Suspended Ceilings provided by Millennium Si are fire-retardant and meet the required industry standards.
4. Reduce your Carbon Footprint – Suspended Ceilings can help to lower fuel bills by providing extra insulation and by also brightening up rooms so that less lighting is required.
5. Add style and texture to your workplace – Suspended Ceilings come in a variety of colours and finishes so they can really add to the design and look of your office space.

Of course this list is not exhaustive and suspended ceilings can provide a lot more advantages as an addition to your office. For a full consultation please call one of our offices. Millennium Si are based in Manchester but we have offices all over the country. Just choose the one most convenient to you and call the corresponding number below;

London – 0203 4780 993
Birmingham – 0121 450 9162
Manchester – 0161 300 6737
Glasgow – 0141 250 7354

Interior Design for your Office

March 5, 2015 / admin / 0 Comments

Designing your office space is an important and often overlooked task. The layout, acoustics and design of your office can have a profound effect on productivity, motivation and workplace atmosphere.

That is why it is so important to get it right and hiring a professional office interiors service can be so advantageous. Any professional, experienced interior design and storage solution company will take all of the following factors into consideration when designing your office space;

1. Design vs Fit – we appreciate that you may want an amazing looking workspace, something inspiring and unique to impress your clients. But don’t forget that the space needs to be practical and work with your everyday business, not impact upon it negatively. That is why it is so important to get the perfect balance. Taking a full brief that takes into account your need for communal spaces, creative spaces and workstations is a vital part of the whole design process.
2. Light it up! – Remember the days of strip-lighting that flickered and buzzed constantly driving you to distraction? Can you imagine the negative impact that sort of artificial lighting can have on your productivity? Pay special attention to how your office space is illuminated, ensuring that you get as much natural light as possible into your office. If this isn’t possible, our office interior specialists will always find the best possible lighting solution for your office space.
3. Inspiration – white walls, uniform desks and cluttered workspaces can suck the productivity out of any office. Consider brightening things up by adding colour. Or maybe just creating communal spaces for people to talk and interact in a less formal setting will inspire creative thinking and positive outcomes.
4. Air-flow – give a lot of consideration to the fresh ait flow in your office space. Air conditioning is great if used properly, but don’t forget those people who are sat directly underneath the ducts, or those stuck in hot corners. Adjust your air conditioning according to the seasons and the layout of your office.
5. Outside in! – You would be amazed at how much difference a few plants can make to any office. Low-maintenance, leafy green plants can help to cleanse the air and raise spirits in an otherwise industrial workspace.

This list is by no means exhaustive. Office design is a specialist service that requires a lot of different input and careful planning. It should not be taken lightly, but neither should it cause unnecessary stress.

Millennium Si provide the perfect Interior Solution service that will fit requirements, tastes, brands and budgets. Call us today on 01942 603 344 for a quote.

How To Plan Office Partitioning

February 21, 2015 / admin / 0 Comments

Business operations are getting increasingly smaller as computers remove most of the administration department which once dealt with data inputting and other menial tasks.

With the number of staff needed by companies, the need for large office spaces is steadily shrinking. This leaves a problem for large commercial property owners who are left trying to hunt around for tenants willing to rent and pay the high fees that go along with it.

The solution to this problem is often partitioning the space to accommodate smaller businesses who will find smaller units more affordable.

That said planning to partition an office may not be easy. You will need to ensure that the partitionsare being put in the right place and that create environments people will want to work in. Not only will this mean considering the amount of natural light and access points but also levels of ambient noise.

To ensure that your office partitions are installed in correctly ensure that each space has a window where possible. If the office doesn’t include carpets then it may be a good idea to fit them and add soft furnishings where possible to help absorb noise. There are various materials to choose from in your partitioning, but it is probably worth choosing those that absorb noise rather than going for cheaper options. It is worth paying the extra in the long term to make sure your business tenants are happy.

What Does Your Office Design Say About Your Company?

February 20, 2015 / admin / 0 Comments

The way an office is presented can say a lot about a business which is why keeping the space clean and tidy is a must if you expect to be welcoming new clients.

Businesses can spend large amounts of money developing a corporate image only to have it brought down by a poorly presented office that creates the wrong impression.

To avoid this it is important to pay attention to how much your current office reflects the corporate identity you are trying to create. Paying attention to this important area can even help you impress and win more clients.

How you present your office will be unique to your company. The needs of a tech or digital company will be different from those of a more formal public sector office. The former will probably be aiming for a more relaxed environment rather than one that is too corporate.

Clients will expect a digital company office to be as contemporary as the websites it creates. A public sector office meanwhile might wish to project a more formal image to show that public money isn’t being spent on expensive colourful furniture! If you are set to be welcoming clients into your office soon, then remember to use those first few minutes to create a good impression of your company because those first impressions last.

Google Creates Offices Inspired By Nature

January 17, 2015 / admin / 0 Comments

Office furniture may not be high on the agenda for whoever is responsible at Google for creating workspaces for happy productive employees but wallpaper and light is according to recent news released by the search giant.

If you walk around a Google office today, you will find the usual coders and play areas but you might also notice light meters hanging from their necks as they go about their daily work. This is because the environmental team at Google thinks that natural light is a very important part of keeping the workforce happy and more importantly for this ambitious firm – productive.

Google is one of the more famous companies experimenting with biophilic design or the subtle changes that can make an office space seem more natural. Having a more natural space to work in while you sit at your office desk is said to better for you psychologically because it helps to reduce stress.

With this in mind Google has added extra skylights, and even solar tubes in its conference rooms to brighten things up. Employees of Google are reported to be more deeply focused on their work and more creative as well as productive.

What Makes Employees Happy With Their Office Interior Design?

January 15, 2015 / admin / 0 Comments

It is often the case that office design is firmly at the back of employers’ minds. A desk, chair and acomputer are provided and that is often it.

What surrounds workers are often bare walls, blinds placed across windows to hide the sun and a ban on music just in case it doesn’t suit the tastes of the majority.

Studies have found that far from keeping workers focused, bare quiet offices are likely to result in reduced productivity and a moody workforce. So when it comes to office interior design it may be wise to at least consult workers on how they want the place where they spend most of their waking lives to look.

The new buzzword in office design is ‘biophilic’ design or the architecture of life. In other words workers want to see more of nature so that they can feel at home.

The survey of 3,600 office workers by Human Spaces found that the five things staff most wanted in their office interior design were Natural light (42%) Quiet work spaces (22%) A view of the sea (20%) Live indoor plants (18%) Bright and natural colours (15%).

So letting in natural light should be the number one priority followed by peace and quiet as anyone who has the misfortune to work next to a noisy co-worker will testify. A view of the sea may be a little tricky to achieve for most business owners but a potential solution is artwork or bringing focusing office interior design on more natural shapes and colours.

Are Open-Plan Offices Bad For Your Health?

November 2, 2014 / admin / 0 Comments

Open plan offices may soon go out of fashion if recent surveys of office conditions prove to be accurate in their findings that the vast majority of office workers are dissatisfied with their workspace.

Open-plan has been the layout of choice for most large office with company culture geared towards collaborative work environments. The ability to work as part of a team is seen as an important skill in the workplace and employers have embraced the idea of staff working closely together.

But with 85% of people dissatisfied with their work space according to a survey from Ipsos it may be time to rethink office design so that it provides a better balance between working together and having some private space.

The survey which involved interviewing 10,000 workers across 14 countries showed that office workers lose 86 minutes a day due to colleagues distracting them, which can leave some unmotivated, stressed and with little capacity to work creatively.

Another survey showed that just 6% of office workers thought it was healthy to work in an open plan office environment. Working in an open plan office can result in more time off sick than working from home due to viruses spreading around work surfaces or stress.

A potential solution is to allow staff days where they can work from home to create a better balance however this may not always be possible depending on the industry.

Obese Staff May Soon Be Entitled To Heavy Duty Office Furniture

October 31, 2014 / admin / 0 Comments

While the EU mulls over whether or not to class obesity as a disability, there is the possibility business owners may be forced to provide office furniture suitable for obese employees.

As the law stands obesity is not seen as a disability, however a case involving a 25-stone worker from Denmark at the European Court of Justice may change everything if a ruling is made against his employer then this will set an important precedent.

Employers would be forced to invest in heavy duty office furniture that is designed to take the extra weight rather than opt for standard office furniture, which may not be up to the job.

The Danish child minder disputes his employer’s claim that he was dismissed due to poor performance and claims that it was because of his weight and the extra cost of providing heavy duty furniture.

Employers have a responsibility to provide to make offices safe and comfortable for disabled employees and this may include those who are obese if the Danish employee wins the case or risk being accused of discrimination.

Office furniture makers have reported an increase in orders for reinforced office chairs in recent years. According to The Overseas Development Institute an estimated 64% of Britons are overweight or obese.

The Secret To Good Office Design

October 27, 2014 / admin / 0 Comments

Google is perhaps the first company that springs to mind when thoughts turn to progressive office design. Installing crazy golf course, pool tables and relaxation pods may not be every business owner’s idea of keeping staff happy.

Psychologically, these kinds of workspaces may actually increase productivity if staff are happier – at least that’s what the likes of Google and other creative employers think. But really creating a well-designed office space requires a lot less than you think.

Building in too many distractions into the workplace may actually hinder rather than help the creative process if staff spend too much time at play or things to play with are too close to hand. Research from scientists backs up the idea that workplaces also need structure and fluidity to function properly.

What works for Google’s army of programmers may not work for the average office.

One of the key things is to provide you employees with enough natural light and personal space. Open plan offices, for so long the accepted layout has been found to increase stress and reduce productivity.

Creating areas where employees can collaborate and even break rooms that offer some form of escape could help transform the workplace into an area people will want to spend time in. Colours too play their part. Various combinations of colours can help influence moods.

Orange and yellow for example are known to stimulate a sense of fun and happiness while blue sets a mood of tranquillity.