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A strategic design approach to corporate fit-outs

Real Estate Weekly, August 4, 2004 by Joan Blumenfeld, George Alexander

In today's real estate marketplace, office space users demand flexible space to accommodate their dynamic organizations.

Providing designs to accommodate that need, especially with large-scale corporate fit-outs, has never been easy.

But a new design method developed by Swanke Hayden Connell Architects (SHCA) has proven to be an effective means to minimize costly contractor change orders during construction, while providing additional flexibility well into the future.

In the traditional approach, the architect identifies the client's requirements, develops design standards for all the elements of the office, and provides detailed drawings showing final locations and arrangement.

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This is all typically done a year or more in advance of the client's move-in date on a small project and up to three or four years ahead of the move-in date on a large project.

Unfortunately, this methodology is not well suited to designing interior fit-outs for large dynamic companies, which often must defer final decisions about workspace layouts until shortly before move-in due to the effects of changing markets and related staffing issues.

Preparing final workspace layouts earlier in the process than is practical typically results in costly changes to the plans later.

A Universal Floorplan and a Strategic Program

By contrast, a strategic design approach can be employed that delays detailed design decisions until a short period of time before move-in. In this alternate approach, designers develop a strategic program based on the following information: headcounts by department, workplace standards (i.e., numbers of offices and workstations) and the mix of those standards throughout the entire occupancy.

From that, a universal floor plan is created for the entire occupancy along with a building stack which shows the locations of each department.

These plans allow adequate space for the headcounts with an average mix of workplace standards, providing for maximum flexibility as the move-in date approaches.

Technical areas, including pantries, filing and copy rooms, mechanical, electrical and information technology closets, are located vertically within the stack of floors adjacent to the building cores to maximize efficiency.

The reflected ceiling plan is designed in zones to accommodate later decisions with respect to the location of particular workspaces and furniture. Moreover, horizontal distribution of HVAC, power and telecommunications services is designed in a grid under a raised floor system.

This design approach allows complete flexibility in location of offices, workstations and furniture.

Out for Bid

At the same time, mechanical and architectural standards are established for common technical areas, both for the universal plan and for special spaces such as data centers, conference centers, lan rooms and pantries, etc..

Contract documents and specifications are developed for these areas supported by prototypical layouts and reflected ceiling plans for the "people" spaces (the universal plans), which confirm location and basic quantities by utilizing the strategic program.

Once approved, these documents are sent out for bid with the understanding that adjustments will be made when the contractor is given detailed designs as each floor is about to undergo construction.

Working with the sequence of construction, approximately 20 weeks before construction is due to begin on a particular floor, designers begin detailed programming for the departments located there.

Based on the final program, they complete a floor plan with the exact mix of workplace standards and furniture locations, adjust the construction plans and bid, and complete furniture purchase orders.

Advantages to Clients

This strategic design approach ...

* enables the design team to move the project forward while removing the pressure from clients to make final decisions before it is practical to do so

* minimizes revisions to drawings and contract documents

* enables early procurement of long-lead items

* realizes substantial savings through economical bulk purchase of design standards

* minimizes costly contractor change-orders

In addition, it allows an organization complete flexibility in the future to change the layout of a given floor This approach is invaluable for organizations that require phased construction due to project size and those that experience a great deal of change over time.

SHCA has successfully implemented this strategic design approach, in whole or in part, in the United States for clients such as Reuters and Fidelity, and in the United Kingdom for Merrill Lynch, Lehman Bros. and Goldmann Sachs.

It is a process that has proven highly successful in meeting the needs of these financial institutions and other similarly dynamic organizations.

Business Services Industry

A strategic design approach to corporate fit-outs

Real Estate Weekly, August 4, 2004 by Joan Blumenfeld, George Alexander

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