Office Space

Rebecca

When considering the amount of office space required, you need to look at the tasks that are being performed, the degree of both individual and co-operative working and access to and from the workstations (with due regard to the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act 2005).

The Approved Code of Practice associated with the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 suggests that each employee (in an office environment) should have at least 11 cubic metres (up to a maximum ceiling height of 3 metres). This figure, however, is for unoccupied space and so does not take into account the furniture and equipment. While the minimum space requirements recommended for health and safety equates to 4.2m2, the traditional amount of space allocated by architects and planners is 10m2. However this figure includes a proportion of the general circulation space. The British Council for Offices suggests a best practice range of between 12 ? 17m2 per person.

You will need to make sure you leave sufficient space between desks to allow for safe access and egress especially in the event of emergencies. There are no legal minimum widths specified in legislation (for example the DDA or Fire Regulations) covering gangway widths, although BS5588 - 11:1997 suggests a gap of 600mm for less than ten people easily able to move, and 900 for a wheelchair user.

In terms of what would be regarded as best practice I spoke to Ian Selby, Research and Policy Director at the British Council for Offices, who told me the minimum recommended width for walkways in an open-plan office is around 1,000mm, although office fit-out companies typically use 1,200mm - 1,500mm as this is the usual building/planning grid used by designers.

It will however depend on what goes on in your particular building. 1200mm seems to be accepted as the minimum to allow filing trolleys, access to photocopiers, and receiving deliveries etc to be manageable.

Narrow walkways can cause an access problem regarding disabled access, especially where walkways meet, or at corners etc. so even if your office is not publicly accessible by the general public you should make reasonable adjustments to accommodate any disabled staff you currently (or might in the future) employ.

You also need to bear in mind that walkways will also be escape routes and therefore need to be considered as part of your fire risk assessment of your premises. The standard width of exit doors onto the stairs or other means of escape results in most circulation routes is a minimum of 1200.

How you actually fit people into spaces will depend upon the shape of your particular building and how you apply organisational space standards. A space standard is the amount of space allocated to each employee taking into account the desk, chair, local storage and immediate access to the workstation. This can be used as the minimum allocation per person, but standards to vary greatly between organisations, the most common being:

- Single standard or universal footprint where all staff have the same furniture or space allocation. Makes planning simple, but only the most non-hierarchical companies carry the principle through to the most senior people in organisations

- Space by seniority is the most common form, where space is allocated by management level, e.g. support staff receive 5m2, middle managers receive 7m2 and senior management receive 10m2.

- Space by need is based on the job needs rather than the seniority of the job holder. Those requiring large amounts of personal storage are allotted more room and those whose work is confidential or highly sensitive are allocated cellular offices rather than open plan areas.

I hope this information gives you some guidance for your office expansion plans.

Its not just about the amount of desks you can fit. Layout, office space per person, lighting, fire escapes, access and egress routes, space planning, welfare facilities, disability considerations etc etc

Read the ACOP Workplace (health, safety and welfare) Regulations to begin with.

We are about to enter into a period of rapid expansion - is there any legislation which states how much physical office space is required per person - or is it just a case of how many desks we can fit in the space that we have? Do we need to leave gang ways of a particular width?