Refurbish - the Active way

We strive to provide businesses with amazing office fit-out transformations, so we thought it was about time that we gave our home a face lift and ultimately make it a more effective workspace for the Active team. After all, we often spend more time at work than anywhere else, so it was imperative to make our employees feel at home and adequately supported in their roles.

Our overarching goal was to introduce the idea of working differently - to change habits for the better. We took the time to evaluate the effectiveness of processes and the current design landscape and from there we were able to focus on what is really important to us – our team. Planning a refurbishment is the perfect time to re-brand, change mundane routines and therefore improve morale and enhance productivity. Refurbishments are also a great tool to attract and retain the best talent. Our aim was to create a work space where our people can thrive.

The project took a total of four weeks to complete. We transformed a uninspiring space into an open-planned dynamic workplace. We built a mezzanine and created a new kitchen, break out area and two meeting rooms with a demountable wall in the space between.

At Active, we know how important it is to have a space to chill out and relax in between working. This is why we have enforced a no eating at the desk policy. This encourages a real break from work during lunch breaks - despite however tempting it is to sit and eat while working, a real break from work allows for employees to feel refreshed and ready to continue with the rest of their day after having the chance to socialise with co-workers.

Our space allows for versatile and flexible working - everyone has their own preferences when it comes to completing tasks and we have tried to accommodate this. No one at Active has an assigned desk, staff can choose to sit at any desk they like each day, all of which are sit-stand. Everyone has their own locker, so although work related possessions may not be on the desk they are sitting at that day, they are never far away. To add to the adaptable desks we have, our space has a high bench team table – perfect for collaborative working, an acoustic pod – perfect for informal meetings, and a quiet room to accommodate for that extra bit of concentration.

Not only have we made our space more open plan, we made the decision to include biophilic design in the office. Biophilia is used as a means to reduce stress and improve health and wellbeing. We have also used it strategically by placing a variety of plants on top of our cabinets which also stops clutter from forming!

We've now been in our new space for a number of months, and the feedback we've had from our people has been amazingly positive. We've also had great comments from our clients, contractors and visitors.

Adrian Powell, director here at Active has said 'Our new space looks fantastic and supports the flexible way we work perfectly. Creating an agile environment has aided collaboration within our team and helped us to put a stop to sedentary working practices. As a business that designs and builds workplaces that work for our clients it was important for us to create a workplace that any SME could have, as great places to work aren't solely for the large corporates! Being an SME ourselves we understand that budgets can be tight, so it was important for us to be innovative with the design, using second hand furniture and materials to create the space we wanted, within the budget we could afford.'

The whole refurbishment project has inspired Active to provide a tailored service that is a Simple, Quick and Affordable. The SQA refurbishment package is perfect for organisations with 30 – 50 people -a similar size to us.

More information will be available soon, you can however register your interest in learning more about this offering by emailing angela.love@activefm.co.uk