Walking The Walk’ With Office Refurbishment in Berkshire

As we're a bespoke workplace solutions company, it can be easy for us to 'talk the talk' about our client-based work – it's another thing to 'walk the walk', however. As workplace refurbishment is a speciality of ours, when it came to performing an office refurbishment in Berkshire for our own HQ, we had to ensure that we were fully-equipped and up to the challenge to ensure that we practice what we preach.

As we strive to provide businesses with amazing, bespoke office fit out transformations, we thought that it was time to give our home a facelift, making it a more effective working environment for our team. After all, like all office workers, we spend more time here at work than anywhere else, so ensuring that our colleagues feel at home and supported in their roles is vital in building a great working environment and community.

Here, we've outlined how we performed the office facelift for our Reading HQ.

Undertaking Our Own Office Refurbishment In Berkshire

The overarching goal of this project was to introduce the idea of 'working differently' so that we could change workplace habits for the better. We started by evaluating the effectiveness of different processes and designs that are present in the current landscape. From there, we focused on what was really important to us; our team.

Planning an office refurbishment in Berkshire is the perfect 'excuse' for any business to rebrand, change mundane routines, improve morale and enhance productivity. Office refurbishments are also a great tool to use to attract and retain the best talents – as Berkshire is an ever-growing area for business (set to grow even further in the coming years with the rollout of Crossrail and other transport infrastructure projects), being able to have an attractive work environment will be crucial in years to come. Our aim with this project was to create a workspace where our people could thrive.

Taking a total of four weeks to complete, our work transformed an HQ that was starting to look tired, into a dynamic, exciting open plan workplace. We built a mezzanine and created a new kitchen, breakout area and two meeting rooms (with an acoustic folding wall in the spaces between).

The Importance of Catering For Breaks

As we know how important it is to have spaces in the workplace to chill out and relax, we have introduced a 'no eating at desks' policy. This encourages employees to take 'real' breaks from their work during lunchtimes. Whilst in the strive to get work done, it may seem tempting to sit and eat at the desk – this won't help to reduce stress levels (let alone help with the cleanliness of the desk!) A genuine break (in a dedicated facility like a breakout area/kitchen) helps people to feel refreshed and ready to continue with the rest of their day – even having the chance to socialise with colleagues too.

Flexible Working

Our new office refurbishment in Berkshire also offers support for versatile and flexible working. As everyone has their preferences when it comes to completing tasks,we have worked to accommodate for this in the design. There is no assigned seating, so staff can choose to sit at whichever sit-stand desk they like (ideal, if they want to work in a certain area or next to a certain colleague on a particular day). Each of our employees also has their own locker too, so whilst work-related possessions are not (taking up space) on their desks, they are never too far away – kept safe and secure. To add extra adaptability to our desks, our space has a high bench team table that is ideal for collaborative working, an acoustic pod that can host informal meetings and a quiet room to accommodate people who need that extra bit of concentration.

Bringing Nature Indoors

Not only is our office now flexible and open plan, but we also decided to include biophilic design elements to boost the well being aspect too. Biophilia is the practice of placing 'reminders of nature' (either real items – such as living plants and large window displays to let in sunlight – or images of the outdoors, such as paint on walls, photographs, etc), which work to reduce stress by reconnecting our minds with what lies outside. In this particular project, we have used Biophilia strategically by placing a variety of (real) plants on top of cabinets, which aside from brightening up the place and letting out some much-needed Co2, also stops clutter from accumulating on top of the cabinets!

The Outcome of Our New Office Fit Out

We've been in our new space for over a year now and the feedback from colleagues about our office refurbishment in Berkshire has been incredibly positive – we've also had some great comments from our clients, contractors and visitors too.

“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 necessary to create a workplace that any SME could have, as great places to work aren't solely for the large corporates.

As an SME, 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"

- Adrian Powell, Director, Active Workplace Solutions

This whole office refurbishment project has inspired us to provide a tailored service to our clients that is 'Simple, Quick and Affordable' (SQA).Our SQA refurbishment package is ideal for organisations that have 30-50 employees – a similar size to us.

Regardless of the size of your business, the Active team have a proven track record of creating innovative, inspiring and functional working environments for all manner of firms. So if you're interested in improving the effectiveness of your workspaces, please do not hesitate to get in touch with our team today.

Contact The Active Team For Your Workplace Solutions

If you would like to learn more about how we can help you with your own office refurbishment in Berkshire, please do not hesitate give us a call today on 0845 130 9066. Alternatively, you can send an e-mail to info@activeworkplacesolutions.co.uk and we'll be in touch as soon as possible.