What design elements can be lost to reduce cost?

Design is an open scale that has no limit, it can either be scaled up or down and the beauty of design is it can be easily adapted to suit specific needs. If there’s a set budget, the team can simply prioritise and scale your design aspects for the new workspace accordingly.

Our design team, with their years of experience in designing office space have expertise in this area. They can help you determine whether you ‘need’ to have a particular design aspect or whether it would be ‘nice’ to have element. This applies to flexible costs such as furniture, structural and compliance elements. Scaling down a design, can be done without sacrificing the basic function and overall aim of the project.

Top tips from the Officeinsight design team to scale down the cost of your office fit-out:

1. Switch to standard finishes

If you are looking to reduce cost on your design, opting for the standard finishes rather than bespoke, will help keep prices a bit lower.

2. More desk space over breakout areas

Equally, going for a more traditional office space helps reduce the costs, such as having more desks rather than breakout spaces that may include phone booths, private areas and tea stations.

3. Opt for more open plan layout

An open plan layout for an office fit-out project requires less building work and therefore is a good way of reducing costs in the office fit-out process.

4. Limit changes

By exploring all the options and considering everything during the Define stage, this will uncover key problems you want to address and allow you the time to carefully consider all aspects. Any modifications you wish to make down the line will come at a price.

5. Hire a complete turn-key expert

Hiring the right office design and fit-out experts can help you save on every aspect of the project. Instead of controlling all the outsourcing of the various trades and furniture deliveries, handing the task over to the experts will mean a more seamless delivery, timely delivery and a loss less hassle.

Ultimately your end goals for the office fit-out does help you decide which areas of the design you may need to keep and which can be sacrificed.

Boost employee retention and productivity

Nearly 91% of UK workers believe that collaborative work with colleagues is necessary for their creativity and productivity however, three quarters of those work in traditional, enclosed spaces according to new research from Steelcase. Therefore, including furniture that helps facilitate collaboration may be necessary, such as a canteen or tea point, an informal meeting area, booths and board rooms.

Increase brand coercion

If you are looking for your new offices to truly represent your brand and core values, a good method to use is to incorporate your brand colour scheme throughout the furniture and carpet. Another good method is to use signage to show your brand and logo, for example at the Evri Head Office (previously Hermes), we displayed the company’s core values in neon signage going up the stairs, so that employees were reminded of them every day.

Increase sustainability

With the ever-increasing focus on the environment, and working to improve conditions, it is understandable why you would want to focus your efforts on improving your carbon footprint. There are some products that use more sustainable materials, such as using materials made from responsibly farmed New Zealand lambswool and products such as carpets that are carbon-neutral.

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