How to Compute your commercial space needs and define workplace strategy
Many businesses do not have in-house resources dedicated to providing workplace solutions for their expanding customer base. What workplace strategy should you adopt as an organization? And most importantly, how can you define your organization’s space needs?
Benchmark data
In their 2018-2019 report, CBRE listed the average space density per industry sector, providing a useful starting point or rule of thumb. In practice, these values depend significantly on your workplace strategy. The average space density is 225 rentable square feet (RSF) per seat, with a range from 130 to 350 or more. An executive can quickly look at these numbers and estimate that 20,000 RSF would be needed for a 100-employee expansion, roughly speaking.
Workplace Strategy
According to Audrey Ellison Schriefer, workplace strategy is “the dynamic alignment of an organization’s work patterns with the work environment to enable peak performance and reduce costs.” This strategy is based on the company culture and the built environment, including its technology, fixtures, furniture, and equipment. Organizations need to properly consider their workplace strategy for three main reasons:
Changing Work Patterns: Job requirements, management styles, and information and telecommunication technologies evolve over decades and over generations.
Evolving Workforce: Workforce diversity, employees age ranges, work-life balance needs, and employee-employer relationships are constantly shifting. Generations X, Y, and Z face different challenges.
Shifting Workplace: Traditional workplace approaches from the industrial era are becoming obsolete, making way for flexible work environments with more collaboration.
Basic Structure of an Office Space
An office space can be divided into primary spaces for office interaction and secondary or support spaces. Primary spaces can be subdivided into focus spaces and collaboration spaces. However, there are also tenant support spaces, building common areas and major support technical spaces.
Focus Spaces: These are individual workspaces, which can be enclosed, private office rooms, or open workstations.
Collaboration Spaces: These are areas for team collaboration, including meeting rooms, training rooms, and conference rooms. There are also open collaboration areas.
Tenant Support Spaces: These include reception areas, lounges, washrooms, wellness rooms, kitchens, and cafeterias.
Building Support Spaces: These often include spaces in the building core and common areas such as elevator lobbies, floor mechanical and electrical rooms, and core washrooms.
Major Technical Spaces: These include vertical penetrations such as exit stairwells, elevators, major shafts, basement areas and garages.
How to aggregate individual spaces into Rentable Floor Area
The General Services Administration (GSA) in the US proposed a straightforward approach in 2012 to compute office space requirements. Their case studies also demonstrate that space requirements in terms of usable square feet per seat decrease as we transition from traditional office layout to more open and collaborative spaces.
Compute the Net Area (NSF): Expressed in net square feet, it represents the sum of workspace units or primary spaces and tenant support spaces. It includes but not limited to workstations, private offices, meeting and conference rooms, collaboration spaces, cafeterias, and reception areas.
Compute the Circulation Area (CA): This is the space used as a route to connect individual workspace units. The circulation factor can range from 25% to 40% of the total usage area. A 28% factor corresponds to a 1.4 circulation multiplier (CM), so CA = NSF x (CM - 1).
Compute the Usable Area (USF): This is the sum of net areas and circulation areas. USF = NSF + CA.
Rentable Area (RSF): This is the usable area added with the prorated share of the building support spaces or common areas. It may represent 15 to 25%, in general.
Compute the Gross Floor Area (GFA): This is the rentable area added with vertical penetrations and basement areas.
Example of calculating your space requirements
Suppose you need space for 100 professionals, including:
Focus spaces
95 Workstations (8 ft x 8 ft): 6,080 sq. ft.
1 VP offices (10 ft x 12 ft): 120 sq. ft.
4 Private offices (10 ft x 10 ft): 400 sq. ft.
Collaboration spaces
2 Meeting rooms (15 ft x 20 ft): 600 sq. ft.
1 Conference room (20 ft x 25 ft): 500 sq. ft.
1 Training room (20 ft x 20 ft): 400 sq. ft.
3 Coaching/Interview rooms (10 ft x 10 ft): 300 sq. ft.
3 Collaborative open spaces (10 ft x 10 ft): 300 sq. ft.
Support spaces
1 Reception area (15 ft x 20 ft): 300 sq. ft.
1 Lunchroom/Kitchenette space: 600 sq. ft
2 Quiet rooms: 100 sq. ft.
1 Printer room: 70 sq. ft.
2 Coat closets: 30 sq. ft.
The total is 9,800 sq. ft. (NSF). Considering a circulation multiplier of 1.25, the company will need approximately 12,250 sq. ft. of usable space (USF). If the building has an efficiency of 78%, this is approximately 15,000 sq. ft. of rentable space (RSF).
What Next?
Once you have nailed your workplace strategy and determined your space needs, and acquired or leased a space, the next phase is execution. If you have design standards or have developed a scope of work (e.g., a functional and technical program), provide that to your prime contractor. Time and quality being of essence, apply your master service agreement with your partnering contractor. If not, research and select a contractor best suited to deliver your project, whether in design-build or another project delivery method aligned with your objectives and project risks. Curious about the budget or approximate costs? Read more on these topics and more on our blog page.
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References:
North America Fit-Out Cost Guide, 2018-2019 edition, CBRE, 76 pages.
Schriefer, A. (2005). “Workplace Strategy: What It Is and Why You Should Care,” Journal of Corporate Real Estate, Vol. 7 No. 3, pp. 222-233.
Circulation: Defining and Planning, 2012, Government Services Administration (GSA), 15 pages.