A lot of companies can find it incredibly daunting to create an office environment that is both suitable for work and inspires the interest and commitment of others – whether your team, business prospects or future employees. It’s a challenge that often arises when organisations are just staring out. However, the need to enhance your workspace with features such as lighting, fire rated glazing or relocation can arise at any time and it can help to know where to begin. Here is a quick rundown for your reading of some simple features that can make all the difference.

A Lovely Location – Real or Metaphorical:

The physical location of your office can have a profound effect on any and all who work there. Consider this: looking out of the window on a dingy and dark industrial road or park can be cheap – but it will have a lasting effect on the workers within. Spending a little more to secure a position either within a business park that reflects your values, or simply for a location that’s more accessible to your employees will pay off in the long run.

However, we understand that you don’t always have the flexibility you’d want when it comes to the environment that you conduct your business in. Internal features such as natural-effect artificial lighting, plenty of varied working areas – including seating, huddle areas and quiet spaces – tall plants and options for employee personalisation come together to create a little piece of commercial heaven, even if you aren’t blessed with the most inspiring external surroundings. Themed office spaces as seen by some of commercial world’s biggest players can be the next step between refresh and total uproot, budget permitting.

A Colour Scheme is Important:

Consider the actual look of your office incredibly carefully before you commit to buying any equipment or furniture. The colour scheme within a commercial environment can have drastic effect not only on the team who already work for you, but on potential employees as well.

An ill-conceived and implemented dark colour scheme for example can in fact instil low moods within your workforce, which becomes even more likely if your office only benefits from artificial lighting. It can potentially serve as a dissuasion to join your company as well, as interview candidates or visiting applicants may be put off by the drab and dark surroundings. We’ve all been for the interview where we’re met by the dank hallway. Make sure that your first impression is modern, fresh and engages attention.

That’s not to say that only primarily bright colour schemes are suitable for an office environment. Whilst brightness can promote a positive energy, too much bright colour can often lead to a sense of clashing, which may lead to your workers becoming more easily distracted. Our advice would be to keep it on brand: select complementary colours from your primary and secondary colour palettes and offset these with contemporary neutrals.

Consider Safety Very Carefully:

We’re sure you’ll know that whether in a tower block or single storey unit, fire remains one of the largest dangers to life in commercial, public and private buildings. What you may not know, however, is that glass is an effective barrier to fire.

This is due to its transparency. Glass helps by increasing people’s ability to spot potentially deadly smoke and flames earlier. Glazing provides a transparent barrier and can protect you and fellow occupants from fire for up to two hours. As well as forming a façade between you and the danger, architectural, structural and screen-based glazing can be designed to form safe walkways and escape routes in case of an emergency.

Fire rated glazing can also stop the spread of fire by creating compartments out of the way of people where the fire can be contained. This limits the spread of any fire to a minimum, keeps escape routes clear – making sure that everyone can exit a building in great time – and makes the job of fighting a fire quicker.

This is where Architectural Wallsz can help. We install architectural glazing that forms a feature of your commercial space and can be bold, functional or discreet. Whatever design option you decide on, architectural glazing guarantees to flood your building space with natural light and contribute to the coveted open-plan feel. This style of glazing – even when fire rated – is suitable for all types of buildings, especially commercial outfits.

Fire rated glazing from Architectural Wallsz utilises the cutting edge technology than has expanded in recent years. The fire rated glazing and components that we install comply with safety standards without compromising on design or an architect’s aesthetic vision for a building. To find out more please visit our website, email us or call 01254 820929 for more information.