Commercial Premises: The Latest Trends in Office Renovation

The concept of the office has endured some difficulty since the end of the COVID lockdowns. As employees tend towards remote or hybrid work, the office has become less of a nexus for many.

Problematic as this may be in the short term, the reduced usage of offices provides a long-term opportunity to re-tool and renovate them, in preparation for another shifting of the tides.

Office renovations serve multiple purposes. For one, they can improve employee wellbeing on account of addressing the way a space impacts the individual. On another level, new installations can make an employee’s life easier, and improve productivity between teams.

Finally, new renovations can serve to impress visiting clients or investors, improving the business’ reputation and financial outlook. But which are the most exciting trends for office renovation today?…

Pre-Renovation Considerations

If you are on the search for inspiration regarding your own office renovation, it might be your duty to become acquainted with some key pre-renovation considerations before any budget is allocated. For one, non-tangible considerations like insurance can result in unaccounted-for costs; JCT insurance protects against no-fault damage caused to neighbours as a result of construction, a situation that could otherwise prove costly and damaging the business itself.

As well as operational and legal-decision-making, there are key scope decisions to make in service of the best possible renovation. Too large a scope might cause significant slowdown for the business, in rendering the office completely unusable for the duration of the renovation. A balance needs to be struck between budget, scope, capacity and operations. With this firmly in mind, which directions might a new office renovation take?

Wellness-Centred Design

A key takeaway from the impact of recent years on professional circles is the importance of employee wellness. Employee burnout is receiving more column inches as a topic of interest than it ever has before, with workers more readily recognising their worth and health over the heavy demands of their respective roles. 

It is in the average business’ best interests, then, to fold employee wellbeing into the fabric of their potential office redesign. This might mean traditionally calming colours like pastel greens and blues, as well as the construction of relaxing ‘chill-out’ pods or sequestered meeting zones.

Technology Integration

Technology drives innovation, and its integration with office décor could be instrumental to improving productivity as well as morale. Utilising the Internet of Things (IoT) enables remote control of everything from lighting to temperature, while state-of-the-art screens could be installed into partition walls for both a futuristic feel and the efficient delivery of information.

Sustainable Spaces

Sustainability is arguably the key subject of our time, with the climate crisis being one of the greater worries to plague the nation. As public opinion continues to greatly prefer affirmative action on climate change over ignorance or greenwashing, so too should a business directly engage with sustainable engineering and sustainability messaging. An office refurb could see the installation of green heating systems, and the usage of sustainable materials to create a fundamentally green working environment.