Our Services

Our approach to each brief and contract is dependant upon individual needs and it can vary from an inclusive relocation, refurbishment, design, refit and supply of furniture and fittings, to converting existing office space into a new training centre or reception area, or reflecting an established design and brand image in the opening of a new branch. Whatever the task – our approach remains consistent – to discuss your needs, enlist your views and perhaps those of your staff, evaluate and propose one or several solutions. Always mindful of quality of workmanship and products, timing, budget and exceeding your expectations.

The various components that conspire to achieve our joint objectives are now covered in more depth and include:

Preliminary Evaluation & Feasibility
Space Planning & Design
Refurbishment & Office Fit-Out
Construction
Project Management
Office Furniture
Move Management
Health & Safety
Sustainability & the Environment
DDA - Disability Act

Preliminary Evaluation & Feasibility

The initial in-depth briefing and discussion with a prospective or existing client is crucial, for it must enable both parties to establish the inevitably wide range of needs and priorities required to move to the design proposal stage. In many cases early discussions involve departmental managers and selected staff in order to ensure that there is a consensus of agreement on needs and priorities.

Elements that influence the approach might include:

• Space requirements, the number of staff and desired mix in each area - change is an opportunity to review departmental relationships and enhance efficiency
• Open plan versus individual offices - the right mix
• The Reception and visitor experience
• Meeting rooms - often under provided
• Training + break-out rooms
• IT + HR departments
• Staff facilities, including kitchen/eating stations and eating/relaxation areas

Plus:

• Degree of privacy required
• Design and colours - from neutral and harmonious to dramatic and harmonious and influential to the psyche of all working environments
• Lighting - natural daylight and supplementary, energy efficient and non invasive systems for function and mood
• Acoustics - absorption and attenuation
• Sustainability + green office environment - minimal impact to the budget, but a significant plus factor for staff and the company as a whole
• Legislating for future growth or scaling down

And of course costs are of paramount importance, ensuring that the final scheme does not exceed your budget. In the case of refurbishment we will, from the outset, establish if you can make more of the space you currently occupy. For both new and refurbished premises we will look for synergies between departments and investigate, for instance, open plan versus a cellular layout with meeting lounges.

Actions

Discussions and appraisals are carried out by a team who will be dedicated to your project from the beginning to handover, with a project manager adept at refining detail to the client's needs en route to conclusion.

The Evaluation Proposal is preferably presented face-to-face by the project manager and will comprise:

• Space plans and visuals
• Project assessments - pros and cons of various options to refine and agree
• Project costs - to design and fit out
• Project plans - timings and schedules

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Space Planning & Design

The design of the interior layout of either the existing offices or new build is only as good as a) the brief and b) the expertise of the company. In both cases we take responsibility. Our approach to planning the design starts with getting the most out of prospective client, in terms of people profile, departmental needs and actions, your current layouts and desired improvements to facilitate interaction, shared facilities, working practices, optimum efficiency, comfort and wellbeing, together with flexibility, such as hot-desking and considerations for future growth.

Optimum Image

We will visualise layouts based upon our discussions and taking into consideration intrinsic detail, such as traffic flows, meeting spaces and storage, the location of equipment and centralised services, together with power and data points, sources of light and acoustics. On agreement we will then produce detailed construction drawings.

Optimum Perception

We start with your aspirations and work closely with you to achieve and ideally surpass them. Then there's inspiration - because inspirational workplaces are more harmonious and encourage greater contentment, enthusiasm and commitment. A holistic approach is the best route for endorsing your culture and brand for employees and clients.

Optimum Décor

Our in-house designers are adept at creating virtual workplaces to the specification. Combined with product samples and mood boards, which add texture, design and colour to the equation – this enables you to visualise your new accommodation. Everything we design and present complies with current Building Regulations and Workspace Health & Safety guidelines.

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Refurbishment and Office Fit-Out

Fit-Out

The starting point is an empty shell, a blank canvass. Our objective is to create efficient, harmonious and inspiring accommodation. With your brief and our expertise we will quickly establish the perfect solution, down to the minutest detail. And it is often this attention to detail that sets us apart from the rest.

You will be assigned a Project Manager, responsible for ensuring that your objectives are achieved and always on-hand to advise and also to ensure that the project is on time and to budget. Inevitably as the client sees the progress other ideas will come to mind and it is the Project Manager’s responsibility to be flexible and accommodate where possible – but always mindful of time and budget.

We demonstrate progress to the client and staff via interim reports and by providing a diary of photographs and regular on-site presentations. In this way the empty shell and blank canvass are seen to transform and materialise into the reality of a new working environment. This engenders enthusiasm and anticipation.

Refurbishment

Here the challenge is more often than not to maintain ‘business as usual’, while work is undertaken. We are adept at appreciating your needs and causing minimum disruption. This is spearheaded by your Project Manager, in conjunction with the contract team and compliance experts, who ensure that health and safety is intrinsic to all processes.

Importantly our employees are professionals in their line of work, but also affable and accommodating, vitally important in refurbishment, where a very good relationship with your staff makes disruption to your daily work routine less intrusive.

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Construction Works

While some of our clients have their own facilities manager and small works department the majority out-source construction work. Whether refurbishment or totally new accommodation, inevitably some construction work is required. It might be drywall lining to divide sections, adding a suspended ceiling, moving services, repairs and decoration.

Optimum will include this within the proposal, taking responsibility for appointing and overseeing all work and ensuring that it meets quality, timing and budgetary criteria. We work closely with a nationwide network of sub contractors who understand and comply with the high standards we apply throughout a contract.

Services and Suppliers

Optimum Workspace has achieved a great deal over the last 15 years and we continue to evolve our services to meet increasingly demanding and complex needs. Our team of experts enjoy their work and succeeding. Our in-house skills must also be reflected by the efficiency of our suppliers and the quality and performance characteristics of their products. Our list of key suppliers spans all interior requirements and offers a broad price range. We cater for and apply the same high standard of service to the complete fit-out, but also to the supply of supplementary services, furniture and furnishings in specific areas.

Fit-Out + Refurbishment Services – include:

Manufacturers + Key Suppliers – include:

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Project Management

You have access to our entire team, but it’s your Project Manager who is responsible for your contract – from conceptual stage to completion, hand-over and attending to any subsequent snagging if necessary. Totally focused upon exceeding your expectations your Project Manager is:

• Central to discussions with your company from the outset
• Co-ordinates every phase of the work
• Overseas schedules and budgets
• Oversees craftsmanship and quality
• Liaises with all parties concerned, including landlords and authorities
• Constantly communicates to illustrate progress and discuss detail

Members of the Association of Interior Specialists

The AIS is a pro active trade organisation with members spanning the complete spectrum of supply chain within Interior fit-out, including specialist providers, such as Optimum Workspace, manufacturers of interior systems and furniture, plus distributors. It is a forum for discussion and an independent source of information on new standards, safe working and good practice. We value our membership.

Maintaining the highest standards

Our best accolades come from our clients and their keenness to commission our services whenever a new interior fit-out is needed, together with the on-going supply of furniture, where we have a specialist team at their disposal. Visit: www.optimum-furniture.com

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Office Furniture

At Optimum Workspace we have a division dedicated to the supply of Furniture, offering a comprehensive solution for work environments, always bespoke to each individual client. Requirements vary dramatically, dependant upon type of business, number of staff, inter-action between departments, interface with customers and demands upon technology.

While we encourage recommendations from our clients we see it as our responsibility to assess all needs and source all solutions. Inevitably this combines functionality and aesthetics, with both aspects contributing to the efficiency and wellbeing of staff and your organisation as a whole.

We have close working relationships with suppliers, which ensure their support and excellent purchasing power, to ensure that prices are competitive and the budget goes further.

Within this process we also:

• Have Office Furniture Consultants dedicated to establishing your requirements and sourcing solutions and able to take you to key supplier showrooms in order to you products in situ
• Keep you up to date regarding new products, standards and technology
• Take an holistic view of your accommodation, but also reflect individual needs, by department
• Capitalise upon space and comfort
• Seek best prices and ensure that discounts are passed to you
• Source, deliver and install the furniture package on time and quickly
• Provide ongoing support concerning all furniture and accessories supplied

Click here to visit our dedicated office furniture website + free online catalogue

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Move Management

Moving office can be even more exacting and stressful than moving home and, due to the diversity of people, departmental needs and vast array of logistical detail, requiring a great deal in time, planning, predicting needs and probably worry throughout. But, alternatively, you can leave all of this to Optimum Workspace and our complete corporate relocation service.

Experts in achieving this are called Move Co-ordinators. From the outset they illustrate the processes and phases to ensuring the most convenient and stress free relocation. We manage everything. Building appraisals, surveying your staff, establishing schedules, comparing costs of different routes.

Move Management Services provide:

• Feasibility space planning and design services, including the creation of numbered plans (Matt didn’t change this/but didn’t understand it either!)
• Existing furniture appraisal and how and where best to accommodate
• IT schedules
• Work schedules
• Removals of equipment, such as copiers, printers and safes
• Handover and out-of-hours supervision, as and when necessary
• Provision of comprehensive insurance cover

When our initial proposal is submitted, it includes how long the relocation will take to achieve and exactly how much this will cost. We guarantee the budget and move-in date on agreement to the proposal. No hidden costs, or potentially harmful to business delays.

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Health & Safety + Environmental Policy

At Optimum Workspace we are committed to meeting all Health & Safety requirements – concerning our staff, together with the comprehensive range of services we provide to our clients on-site.

Environmental demands, manifest in a greater need for sustainability in all elements of running a business, are increasingly important, within our company and concerning the services and products we provide to our clients. We assess our own achievements in this area and those of our suppliers.

Safety

Health & Safety is an in-house function at Optimum Workspace. We monitor the latest HSE guidance and requirements and ensure that all legal requirements are not only met but exceeded.

We set our standards by:

• Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974
• Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999
• Construction Design & Management Regulations 1994

Health & Safety is at the core of our company and service, with total commitment from senior management to on-site contractors and this aspect will continue to evolve and ensure that we are at the forefront in every aspect of our business. Equally we expect the same high standards from our suppliers.

As regards Sustainability we are ever seeking to improve from liaison with relevant industry associations and influencers, such as the Carbon Trust, HSE, RIBA and CPA

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DDA (Disability Discrimination Act)

There are five key points to the Disability Discrimination Act, which are relevant to ensure that buildings and businesses comply with the Act. Optimum will comply with all elements concerning the services and products we provide and are happy to help our clients secure advice they might require.

The main parts of the 1995 Disability Discrimination Act are:

• To prevent discrimination against disabled people accessing services and premises
• States that disabled people must not be treated less favourably
• Including physical and mental impairment (inc. sensory impairments)
• Requires organisations to make reasonable adjustments to avoid ‘substantial disadvantage’ to disabled people
• States that landlords cannot object to reasonable, physical alterations to business premises to assist disabled staff and customers

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