Putting workers through the spaces

After all, how tough could it be? Just find a few thousand square feet in a convenient location and set up shop, right?

But more managers, executives and developers are putting extra thought and effort into their offices. They’re planning for the future, considering the environment and eyeing the bottom line, all before they ever move in, say architects.

Flexibility is the top demand among many companies looking for new space today.

Constant changes in industry trends and employee rosters can make predicting future space needs difficult, so executives want malleable office layouts: Movable walls, modular cubicles and portable storage units are work-space must-haves in today’s evolving business climate.

“People are looking for an environment that would be dynamic and not static,” said Mark Trudeau, principal of Offices Made Creative. “They’re really looking at the building as a six-sided box, and approaching the interior in a flexible way, with materials than can be removed easily, reconfigured or altered at will. They want to be able to cost effectively alter their space based on changes in their organization.”

Kathryn Crosato, a registered interior designer with the Las Vegas architecture firm Fielden & Partners, is planning a building of executive suites with impermanent walls. Individual entrepreneurs who need more or less space could adjust their surroundings based on how their business is doing. The space will also accommodate companies who want to rent on an hourly, weekly or monthly basis. A third-floor restaurant will give tenants a place to mingle with each other or entertain clients

“It’s very flexible,” Crosato said. “You can be as private or as social as you want to be. It creates a little networking group within the building.”

For many business executives, ecofriendly construction is as important as flexible design.

The push for green offices comes from three factors, said Howard Thompson, managing principal of KKE/HFTA in Henderson. Some municipalities are requiring more environmentally sensitive new development. Also, business owners hope more efficient buildings will reduce operating costs. Finally, the touches that minimize a project’s effect on the environment can also improve the working atmosphere for a company’s employees.

“Most employers are attuned to answering the role they have as stewards of the environment,” Trudeau said. “It’s a myth to think that most businesses are hungry for profit and unwilling to invest in the environment or do what is socially responsible.”

Office owners and developers are requesting energy-efficient measures such as solar power and skylights or windows for natural lighting.

“Allowing more daylight into space tends to make people happier at work,” Thompson said. “Nobody likes to work in a dark office. Everybody wants to see outside.”

Tenants are also more sensitive about the materials they use.

Crosato’s clients increasingly ask for office furniture that uses less plastic and polyester, because they want to scale back on petroleum-based products. And Thompson has seen an uptick in requests for recycled materials, such as carpet.

Some green innovations combine ecoconscious design and flexibility.

Some new offices have raised floors that can house all of a building’s air-conditioning and power needs. The systems allow each worker to have his own personal air-conditioning setting, so workers who want less cooling can turn the thermostat up at their desk.

Such green measures have the added benefit of boosting employee morale, which can reduce turnover and help recruitment, Trudeau said.

“Most organizations recognize that employees are the most expensive asset they have,” he said. “Given the high costs that go into training and recruitment, anything you can do to make employees comfortable and demonstrate that they’re of value to you enhances the investment you’ve made up front in your people.”

Even the cost of real estate is affecting office interiors.

The average price for an acre of empty land was nearly $800,000 in the first quarter, up 13.2 percent from the first quarter of 2006, according to economic research firm Applied Analysis. Four years ago, local raw land was selling for $250,000 an acre or less.

The steeper prices mean developers are going vertical, building office complexes of six stories or more to spread land expenses among more tenants, Thompson said. Taller buildings require costly steel frames, and no developer will finish an expensive steel tower with Class B touches, he said.

So lobbies, corridors, public rest rooms and other common areas are getting marbles, granites and other decorating elements “that really lend a quality impression upon entering the building,” Thompson said.

Also, a competitive office market demands upgraded interiors.

The vacancy rate for office space in Southern Nevada was 11 percent in the second quarter, up from 8.7 percent in the same quarter a year ago, numbers from real estate research firm Restrepo Consulting Group show.

“The competition (for tenants) gets tougher every year, and every year, offices get better and better,” Thompson said. “Developers can’t afford to put something up that’s not nice. The quality of office buildings is reaching for a higher level, which is very good for the city and the general public in the long run.”

Some offices are shrinking, and so is the space allotted to each worker, Crosato said.

Fielden & Partners is itself a testament to the downsizing trend. When the architecture firm moves from Eastern Avenue to Water Street in Henderson, it will take up about 25 percent less square footage, Crosato said. Gone will be cubicles with walls, replaced by four-desk, single-surface stations that allow coworkers to see and hear their neighbors on either side.

Designers also must accommodate a more-diverse labor force, as seniors live and work longer. Offices today might have staffers ranging from ages 20 to 70.

“We always focus on universal design,” Crosato said. “You need to design for people who have disabilities, people who are in good health and people of different sizes and ages. It’s about accommodating without stigmatizing.”

Embracing office trends can be costly.

Solar systems, for example, involve a substantial up-front investment, so if you’re renting space for the near to mid-term, sun-based power might not be the best investment. If you’re buying offices you intend to hold for several years or more, you could reap the long-range benefits of less-expensive power, Crosato said.

Other flexible or sustainable office components aren’t much pricier than their conventional counterparts. Some recycled carpets and paints without volatile organic compounds cost the same as new floor and wall coverings. And even if modular walls and furniture are expensive, Trudeau urges his clients to think about the long-term savings such systems can produce. Trudeau works with a system that even allows for modular break rooms and fax-and-copy rooms, with movable cabinetry that can accompany a business when it clears out for new space.

“The reduced life-cycle costs are significant,” Trudeau said. “You invest in it once, and it will last you for years.”

This story first appeared in the Business Press. Jennifer Robison can be reached at 380-4512 or by email at jrobison@reviewjournal.com