It’s business time
Office space is the physical representation of how you want your business to be perceived. It’s your value proposition in built form and it’s critical to your business success that you get it right.
There are many things to consider and you should be taking a long-term approach when choosing an office space, ensuring that you future-proof your business for the growth you hope to achieve.
We’ve put together five key factors you should consider when looking for the right office space to lease for your business.
Location, location, location
Yes, it is a real estate cliché as old as time, however, it is the most crucial step in your decision making process. When summing up whether the location is right you should be asking yourself if the location offers easy access for your clients and staff either via public transport or by road with sufficient parking. Who else is located here? Are there other businesses in the same area that are doing well that you could benefit from being close to? Particularly complementary service businesses which may have customers who may also use your services and see your signage? Will this still be the right location for your business in three … five and 10 years time? How is this location perceived by your target customers? Will it elevate your business perception or devalue it? Is the location well-known enough that people will already know their way to it?
Size does matter
Once you know where you want to be, you can’t go much further on your leasing journey until you know how much space you need. How many square metres will comfortably accommodate your staff, a boardroom, meeting rooms and all of your required equipment. Some office floor plates are more efficient than others, so the amount of space you need might vary from building to building but, as a first step, work out an estimated range that should be suitable with a rule of thumb of a minimum of 10 square metres per person. Note: this is usually calculated against the total building area so it includes every square metre of space; hallways, bathrooms, server rooms, kitchens etc.
An excellent guide to the sizes you should allow for senior management offices, individual workstations (with standard furniture size guides), and meeting rooms etc is the Queenlsand Government’s Office Accommodation Workplace and Fitout Standards.
The majority of office leases run for a least three years so you need to make sure that the size of the space you choose will continue to suit you for at least that long. If you have plans to grow and expand within your lease term, rather than taking more space than you need upfront, you could look for space that has the flexibility to expand into adjacent vacant space or into space elsewhere in the same building or near by when you need to.
If you are a small business or start-up, do you need to take on the commitment of a lease, or could a shared co-working space work for you?
Fitout for purpose
If your budget stretches to a complete floor to ceiling fit-out then this is your greatest opportunity to stamp your business mark on your office space and wow everyone who walks through the door. Investing in a fantastic fit-out will elevate your business, radiating a perception of prestige, authority and success. When selecting office space in which to execute your plans, you should look into how easy it will be to make modifications in your chosen space; does the building have a lift that tradespeople can use to easily access the space? Does the air-conditioning work well? Could I get natural air-flow into the space? Is there already high-speed internet available in the building? Does the building body corporate have any restrictions on what can be done? Lighting in any office space is an important consideration so make sure you investigate how much natural light you will get.
Make sure you invest in a high quality fit-out plan executed by a qualified designer. A good designer should investigate each and every employee in an office to work out how much space they need to comfortably achieve their individual tasks.
Another option, if you don’t have a huge fit-out budget, is to find a space that already has a complete or partial fit out in place. Existing reception areas can be given new life with new light fittings, furniture, updated signage and a splash of paint. Internal offices can be spruced up with new artwork and graphic frosting walls and don’t forget, plants and greenery everywhere will breathe new life into any office space – plant hire companies will even come and water and maintain your plants making this a very easy and affordable option to create a welcoming workspace.
Happy staff make happy customers
In the words of Richard Branson, your most important business asset is not your customers but your staff. If you keep your staff happy, they will keep your customers happy. Will your staff enjoy coming to work each day to this location and this building? Will the office environment be comfortable and inspiring enough to keep them content? Does the fit out design place people at the top of its list of considerations? Are there spaces suitable for assembling to collaborate and share ideas? Will there be comfortable places to take a break and facilities to prepare food and hot drinks? Are there plenty of places nearby that they can walk to for lunch and take your clients to for lunch? Are there shops, banks and gyms that they can easily access? Are there shower facilities and bike racks for employees who want to ride to work?
Human-orientated office spaces are the current trend and there are many reports that the level of staff amenity is paramount to workplace satisfaction, creativity and productivity. Build a loyal, high-performing team by creating the right office environment for your staff and your business will benefit from the results.
Shout from the rooftop
Everyone knows that you can’t sell a secret. In order to give your business the best chance of being discovered, you need to make sure you have great signage. Look for office space where you will be able to prominently display your business name. Large-scale building signage is obviously the optimum example but at a minimum you need to be able to have your business name on a pylon sign or tenant board out the front of the building. Once visitors are inside, there should be a tenant board displayed near the lifts or wayfinding signage where you can put your name / logo. Once they get to your floor, a decent sized professional sign should direct them to your space if it is not instantly visible. You want your signage to expose your business to as many eyeballs as possible so in the office leasing phase, consideration should be given to the traffic volumes past external signage and also, how your sign will stand out from the rest of the tenants in the building.
Find out more to ensure your future business success
So, in summary – location / access, office size, fit-out, internal and surrounding amenity and signage exposure are the key elements to finding the right office space for your business. Getting these things right will lay the foundation for your future business success.
Once you know what you want and you’ve done some initial research, it’s worthwhile speaking to an experienced commercial leasing agent, such as CBDRobina’s leasing specialist, Marcus Weld. Let them know what you’re looking for and ask them to send you some options that suit.
You will know when you find the right space for your business.
Check out our previous article where we interviewed leasing specialist Marcus Weld on for his tips on choosing business space here.
View our current office space for lease (also suited to medical education and other uses) here.
