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Space Planning

We are considering moving to larger space, but we don't know how much space we will need, or what the best configuration would be. Does anyone know of industry standards for how many square feet marketing communications agencies need for each full-time equivalent employee? If there isn't an industry standard, would you mind sharing how many employees and how many square feet of office space you have? Is there anything in particular you did when you designed your space that you thought was a great idea?

Thanks.

Shanny R. Morgenstern, Chief Operating Officer Morningstar Communications Company
http://www.morningstarcomm.com

I don't know of any industry standards specific to our industry, BUT I have done some facility planning using the "rule of thumb" theory of 250 sq ft per person. That's not necessarily seating space, but blended space including walkways and peripheral storage.

When we planned our first move we started with a company wide meeting asking for input about what kind of environment people wanted to work in. People have some very definite ideas it seems! Then we sifted all the ideas through an architect (absolutely the BEST use of budget money). We took our time. Very smooth move.

When we expanded, we were in a hurry, needed space fast, didn't hire an architect (worked with the landlord construction company directly), didn't ask the staff what they wanted - AND have paid the price ever since. We forgot so many things that an architect would have remembered.

So that's my advice. Hire a professional if your budget will allow it.

Roxanne Cowan

We moved into a new space about six years ago. Our building has almost 10,000 sq ft and houses 24 full-time employees. This space includes a photography studio of approx. 1000 feet. Half of our basement is used for storage, our foosball table, a work table and storage. When we moved in, we bought new furnishings and created several permanent offices on the main floor. This is where the account managers and media department are. Our art department is in the basement and we have a web division on the second floor of the building. For the most part we are very comfortable in the amount of space we each have. Our greatest regret was to build the permanent offices and/or walls in both the art dept and on the main floor. Since moving into this building we have experienced a tremendous amount of growth and this has limited our flexibility and future planning options. I think if we were to do it over again, there would be very few "built-in offices" and more open spaces. I am not suggesting traditional cubes. These are on their way out, there are several options available now without having the "corporate cubical" office look.

Another thing to keep in mind is aesthetics. We were fortunate to move into a building that previously housed a furniture design studio. We have a lot of glass walls and other interesting architectural perks. Our clients really like coming to our office. We also added several features that are very eye pleasing and were worth the added costs.

Currently we are looking into letting natural light into the art department. While the expense will be fairly great, the perk for the employees will be great as well.

Hope this helps!

Linda Anderson

Talk to a guy named Lance at YH Communications. www.yh.com

Frank Merriam

We specialize in the real estate biz, but got another take on it when we moved (and built out our own space!) Get yourself an architect, and (most important) a real estate broker to represent you! In terms of rule of thumb for space, industry standard is 250 sf per person, keeping in mind our business requires a lot of filing and resource real estate-all that art stuff! Some companies go as low as 50 sf for administrative people, or just workstation space. The first 400 square feet is usually just for entranceway/reception. We have 10 people with 2500 square feet, but that is net, carpetable sf, not gross the way most space is marketed, and we have a lot of room around everyone and two bathrooms, 2 conference rooms and a large kitchen. We also rent additional basement space for all of our storage/overflow. I hope this helps. Please feel free to contact me if you have any other questions. But do make sure you have a broker representing you and your interests!!!

Christopher Staples Sun & Moon Marketing Communications, Inc.

10K sq ft for 24 people is impressive. We have about half that and same amount of people. But we do rent offsite storage. I agree, too, about fixed wall offices. Nobody has them in our space, and it has proved to be very flexible for adding new people.

But I wanted to respond to your comment about "letting natural light into the art department". When we expanded, the existing space had a fantastic skylight that we thought would be perfect for the designer. Much to our surprise the position of the sun at certain times caused such glare on the computers, they were all but useless! We spent many hours and dollars trying to put differnt types of film on the skylight to defract the sun, with no success. (At one point we had the maintenance guy throw dark trash bags over it, held down by 2x4's!! Temporary solution, but worked until we could get blackout film.)

Thought I should share that. Before you go to great expense, track the positioning of the sun in relation to your workstations. It might save you some headaches.

Roxanne Cowan

I agree. We are getting ready to move into new space, and our creative dept. specifically requested the north facing side of the building to help keep the sun from glaring directly into the space. I believe the natural light was more important when they were working on boards and now is less so with computers. although natural light is still very important when looking at color.

Shelly Constantz