There comes a time when every office needs a facelift, and an office refurbishment is a superb method of revitalising the workplace. By creating a new and vibrant environment you can create a space where employees are encouraged, engaged and in turn more productive. There are many different areas of the office that can be upgraded to achieve the desired outcome which can include the décor, furniture, and lighting but in this short piece I would like to focus on suspended tile ceilings, and they can affect your new office environment.
Introducing Suspended Ceilings
The majority of office buildings have some form of suspended tile ceiling, this is due to their excellent properties as affect the following areas of the workplace –
- Acoustics – they have superb sound absorption and insulation properties.
- Light Reflection – Lighting levels in the office are crucially linked to staff performance.
- Aesthetic Qualities – Ceiling tiles come in many designs which can form part of the overall office design.
- Fire Safety – The majority of ceiling tiles are manufactured in materials that are fire retardant.
The business performance and productivity are at risk if the office environment is too noisy, and poor lighting levels can lead to staff suffering headaches and unwanted stress.
Industry leading manufacturers of ceiling systems include Armstrong, AMF, British Gypsum and SAS ceilings, the majority of systems use a board or foam tile alongside an aluminium frame system called a grid kit or gridwork.
Your ceiling tile system can also be integrated with your office lighting, either LED lighting or complete lighting tiles called sky panels can provide the correct office lighting levels needed to give staff the perfect environment.
Upgrading your ceiling tile system is also a wise investment as their excellent reflective, insulation and acoustic properties can impact your energy bills in the right direction.
Forming A Part of The Overall Design
A new ceiling system can be just one component of your overall office refurbishment project, before starting out clearly define what you want to achieve and what your budget might be. Once you have done you can then proceed to look at the separate parts of the office environment that you might improve, the key areas will include –
- Décor – an office colour scheme in energising colours with green planting would bring a vibrant look for a relatively limited cost.
- Furniture – new modern ergonomic designs in equipment can improve everything from seating to full workstations.
- Floorplan – new office partitioning systems can effectively separate certain areas of the office where privacy or a quiet space is required.
- Lighting – natural light is crucially linked to employee happiness and well-being, when natural light is not available, LED lighting can achieve the same effect.
- Staff areas – your employees need a space where they can relax and re-energise during their downtime, this is positively linked to increased productivity.
Having assessed each of the components of the office environment you can progress to forming an initial design brief from which your refurbishment specialist can work once you have selected them.
If you are considering an office refurbishment, I hope I have given you a good understanding of ceiling tile systems and how they can benefit your business.