• Create the best first impression of your business with dynamic lighting to reception areas and company signage areas.

• Ensure your work space is adequately illuminated. Australian Standards specify the correct illumination requirements for interior and workplace lighting.

• Use a combination of troffer lights, led down lights, strip lighting and spot lighting to achieve the desired result.

Inadequate heating, ventilation and air -conditioning can leave an area too hot, too cold or ‘stuffy’. Depending on the HVAC system, some measures to overcome these issues are:

• Air balance each outlet to ensure the correct volume of conditioned air is supplied to that room calculated on the room’s size and heat loads.
• Introduce a PAC system where a ‘boost’ is required in rooms occasionally highly occupied e.g. board rooms
• Ensure there is sufficient external fresh air to prevent the room feeling ‘stuffy’.
• Install individually controlled units to different rooms or install a thermostat to each room to control the temperature requirements.

• In some circumstances customised joinery can be substituted to achieve value for money. Storage, credenza’s, book shelves, reception desks and kitchens can replaced with office furniture or flat pack options. Partitioning walls can be built around the items to give it a customised look.

• Ensure the joinery is fit for purpose. e.g. a kitchen in a commercial environment will require different features and functionality to a kitchen in a residential setting.

Disturbance caused by noise and sound can be minimised through design i.e. separation of work areas and reduced open plan layouts. Additional measures to be used conjunction with design include appropriate material specification such as:

• Use of correct thickness of glass/plasterboard in partitioning walls.
• Use of insulation inside partitioning walls and in ceiling voids.
• Use of acoustic rated ceiling tiles, resilient mounts and soft floor finishes.
• Use of acoustic rated seals in glazed items and doors.

As work place flexibility continues, lines are blurred between traditional office working environments and working from home or offsite. Improve the transition between work locations by providing:

• Showers and change rooms
• Bike racks and lockers
• Hot desks and adjustable height desks
• Recreational rooms

Security can be improved through design e.g. visual surveillance and well lit areas.   Additional security measures to protect your business and personnel include the following. Most systems allow remote access via applications on mobile phones, PC’s and tablets.

• Access control through swipe cards / fobs
• CCTV and Alarms
• Master Keying
• Time delay locks

In some instances an additional upfront additional capital costs may provide saving in on going energy costs. Consider the additional costs and possible savings over the term of the lease. Some methods to increase energy efficiency of the tenancy include:

• Adequate use of thermal insulation, door seals and window coverings.
• Installing timer and motion sensor switches to lights and HVAC systems and setting appropriate temperature.
• Design to NABERS or GREEN STAR rating which not only considers energy but also water and waste efficiency.

Ultimately at the end of the lease period, you may be required to make good to the premises. Some factors which will assist in minimising this future cost include:

• Obtain a base building plan to easily determine what changes were made through fit out.
• Layout design e.g. use of as many existing features as possible. Minimise altering base building features.
• Method of fixing e.g. Floating instead of direct fix. Surface mounting instead of chasing.