A new venture offers space planning expertise via the web. Adrian McNeece,
former Director of Strategic Space Planning at Swanke Hayden Connell Architects,
has launched Thinkplan.com as an alternative to conventional fee based
consultancy.
According to McNeece, technology has transformed space planning, from
a necessary evil to a mission critical discipline which adds value to
business: "With the advent in the late eighties of relatively inexpensive
CAD systems such as AutoCAD, and in the early nineties the networked computer
combined with the exponential growth in the late nineties of computer
processing power, the nature of Space Planning has taken on a new and
exciting form.
"As the tools got better, so did the end product. More solutions
could be offered and the ability to be flexible with those solutions allowed
FM professionals and architects to think more clearly about the impact
of space planning on building design and improving functionality for the
end user and facilities manager."
In the arena of space planning, says McNeece, new technology has allowed
architects and facilities managers to think ahead, to scenario plan and
take account of the increasing need to adapt at short notice to the changes
occurring almost on a daily basis in every business. Whether these changes
come in the form of mergers, acquisitions, consolidation or expansion
makes little difference. Changes in business structure and evolving working
culture are a constant headache for the FM professional and a regular
challenge to the space planner, and for that matter the manufacturers
of ceilings, partitions, furniture, lighting and HVAC systems etc.
Thinkplan.com combines experienced consultancy with the power of the Internet,
and aims to provide universal access to business space use data for any
individual with net access. Subsequently it seeks to breakdown the unseen
barriers that hinder critical ‘user’ buy-in to changes in workplace
culture, by providing a focus for the sharing of project information.
As McNeece points out, received wisdom holds that to minimise the cost
and time associated with change in the workplace you should reduce the
number of workspace standards (to one if possible), go completely open
plan, set out lighting, HVAC, partitions and ceilings on a 1.5m grid and
move your people, not their facilities.
"Few that would argue with this logic," he says but there is
a downside, "Very often facility flexibility is inversely proportional
to user satisfaction. Optimum facility efficiency has a price that few
can afford in the current labour market. The inevitable erosion of staff
morale, and subsequent staff attrition rates that result as a consequence
of poor space planning are sadly commonplace. The key to success in resolving
the dilemma of meeting cost conscious FM objectives and satisfying ‘end-user’
aspirations lies in effective communication with ‘end-users’,
and early controlled ‘user’ involvement in the project."
Richard Byatt
