Remodel in an operational office

After our brainstorming sessions, beautiful plans (designing is our business, after all) and thorough preparation comes, of course, the wonderful challenge of renovating our own office while keeping it operational. And nothing is more fun than our own project managers working in the office and keeping a very close eye on how we do it. Our designers as the most critical audience for the design, the project managers for the execution.

Work breakdown in small steps

The adjustment is the reduction of the entire hall from 500 to 350 m2 and the adjustment of the office concept to a layout more focused on a hybrid way of working. To realize that in an operational office, we divided it into a number of steps:

dismantling of old meeting rooms while preserving materials for reuse
dismantling acoustical ceilings for reuse
installing the new partition wall
adapting the lighting to the new layout
construction of new partitions
reassembly acoustic wall panels
assembly and installation of new furniture
reassembly of the existing acoustical ceilings
realization of new team meeting places

By breaking it down into small work packages, we can do the work while there is still work to be done. Many of these work packages are in 1 or 2 business days, with the occasional run-out to a weekend.

Dismantling meeting rooms with reuse of the materials

The part to be divested, vacated

Installation of partition wall between old and new office

Dismantling Forbo Tessera floor tiles for reuse.

Rebuilding in operational office

All of these steps were scheduled at the daily level in short sprints. These days were coordinated with the team so that on those days employees know that work is being done and they can choose to work from home. By then planning one activity each time that can be completed within the workday and combining that with the adjustment in layout, the office moves a little closer to the final situation each step at a time.