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The information that follows is from Laurence King Publishing:

Planning Office Spaces A Practical Guide for Managers and Designers by Juriaan van Meel, Yuri Martens and Hermen Jan van Ree

Planning Office Spaces, by Juriaan van Meel, Yuri Martens and Herman Jan van Ree and published by Laurence King in October 2010 is a practical guide to creating successful work environments. With a step-by-step approach, it takes the reader from strategic objectives and fundamental choices to space-by-space design guidelines and practical recommendations for implementation.

When planning a new office, designers and their clients are faced with many challenges and questions. Fundamental questions to be addressed include: What do people actually do in an office? What types of activities need to be facilitated? What kind of office spaces best support key activities? Subsequently, a wide range of decisions has to be taken concerning issues such as floor plans, zoning, partitions, furniture, and so on. Before rushing into detailed design proposals, however, it is important to set a number of strategic objectives, decide on various crucial choices, and select the right office spaces.

At the strategic level, it is important to set clear and constructive objectives concerning issues such as occupancy costs, effectiveness of the working environment and environmental impact. Subsequently, organizations need to decide whether employees work at the office or elsewhere, whether they get allocated or shared workstations, whether they work in open spaces of enclosed rooms, etc. Finally, the right work spaces, meeting spaces and support spaces need to be selected. Planning Office Spaces is written to assist during all phases of the planning process, looking at each of these issues in turn and showing the alternatives on offer and clearly indicating the advantages and disadvantages. It helps both clients and their design teams to structure ideas, think critically and create unique work environments that really work!

Juriaan van Meel is a senior consultant at ICOP, a workplace consultancy firm in the Netherlands, which he co-founded. He is also senior researcher at the Centre for Facilities Management – Realdania Research in Copenhagen. His previous publications include The European Office and, as co-author, The Office, the Whole Office and Nothing but the Office.

Yuri Martens is a researcher and a practitioner on workplace strategy, combining his PH.D. research on creative work environments with strategic workplace consultancy. Previously he worked at the Center for People and Buildings in the Netherlands, where he co-authored the Werkplekwijzer, the Dutch predecessor to this book.

Hermen Jan van Ree is a senior consultant on strategy, CSR and sustainability – specializing in performance management. Previously he worked as a senior research fellow at University College London and various research institutes in the Netherlands and the United States. He is an active member of the BIFM and a principal expert to the European Committee for Standardization.

150 illustrations 230 x 170 mm
144 pages
PAPERBACK
ISBN – 978 1 85669 698 2
£17.95

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