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Definition for space

Before the project team begins to define the space need, it is necessary for them to understand the definition of the space required. Many organisations use the term ‘office space’, but they may not all be describing the same space.  Definitions for ‘office space’ vary, and this should raise awareness that many areas might be defined as ‘office space’, without looking like a person’s traditional perception of what ‘office space’ consists of. Key is the understanding that the project team’s defined ‘space need’ should consist of any area which aids in someway to achieving the following statement.

‘Meeting corporate objectives within any given or proposed stock of space, through achieving appropriate and functional spatial relationships of business functions, and through satisfying the needs of the people who perform these functions, in such a way that resulting physical solutions are cost-effective, can be managed efficiently and, above all, are capable of accommodating change.’

Determining the Space Need / Budget
With the recognition that defined space budget needs to be both flexible, and include a much wider definition of ‘office space’ than initially thought, the following diagram initially begins to determine the space budget a project team may arrive at.



The diagram shows that the technical breakdown of space within an organisations ‘office’. It is the green areas that Project teams will need to concentrate on most accurately defining, and it is largely within this area that efficiencies can be gained. These areas are defined as the ‘Net Usable Area (NUA)’ within a building.

When determining the space budget, there are a number of issues and potential ‘space types’ that must be considered before the NUA of a building can be accurately defined. Firstly the ‘typical’ types of space that create a workplace should be defined, and it is usual that the workplace is an amalgamation of these space types. Equally, within each of these space types, there are a number of sub-issues which must be considered. The space types and their sub-issues are detailed below.

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