Space Planning. How Much Space Do I Really Need?
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 6:35PM When it comes time to rent office space, there is a logical calculation to determine how much space you really need. You might use this method if you did not have a professional space planner and architect analyzing the efficiency of office space on your behalf.
You have Offices, Work Stations, Clerical, Secretarial, Meeting Room, Facilities, Service Areas, Etc. Each item above has a particular size range. You tally up how many of each item you need, then multiply the quantity with each size, add the Circualtion Factor (the amount of space used for circulation paths within your space), approximately 20%, then add the Load Factor (your percentage of shared common area space in the entire building) approximately 12%-25% and you have your Rentable Square Footage.
Rentable square foot is the Usable square foot plus Load Factor. Also to note, Rentable Square Footage is the amount of space you are charged for on a per square foot basis.
Generally speaking, higher density offices will be approximately 175 square feet per employee while lower density offices will be approximately 325 square feet per employee after all said and done.
Make sure you plan for 3-5 years of growth in advance and allow for some flexibility in your space for the future.
To use the space calculator, click on link below.
Office Space Calculator
