Many modern offices are designed using an open plan layout and for good reason, as this type of space is ideal for building staff relationships, collaborating on projects and making all staff approachable.

However, with the considerable size of some open plan offices, the noise within these spaces can reverberate across the workplace, creating a distracting environment to try to work in.

Using our experience in office design, we are keen to share the ways in which we believe you can reduce the noise pollution within your office.

How can Carpet Tiles help?

Have you ever been sat at your desk and been distracted by the noise pollution from a colleague putting their cup down or being drawn into a conversation that is being had on the far side of the office?

This transfer of sound can be reduced by the installation of carpet tiles with an acoustic backing. This backing material can dramatically reduce the distance that sound waves travel throughout the open plan space, making them an ideal product to use within your office to improve the working environment of staff and colleagues.

A benefit of using carpet tiles is that they are also a fantastic way of incorporating colour and design into your work space.

Our suppliers have various products with different specifications, which can be used in different areas throughout your office facility.

Protecting the Ceiling…

Many offices have suspended ceilings, which in themselves will not stop too much noise from travelling throughout offices. There are a few things you can do, depending on your budget, to reduce the noise within larger spaces with suspended ceilings.

Firstly, a cost effective solution to reducing the movement of ‘room to room’ sound and the reverberation of noises in the office below, is the installation of polythene encased pads above the ceiling. These pads are the same size as a ceiling tile and simply lay on top of them. This product can be installed easily and the encased product ensures no loose fibres are left above the ceiling.

A more involved option is to add acoustic panels below the suspended ceiling. Not only does this offer better acoustic performance within an office, it also offers aesthetic opportunities, as these panels are visible from the office below. These panels come in different shapes and colours; and can even have artwork printed on them. This ensures they not only fit into your office space seamlessly, but they can also add an additional layer of design into your workplace. These acoustic panels can also be used on both walls and ceilings.

Screening and its attributes

We all need desks to work from, so another effective way to enhance acoustic protection is to add screens to our desks. These screens are a good way of breaking up the open space and creating more private spaces. As with other acoustic solutions, screens come in different shapes and colours, so can be used to accentuate a particular design, for branding or used to zone areas within your office.

What is booth seating?

In addition to free-standing screens, booth seating can be used within open plan offices to break up the space, offer breakout areas and informal meeting spaces. Used to good effect, you can create a welcoming and well-designed working environment, for staff and visitors alike, while not distracting or being distracted.

Phone booths in offices….

Not all works paces have ample space for large meeting rooms, but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy areas within your open plan office where you can get aware from the noise of the office and have a private conversation.

We are seeing a rise in the popularity of ‘Phone Booths’ within office design, as these are relatively small pods or meeting rooms, made from acoustic material and are fully demountable and relocatable.

Our team of experts are capable of designing a system for your office, to assist in improving your working environment. They would welcome the opportunity to discuss your requirements, so please contact us today!

We all know that due to advances in technology, the modern way of working has changed substantially within the past decade. We are now able to work effectively from home, out on the road or even from another country!

These changes have unsurprisingly altered the working environment within offices as well, seen through the expansion of areas for ‘hot-desking’. But can we learn other lessons from these modern ways of flexible working, to improve the offices in which the majority of us still work?

At Meridian Interiors we have been thinking about the ways in which we could use some of the advantages of working from home to help your office staff get the best out of their working day.

Working remotely could offer the following advantages:

1. A comfortable or more relaxed environment to work in
2. Less interruptions, improving productivity 
3. Improved work-life balance
4. Lowered stress levels and a greater well being

As it is not possible for all staff to have a flexible working arrangement, it therefore seems sensible to establish areas within offices where staff can go to work uninterrupted for short periods to concentrate on a project, without the regular interruptions from colleagues and telephone calls. This could, more obviously, improve productivity but also the mental well-being of staff, who feel like they are managing to get through their ‘to-do list’. 

In conjunction with this, a well presented and aesthetically pleasing break-out area can help employees to enjoy breaks from their screens, benefit from a relaxed break with colleagues and feel more valued. 

You can read more about this in our blog ‘The benefits of encouraging staff to use breakout areas’. 

Creating a comfy working environment is also key and we can use good lighting, relaxing colours on walls, domestic style commercial flooring and advances in modern office furniture design, to this end. Supplying ergonomic furniture, sit-stand desks, relaxed break out furniture, anti-glare screens can all improve the experience for staff, while they are at work. Our sister company Meridian Office Furniture are experts in designing bespoke workstation solutions and they are keen for you to contact them, if you would like any more ideas.

So if you would like to explore how your company could improve the working environment and subsequently increase staff productivity through forward thinking office design, please contact Meridian Interiors today!

When you embark on a new office refurbishment, the amount of different tasks to think about can seem daunting, especially if you are developing designs, sourcing trades people, dealing with building regulations, working with a project manager through another company, the list goes on…!

If, however, you choose to deal with a company, like Meridian Interiors, who offer a full ‘turn-key’ service, you benefit from dealing with a main point of contact who can look after the following services and talk you through the project from beginning to end:

• Space Planning
• Office Design
• Product Sourcing
• On-going Project Cost Analysis
• Project Management and Change Management
• Health and Safety Coordination and Management
• Local Authority Regulatory Compliance

Benefits of using Meridian Interiors for your ‘Turn-key’ Service

1. One point of contact with specialist knowledge and expertise.
2. Better communication and quicker project turnaround.
3. Bespoke service, tailored to your needs.
4. Use of an Office Interiors company, who work with a sister company, specialising in Office furniture.

Our Team at Meridian are customer facing, always pleased to discuss your future projects and we are proud of our reputation for gaining repeat business, which equates to 80% of our annual turnover.

If you would like to experience what Meridian can offer for your next interiors project, please do not hesitate to contact us today!

One of the enjoyable parts of embarking on an interior design project for your office or commercial space is getting to choose the colours and materials that will make up your new working environment.

The skill comes from knowing how to put all of these elements together to create a well-laid out space, which offers a nice environment for staff and clients alike.

One way in which this can be achieved is to use contrasting floor coverings to distinguish between areas, which works especially well within open plan office environments.

Different types for different purposes

Flooring can be used for different purposes, from creating a safe, slip free environment, to a luxurious and opulent space.

Even within one building there will be the opportunity to use different types, textures and colours of floor covering, whether it’s to differentiate between a break-out area, Kitchenette, Boardroom or walkway.

Within a large open plan office you may want to distinguish between departments, with a subtle change in colour or a patterned verses plain carpet tile.

What would we suggest?

Within an open plan office environment we would suggest using contract grade carpet tiles, which are hard wearing and easy to replace in a small area, if needed.

Another benefit of contract grade carpet tiles is the vast choice of colours, styles and shapes that can be used to create impressive designs. We can now choose from planked carpet tiles, offering more ways to design flooring layouts, create zones and add flashes of colour.

Luxury Vinyl Tiles (LVT), which are available in ranges that offer the aesthetics of real wood and stone, can be used in partnership, alongside carpet tiles, without causing a trip hazard. This can work well as a clear way to distinguish between a Reception and office area, a Kitchen within an open plan office or a walkway within an office.

At Meridian Interiors, we are experts in design and planning and would be happy to help you with all aspects of your interior refurbishment, especially discussing all of the possible flooring options and how it can make your refurbishment come to life!

Discover the secrets to mastering office partitioning from office experts, Meridian Interiors Ltd

Not all offices will be built in line with your company’s departments, teams and functions. Fit the space around your business with office partitioning. These cost effective walls can be quickly deployed to create an organisational layout that suits your needs.

Use this quick guide to assess what types of partitioning is best for your workplace to help maximise efficiency, reduce noise between departments and generally provide a non-disruptive flow of foot traffic around the operational areas.

Stud

This is the most basic type of partitioning, consisting of a poly-plastic or metal frame, secured to the floor. This forms a skeleton structure that is subsequently covered with panels to create physical partitions. Plasterboard is typical used in the construction of these partitions.

Glass

Glass partitions are like stud partitions, however instead of solid, opaque panels, glass sheets are added to the structure, creating transparent barriers. This type of partitioning is especially useful when an area of a workspace suffers from a lack of natural light. Glass can be double glazed to create insulation or frosted with the company logo.

Temporary Partitions

Extending curtains or concertina partitions are one way of creating a temporary barrier between different areas of your workspace. This type of partitioning is often found in hotels or conference rooms, allowing the business owners to scale the space in accordance with client’s demands.

Timber Partitions

Timber partitions use an all wooden construction, from the structural supports through to the panels. Creating an elegant and classic profile, timber partitions, particularly those made from hardwood are a stylish alternative to conventional stud systems.

Cubicles

Smaller, individual partitions are available to mark out individual booths or working areas in open plan offices. This type of divider allows for employees to control their immediate working environment, whilst also promoting communication and collaboration through members of the team.

Creating Functional Areas in the Business

The principle reason for partitioning is to delineate space within the office or workplace environment into rooms and sections for various purposes. Separating each individual area promotes a focus on specific business activities, allowing a more ordered and structured organisational framework. Some of the more common uses include:

Sales floor

If you have a busy outbound calling floor this can often create quite a large amount of noise, commotion and energy. Whilst this is great for the salespeople, this can prove disruptive to other functions in the business and partitions can dramatically reduce this issue.

Executive office

Partitioning can allow individual spaces to be created for company directors, offering a degree of privacy for important calls and operational discussions with the business leaders.

Boardroom

Every large business needs a boardroom. Even though such rooms often now function as meeting rooms for different teams and important client presentations, the large table, set seats and chairs create a sense of purpose and presence.

Reception area

Keep clients separate from the functional areas of your business with a designated reception area. Here they can drink coffee and wait for taxis to pick them up following meetings without having to leave the building.

Department location

If your business is large enough to have dedicated departments, then partitions will allow all the members of each individual team to congregate in a set area. Customer service, IT support, finance and HR can all be given their own domain, promoting team cohesion and understanding.

A simple guide to increasing productivity at work through the use of colour in office design.

Whether you are an employer, or an employee you may be looking at methods to increase productivity within the work place. Did you know that it could be as simple as adding colour to your office space?

Colour is a powerful tool to not only increase productivity, but also to stimulate, engage and excite those in the workplace.

To choose the right colour for your office space, follow our simple guide!

Blue – For the Mind

Blue is a colour known universally as the colour of peacefulness and serenity. When used in both living and working spaces, it can create a sense of calmness and order. Science has proved that blue aids in lowering heart rate and blood pressure – not only calming the mind, but also the body.

The colour blue is also a leading colour used within the corporate world. Companies such as Dell, American Express and HP all use the colour within their logos. Blue is so widely used corporately as it is a colour consumers perceive as safe, trustworthy and honest.

In a workplace where productivity levels need to be high to complete daily tasks and various tasks – blue is the perfect colour to adopt into the office theming.

Green – For Balance

Green – the colour synonymous with nature and the environment is the perfect colour to aid in creating balance between the body, the mind and emotions. When the body and mind feel balanced, innovation and creativity are heightened.

For workplaces where innovation and creativity is a key component of the business, green is the ideal colour to use within the theming.

Red – For the Body

Red is the most physically stimulating colour; increasing the heart rate and raises blood pressure. Its attention grabbing, which globally is known as a colour to portray warning. The stimulating nature of red makes it the ideal colour to use within offices where employees are highly detailed-orientated.

Within office design, it is recommended to use red as either an accent colour, or use warmer tones such as burgundy.

Yellow – For Positivity

The radiant and uplifting nature of yellow creates greater confidence and positivity, which in turns increases productivity. It’s a fun and cheerful which not only grabs attention, but can create intensity which in turn creates a welcoming and warming environment to work within.

Similarly to red, yellow is best placed within office design as an accent colour. Painting a single wall yellow is just enough to enforce the cheery and optimistic nature of yellow. Yellow is the ideal colour to incorporate in a space which requires energy and stimulation.

This week sees the launch of Meridian Interior’s Floor to Ceiling campaign. Offering website visitors insight and techniques associated with office planning, fit-out and refurbishment, the campaign will feature a series of comprehensive on-site articles each profiling an individual area of interest.

Paul Kyriakou, Operations Director for Meridian Interiors made the following statement about the campaign: “over our years of working with businesses we have developed established systems of office planning. By providing potential and existing clients with access to our knowledge we hope to help strengthen our existing connections and attract new business.”

He went on to add “in 2017 we are placing a greater focus on utilising the internet as one of the primary tools in our communication strategy. This is why we have opted for an approach that centres of using our skills and ability to provide visitors to our website with an insight into the real value of our service”

The first topics of the two articles are key considerations that companies should review before moving into a new property and a closer look at deploying partitions within an office environment to aid efficiency. The business produces the content in a raw format and then using the services of a professional content expert to style the information into an engaging and intriguing article.

Not only is the campaign intended to assist SMEs in effectively planning office layouts and understanding the furniture options available, it also forms part of a larger web strategy for the business. Through content marketing Meridian Interiors hopes to widen their audience base on popular search engines including Google and Bing.

Meridian Interiors has been in business since 2002. Operating in the commercial sector, they provide clients with a fully comprehensive office interior service. This includes initial design consultations, furniture supply and managing the installation of essential services.

Most businesses decide at some point that they need to consider an office fit out. It could be that you are moving to new premises or perhaps your office just needs updating. Regardless of the reasons behind it an office fit out is something that requires a great deal of thought and consideration.

You will need to think about the current layout and facilities in the office and how you can improve these. There is nothing worse than an office space where employees (especially from different departments) are sat in close proximity often with distracting results. This is perhaps why you should give proper consideration to office partitioning as part of your office refurbishment.

Partitioning enables you to create subtle, yet separate work spaces for employees. This is without going to the hassle and expense of creating extra rooms or putting up permanent partition walls. By having separate workspaces it enables employees to concentrate more fully on their tasks therefore increasing productivity and efficiency.

If your employees are required to use the phone then the partitioning will help to cut out the distracting noise of other people talking, meaning you are better able to concentrate on your own tasks. As the partitions are not forming completely separate spaces everyone can still feel part of the team and communicate with others when required. However, they still have a degree of privacy so can get on with work even if others are talking.

Another benefit of partitioning is that it can easily be moved around. This means if you need to change the layout of the office, if for example a new desk is added, the partitioning can be moved to accommodate this. The partitioning can also be added to if your business grows meaning it is a flexible solution.

Partitioning can take various forms from small partitioning between desks to larger glass partitioning. If you do want a separate office space then glass partitioning is ideal as the glass allows light flow meaning the rooms feel spacious and staff do not feel isolated as they can see into (or out of) the partitioned area.

With all the different options of partitioning available for your office fit out it is often worth discussing it with an expert. An office refurbishment can be a large and stressful job to do on your own so utilising the skills of an expert make it a little easier. Just get in touch: we have a dedicated team of experts ready to answer any of your office fit out questions.

An office refurbishment can seem like an expensive and daunting prospect but sometimes it is exactly what your company needs. If your office and reception areas are drab and tired then it is likely your staff will feel the same. This has a knock on effect on productivity and on the first impression of your business your visitors receive.

Your office and reception area are the first places that potential clients and customers see. If the area looks dull and uncared for then they are likely to be left with the impression that people don’t really care about the company or their customers.

In contrast if the reception and office areas are full of bright, funky furniture and well-designed then the client is much more likely to remember you in a positive way.

If the office refurbishment has been given lots of thought and consideration then you can guarantee your employees will be thankful. A new environment is likely to inspire them, creating new ideas and also boosting their productivity. If you don’t believe that an office refurbishment can boost productivity then just look at the research. The Abius Report was completed in 2009 and reported that 62% of US workers said they would be more motivated to work if their employers made an effort to improve their work surroundings.The facts back this up as the study references research that found enriched work environments improved productivity by around 15%. Involving your employees in the plans was another key in increasing productivity as productivity doubled to 30% when they were involved in refit plans. The British Council of Offices produced a similar study in which they found that office workers prefer funky fit outs rather than traditional ones with 60% of people stating a funky office refurbishment increased their productivity.

It is clearly important to consider an office refurbishment project from all angles and if the research is correct then get your staff involved. Ask what they would like to see or what would be helpful for them.

Specialised office refurbishment

An office refurbishment project may seem quite daunting which is why it is often best to entrust it to a specialised office refurbishment company such as Meridian Interiors. We would like to be able to take the project from its initial concept through to completion.

If you want to leave your office refurbishment project to the professionals contact Meridian Interiors and see your business productivity grow.