t20-win

Business · November 4, 2020

Four things to consider when renovating your business premises

It’s an exciting time when your business has evolved beyond your kitchen table and you have taken the plunge to purchase business premises and hire staff. However, your new premises might require a lot of renovation work before they are suitable as a place of work – and indeed for carrying out your particular business. Renovating business premises does involve slightly different considerations to renovating a house, though most of the same principles still apply, such as creating and sticking to a budget, and hiring experts to carry out intricate tasks. For more specific points, here are four things to consider when renovating your business premises.

1. Health and safety

Your primary consideration should be to ensure that your new premises satisfy your local health and safety requirements. Ensure that the layout of your premises allow for a quick and easy evacuation in the case of emergency, and make sure you include fire doors and fire extinguishers. Any heavy machinery should be placed in a secure area with protective materials included to help protect its operators. If you have bought an older building previously used as business premises, you might have to carry out a safety inspection: certain materials used in industrial buildings in the past, for instance asbestos, have since been found to be hazardous to health. You will need to hire a professional to remove such materials before your premises are fit for occupation.

2. Flooring

Different areas of your premises are likely to require different flooring solutions. Offices, for instance, might be best suited to a durable carpet – this will be attractive and easy to clean. Workshops, factory floors and warehouses will require a different type for floor covering. Epoxy flooring is suitable for commercial and industrial flooring as it provides a hard wearing, durable surface with a high shine. This easy to clean quality ensures that your flooring will be hygienic whilst also look its best whilst withstanding heavy use from industrial machinery.

3. Ventilation

You should seek to ensure that your business premises provide good ventilation for the comfort and safety of your staff. Offices are notorious for getting stuffy, which can reduce the productivity of office staff. Increase air flow in your office by adding an air conditioning unit and ensuring that its filters are kept clean and clear and changed regularly. Ventilation is perhaps even more important on an industrial floor, which might experience dust and toxic fumes from the materials involved in your work. To target this, invest in an industrial ventilation system to keep the air clean and ensure the continued health of your workforce.

4. Windows

Overpowering LED office lights can sometimes provoke headaches in some susceptible individuals. To reduce the glare of electric lights, try to boost your use of natural light by ensuring that there are plenty of windows in your premises. Not only will these provide a natural light source, looking out of the window for a short time will give your staff a break from screens, reducing eye strain.