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City bosses put ‘squeeze’ on office space regulations

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Employers are flouting regulations by failing to provide permanent employees with the required space to work in.

By law, employees should be given a minimum 11 cubic meters in which to work. In a warning to bosses, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) can slap flouting employers with a 20-day improvement notice.

“When you think that some London businesses in the West End are spending almost £15,000 to accommodate one office worker every year, it’s important to make every inch count,” said move specialists Cadogan Tate’s managing director, Neil Paul.

According to a survey by the Capita Group, the average London office has more than 10 per cent of floor space taken up by filing cabinets, areas that could be used for additional employee workstations or ensuring office employees are not working in less than ideal conditions.

Cadogan offer the following tips on how to utilise space effectively:

  • Move old files and unused furniture into storage regularly

  • Archive at least every three to six months

  • Reconfigure desks once old files and archives have been stored offsite

  • Ensure that obsolete IT equipment is sent for recycling

The 2007 review of the London Plan says an additional half a million office jobs will be created in the next 20 years, which accounts to at least an additional 7.67 million square metres over that period.

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One Response

  1. Archive documents in Self Storage

    This blog has very useful information. I work as an office administrator for a publishing firm. One of my responsibilities is to ensure that there is sufficient space for workstations and that they are as per government regulations.

     

    There is an ever growing demand for space as more documents are printed and filed, office equipment is replaced or damaged, unexpected deliveries, etc.

     

    We took a call 2 years back to store all the "non-essential" things in the office in a self storage unit. We make use of the services of an excellent Cardiff storage company called Storage Giant which is secure, flexible, scalable and cheap.

     

    Simon. 

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