BUSINESSES could save a lot of money if they conducted proper office space planning before finding premises.

Space planners and office designer Structured Projects Worklife says that with some planning, businesses could save by obtaining office space that has been tailored to suit their needs.

"One of the most striking things is when a corporate is looking for an office they go to the broker market and they tell the broker what space they are looking for," says CEO Brian Klass. "The broker then finds the offices to match the corporate's requirements. But if clients did proper space planning they may find they need much less space."

Klass says 90% of businesses take up too much space. "If a client is looking for space of 1000m², the broker will go and look for buildings to house that kind of space. If they did proper space calculations beforehand they could find that they only need 800m²."

Because the clients are taking less space, they could also take it in a better district and building and still achieve their bottom line in terms of rental calculations.

Klass says these office space calculations are not done by brokers because it is not part of their function. Klass says if a business intends expanding, his group factors these considerations into account when looking for premises.

Sep 03 2003 07:48:50:000AM Nick Wilson Business Day 1st Edition