Christopher Sykes RIBA looks at a new way of designing offices to provide total flexibility to meet changing work and technological practices while at the same time achieving a better indoor climate

Step inside the BAA Lynton office at Gatwick Airport and the 'climate' immediately feels quite different - clean, odourless and invigorating. Something different is obviously having a profound effect on the air quality of the building and on the employees. What is it?

Changing office practice increasingly means that occupants will need more freedom to modify internal layouts to accommodate organisational changes or expanding technological requirements. With the harsh reality of the commercial world today, managers and facilities managers require the ability to change or personalise work space easily and without enormous cost. At the same time, they require a healthy and comfortable environment to attract high calibre staff and to maximise staff productivity..

Conventional non-cellular floor layouts are expensive to change simply because the services are normally housed above, behind a false ceiling. The inflexibility of conventional piping for services and air-conditioning together with fixed ducts and grilles for distribution of air and heat are not conducive to easy inexpensive change. Even if no change was required, maintenance is always expensive and the office operation below is at risk from condensation, and bacterial growth. The inefficient circulation of air at ceiling level leads to poor indoor air quality.

The solution to all this is a revolutionary system now being adopted for all types of building, small and large, new or refurbished. This combines climate control and total office flexibility and is known as AET Flexible Space.

The simplicity of AET Flexible Space is based on the concept of using the empty volume below the raised access floor as the distribution route for both supply and return air. Effectively, this means that the whole of the space (plenum) is used for the air-conditioning without conventional ductwork. The upwards distribution of clean, healthy air is achieved with fan assisted intelligent terminals. Any modifications to where the air is introduced to suit changing office layouts or variations in the cooling and heating requirements are easily achieved by simple lifting and relocating the Fan terminals. This can be done in a matter of minutes and with minimal disruption to the working space.

Flexible space and cost savings

When the design decision is made not to use suspended ceilings, capital construction costs, building volumes, floor areas and climate quality are dramatically altered. For example, by eliminating the ceiling and saving 500mm of unnecessary height of each of its four floors, BAA Lynton at Gatwick was able to provide 25% more floor area within the same volume of building compared with a similar building using conventional Fan Coil air-conditioning and suspended ceilings previously built at London Heathrow. The Gatwick building was also erected in 38 weeks instead of an expected 58 weeks. Similarly, a multi-storied building can be reduced in height by 15% (with 7% reduction in construction costs). In Hong Kong, AET advised Cheung Kong Holdings on the use of Flexible Space at 'The Centre'. The saving in height was equivalent to a 10 storey office block!

Significantly too, reports from users indicate that any future disruption associated with changes to a conventional ceiling-based system will cost £100-£174sqm more than Flexible Space. Digital have quoted a 30% reduction in the cost of facilities-based operating costs after using the system in one of their South of France buildings. For many projects, the savings in the cost of configuration alone come close to paying the rent each year.

Another vital financial benefit, especially important to building owners and accountants, is that when the void is used as a ventilated plenum, the whole floor and most items placed on that floor, including partitioning, are treated as equipment and not as a fixture; they therefore attract capital allowances/depreciation. At Millbank London, the first UK development to use the Flexible Space System, capital allowances amounted to £8 million.

Flexible space in practice

One of the best recent examples of a small refurbishment using this technology is the Weighbridge Building previously occupied by the Wethered Brewery at Marlow on the River Thames.

Here the brief for architects Compton Lacey was to restore a neglected Victorian building back to office use, incorporating basement parking. Since these were speculative offices, future working layouts were likely to change and therefore a high level of flexibility was required. Due to the state of disrepair, the building needed to be completely gutted but with many of the original features retained.

With M&E Consultants Brinkfell Partnership, the architects considered a number of ways in which office services could be provided since this would have a significant impact on the design of the building, on its future flexibility and on the well-being of the occupants.

The decision to use the AET Flexible Space system below the access floor also meant that the framed roof structure could remain as an exposed feature. The provision of clean air would also create the most healthy of environments and pleasant working conditions.

By using this advanced system of indoor environmental technology, the occupants have freedom to modify internal layouts to accommodate organisational changes and to optimise indoor climate conditions. The only visible parts of the system are the floor fantiles. These not only offer individual climate control but can be resited quickly and easily.

This is one of the reasons for the system's 98% level of user satisfaction as reported by the Facilities Manager for a recent 10,000sqm installation at Rover's design headquarters.

At Marlow, the 300mm high access floor is covered with carpet tiles. However, AET also offers a wide range of factory bonded floorcoverings including glass, stainless steel, parquet and a superb selection of the finest granites and marbles. All are totally interchangeable with one another.

Issued by Christopher Sykes Pressential tel 01883 623329 fax 01883 625506 on behalf of Advanced Ergonomic Technologies

For further information contact:
Glan Blake Thomas at AET on
Tel: 01883 744860 Fax: 01883 741 866
Web Site: www.FlexibleSpace.com
Email: AET@FlexibleSpace.com