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CLIENT
Corporate Headquarters
PROJECT
Test Fit Study
LOCATION
New Jersey
AREA
200,000 Sq Ft
Our client, an international leader in the development
of new drug therapies, began to weigh real estate
options for their New Jersey headquarters. As part of
that process and to help reach an informed move-stay
decision, JRS was hired to identify underutilized space
and create a program to accommodate additional staff.
Our first step typically is to derive a baseline of an
existing facility. We accomplish this with programming
questionnaires, surveys of user groups and interviews
with management or team leaders to pinpoint
corporate goals, both near and long term.
For this client a series of space plan test fits was the
essential service required for the purposes of strategic
planning. At JRS we develop test fit layouts by taking
into account a number of critical factors or metrics.
These metrics form the yardstick needed to verify that
our layout recommendation will effectively handle
future growth at the current space or if an alternate
headquarters location should be considered.
For example establishing a gross density ratio helped
determine the client’s usable square footage per
person and where proportional adjustments could be
made. We also factored in the number of staff in
private offices compared to those in systems furniture
or open cubicles. Work flow and critical adjacencies
were other important considerations.
Based on our analysis, JRS developed new office
standards as integral to our solution. Individual work
stations were significantly reduced in size; partition
panels were lowered in height; and bench seating was
introduced given the amount of employee mobility.
While still providing for generous collaborative and
break out areas, we were able to achieve a net gain of
over 200 seats, offering an efficient alternative to a
costly relocation.
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