Refit rethink does away with ‘desk job’ downtime

New  time-saving procedures which will spruce up  office environments with the minimum of disruption to staff  have been rolled out as part of an extensive refurbishment at the Lafarge HQ in Gordano near Bristol.

Bristol Based Premier Office Solutions partnered with their flooring contractor Rudge Brothers and James to replace  worn  flooring while keeping office disruption to an absolute minimum.

To enable this to happen, Rudge Brothers and James used their specially designed desk lifting equipment to ensure a seamless changeover outside normal office hours.

The high–tech-lifting equipment is able to raise the furniture off the ground by just 50mm allowing the carpet tiles to be replaced without  unplugging any of the computer equipment or telephones. This saves time, money and energy as it enables staff to remain at their desks throughout the refit period without any loss of productivity.

Rudge Brothers and James operations maanager  Jim Heal said : “The system not only cuts down on disruption but also saves up to 50 per cent on costs, two of the main factors which might persuade a company against replacing worn floor coverings.”

All the old carpet tiles will be taken to a special recycling centre and turned into backing material.

Lafarge provides plasterboard products to the building industry and is respected for its focus on safety, innovation and sustainability.

Lafarge’s Christelle Dobson commented: “We were keen to keep any disruption and downtime to a minimum by using the desk lifting system, this allowed us to come in every morning to find the carpet had been fitted to another area without us even having to unplug any of the IT equipment and phones let alone reposition any of the furniture. The POS team were extremely helpful and flexible.

“They space planned and managed the desk changes, general office moves and co-coordinated our refurbishment in a very professional manner”.

Premier Office Solutions also supplied space planning, new furniture and a managed office move together with cabling alterations during evenings and weekends to further smooth the office refit.

Jim Heal concluded: “LaFarge and Premier Office Solutions recognized the benefits immediately when we suggested of utilizing our desk lifting system and to recycle their old tiles. We have now carried out three projects this year so far using this system due to its many advantages over physically moving staff, their desks, paperwork, computers and phones this is set to continue to be a growth area of business.”