It’s A Wonderful Workplace
— Trends in Beijing Office Design

Today people spend small fortunes making their homes not only safe, but warm, attractive and comfortable. With the average Beijinger now spending nearly 50 hours a week in the office, it’s little surprise that a growing number of the city’s companies are realizing the importance of making the workplace more of a “home away from home”. Cutting edge office design, focusing on employee comfort as well as ergonomic functionality, is now seen by many businesses as the key to retaining quality personnel, increasing productivity, maintaining a competitive edge and having the right corporate image.

The increasing number of Western companies taking up residence in Beijing has stimulated the capital’s office design market, leading to rising standards and employee expectations, and fiercer competition for business. However, despite the rapidly changing market, there is still a significant gap between east and west in terms of mindset, best practice and budgeting.

Chi Zhang, General Manager of Sureline Design & Construction, whose major Beijing clients include Nike, the Kerry Centre and Habib Bank, explains, “In Beijing, Western companies on average budget 300% more for office design than Chinese companies – usually they have higher requirements in terms of quality and sophistication. Most Western companies like to give employees a minimum of 3-4 m2 in which to work – many Chinese companies are happy to have a nice lobby and then cram in as many employees as they can. In my opinion office design in the Chinese market is 10 years behind Europe, the US and Japan in Beijing, and maybe three to five years in Shanghai. ”

One problem that design companies used to have when catering to the requirements of Western companies in Beijing was the availability of quality materials. Kris Ryan is Director of Facility Asia, a regional corporate design, construction and facility management company based in Beijing and Singapore, with Fortune 500 clients in Beijing such as VW, BMW and Motorola. He comments, “Five years ago we even had to import chairs – there just wasn’t a suitable product available for purchase in China. Now the situation has improved and we can generally source quality products from Chinese companies, with a few exceptions. It’s a case of localization, with gaps. Of course the Chinese products are a lot cheaper, but we have to consider the quality.”

Discrepancies between Chinese and Western companies aside, office design in Beijing is progressing rapidly, and generally mirroring developments across the developed world. Two key trends are increasing consideration for employee comfort, and heightened environmental awareness. Rather than having a new office thrust upon them, more and more employees are being consulted as part of the design (or re-design) process. Green offices are both good for Mother Earth and for the corporate bottom line, with proof that an environmentally-friendly workspace can reduce life-cycle costs and enhance output.

Chi Zhang comments, “Keeping employees happy and comfortable isn’t rocket science. Ask them what they want. Most employees want a great bathroom, a nice, well-equipped kitchen, and an area where they can relax away from the pressures of work. With the move to open-plan, cubicle-style offices the latter is especially important. Chairs are also extremely important, and well-placed office greenery freshen things up. Finally, some discrete art or other visual stimulations keep the mind active, and changing the office layout or color scheme on a regular basis is a cheap way to stop the environment stagnating.”

Energy efficient light sources are becoming very important in corporate environments, and spaces that utilize a large amount of natural light are now popular, meaning a big increase in the use of glass. Separating ambient lighting from task lighting provides an ideal opportunity for energy efficiency. Companies are moving away from overhead fluorescent lighting whenever possible and using more user-friendly light sources, such as desk lamps. Indirect, softer light is used to create a more visually aesthetic and comfortable work environment, which generally leads to higher work output. Decorative fixtures made out of more expensive materials such as colored glass are being used in high traffic or common areas.

Mobility and flexibility are now also key drivers in office design. Research has shown that an employee’s ability to modify his or her personal space, even to a small degree, profoundly influences productivity and attitude. Kris Ryan elaborates, “Changing attitudes to the way people work and developments in technology are affecting the way office space is allocated and used. Most companies now favor open work environments where employees can communicate easily, yet still have their own workspace – private offices are more expensive to build, restrictive and far more difficult to modify than big spaces divided by low partition walls. Office-wide wireless access means employees can pretty much work anywhere if they have a laptop.”

It’s clear Western practices have influenced Chinese thinking in the office design field, but the traffic isn’t all one way. Although color schemes and materials are often largely dictated by the need for homogeneous corporate styling, many Western companies in Beijing are discretely adding a little oriental flavour using upmarket artwork. A well-placed Chinese vase or painting can certainly enhance any office environment, but striking the right balance between old and new, east meets west, is vital. The oriental practice of Feng Shui can also have a big effect on office design, with some proposed layouts requiring a radical re-think following the visit of a grand master.

In Beijing, as across the globe, office design trends will continue to meet the needs of end-users. As technology progresses, designers and suppliers will be forced to provide new concepts that facilitate changing work practices. As the workforce increases and space becomes less affordable, more offices will be designed around total space efficiency, flexibility and comfort. As more Western corporations arrive in the Chinese capital, and Chinese companies play catch-up, the design market will undoubtedly become more lucrative, with increased competition, a greater choice of better quality products manufactured in China, and a far broader range of clients receptive to new ideas. Who knows, with the evolution of the perfect working environment, some employees may even start volunteering for overtime.

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