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Quite simply, many office workplaces say much more about the past than the future. The reasons for this are complex, not least because of the emotional and cultural attachments we have formed with our conventional physical working environment, particularly in terms of status. But with the right approach, effective and highly beneficial change can be made to seemingly inflexible workspaces.

There are as many models of flexible workspaces as there are organisations to adopt them. Finding the right way to match the needs of your business culture, within the constraints of your existing premises, is a great challenge. Open minds, rather than open-plan, may provide the real key to success and for those organisations stuck with their existing office space, without the option of moving to brand new accommodation, all is not lost — and there is much to be gained.

The future lies in an appropriate balance of open and enclosed space rather than the traditional extremes of completely open-plan or cellular space. So before planning any structural alterations or even 'demounting' the partitions in your old office floor, it is worth looking at any existing cellular accommodation to see if it can be re-used. Corner offices and those hogging the windows should most certainly go, but small cells in deep space can be kept, since enclosed areas that will be used for short periods of concentrated work should be on the inside of the workspace. This allows the open areas, where more prolonged work is undertaken, the most daylight.

When planning the amount of cellular accommodation, a ratio of 70 per cent open to 30 per cent enclosed space is reasonable for an office where all space is shared. However, the enclosures can be cut further by providing alternative meeting and concentration spaces in the open areas, such as booths in a quiet area of the office or screened-off meeting spaces for two people.

Keeping a high proportion of open-plan space and removing 'owned' cellular space, especially that for status purposes, is all-important since one of the main benefits claimed for flexible office layouts is greater interaction and information sharing among the occupants.

Share options
Assuming that the new layout will include some, if not all, of the possible new work settings, between 40 per cent and 50 per cent of the workspace should typically be given over to shared non-desk work settings. The precise balance and style of all these spaces will depend on current and desired working styles and culture, and the degree to which desks will be shared.

Where you position the various work settings is important. Owned and shared desks can work well in harmony, though owned desks (allocated on grounds of need rather than status) should be placed in the best locations environmentally and away from the more extreme nomadic activities.

Areas where short-term working is expected should be easily accessible, nearer the entrance. Informal meeting space and service areas also need to be accessible and placed near key circulation, but away from desks and quiet spaces. In larger projects, particularly where hot-desking is planned, it is a good idea to create team zones or neighbourhoods — to create an identity and sense of belonging for staff.

Don't forget the space will probably have to work for peripatetic staff too — and, as flexible workspace, it should always accommodate a high turnover and variety of users and visitors. If part of the space is to be used by nomads from other departments or buildings, your plans should make the space as accessible as possible to those with disabilities.

First impressions
First impressions are important. Since the new layout is likely to be a cause for comment among workers in more traditionally planned offices, you want the view from the entrance to give a strong message to visitors and occupants alike.

Appropriate decor will help, but so will providing good sight-lines to the variety of different workspaces across the floor. To create 'geography' on an open floorplan, you could consider raising the floor level in one or two places to make a feature of certain areas or types of work setting.

The entrance to the floor is also the place for the reception desk. Your new office may need to incorporate the role of a floor manager or concierge who can welcome visitors, take bookings for spaces, answer queries and act as a point of contact for any IT or furniture problems. Basing them near the entrance means they fulfil a secondary security function in a space which may have the risky mix of portable ICT equipment and a lot of passers-by.

There is no rule that says offices have to be dull and grey or that the decor cannot be changed regularly. Yet the tendency is always to go for a safe and predictable approach when it comes to office space, even though we comfortably adopt different thinking in our homes and social lives.

The risks here are not as high as you may think. You can sensibly balance contemporary colour and style through walls, artwork, accessories and other features — all of which can be easily and inexpensively changed — with modern desks and furniture, which are less extreme in colour and style and therefore timeless and longer lasting.

This balance can work extremely well and should satisfy the concerns of the finance director. Flooring is a particularly cheap way to change perceptions at little expense. Existing carpets (which it is safe to predict will be a nondescript shade) can be retained in the desk areas, but contrasting warm colours let in to mark out communal areas.

Vinyl flooring will serve better than carpet in areas which may in future have a heavier throughput of people, or where food and drink will be consumed (as in break-out areas with vending nearby.)

Don't forget all the little details and finishing touches that can make a big difference visually and are often inexpensive. Even providing the right desk filing trays or wastebins can be important.

Old and new
Furniture is a vital component of an effective office. Before choosing it, be conscious of the heavy wear that it will endure, especially where it has multiple users. A soft, domestic style may seem appealing but may not be appropriate.

There are as many models of flexible workspaces as there are organisations to adopt them. Finding the right way to match the needs of your business culture, within the constraints of your existing premises, is a great challenge. Open minds, rather tha

Existing desks can still be used, although, depending on age and style, they can be a serious constraint in terms of their ability to be re-configured to manage cables or allow hot-desking. Desks with built-in filing pedestals, for instance, will encourage people to use them for local storage leading to creeping territoriality. Workstations set up for either left- or right-handed people are also problematic since they will not suit the full range of potential users.

All shared work settings should also have easy, desk-level access to power and data outlets, so users are not left scrabbling on the floor to recharge phones or plug in laptops.

Desktop power and data pods can be attached to existing workstations (where once these had to be specially designed and made, several manufacturers now offer them as a standard item) and many new furniture ranges include them. But this 'flood' provision of power and data access means you should consider at the start of the project whether you will be upgrading the office's cabling. Wireless data and connectivity is now becoming much more affordable and practicable — so also consider these options, even if only to pilot it in a small way.

Any screens between desks are best kept as low as possible, again to encourage interaction. Noise should not be a problem; in an open space, most people will adjust their voices and behaviour to allow for their impact on neighbours.

The issue of storage has to be addressed early in the planning stage of any remodelling project. The fact that office occupants will no longer be able to surround their desk with mountains of personal files can be used as a lever to rationalise storage generally and attempt to suppress the hoarding instinct, destroying or archiving unused material and freeing more space. Reference works such as manuals and directories can be shared and stored in an accessible central resource.

Personal storage for essential filing and personal effects must still be offered near the team or hot-desking area, but it should be limited. The vogue for mobile pedestals, dragged to the desks by a lead or handle, has largely passed as they proved cumbersome and unstable.

Fixed banks of drawers or lockers in the vicinity are better. These can be stacked against a wall or used in open space to delineate different areas in the office. Staff can be provided with small file baskets or carriers to enable easy and safe transfer of papers to their chosen work setting.

Low-tech opportunity
Laptop and palmtop computers, flat screens, cable-less equipment, intranets, mobile telephony, voicemail, videoconferencing, voice-recognition and so on, are all extremely useful developments that are also becoming more affordable.

Mobile, dynamic 'follow-up' telephony is one of the most valuable developments — as it truly releases staff from being tied to their desks and takes the strain from those left fielding nomadic colleagues' calls. It is often overlooked by the emphasis on computer (laptop) mobility. Also, don't forget that all that mobile equipment requires greater security.

However, you don't necessarily need leading-edge technology to run an effective, modern office. Much of the existing technology in organisations is under-used and a lack of imagination can be the biggest constraint to how it can be applied successfully to support flexibility, mobility and knowledge sharing.

Hot-desking can still operate successfully with desktop PCs and traditional telephones — although new disciplines and protocols need to be adopted to make appropriate use of these technologies. With telephones, for instance, employees have to be thoroughly trained in call diverting (a feature available on even the oldest PABX) and reminded regularly until it becomes second nature.

People sitting down at a desk only to receive calls for the person who sat there the day before will be understandably annoyed. Likewise, leaving material on the hard disks of shared PCs must be strongly discouraged, requiring the computing equivalent of the clean-desk policy so vital to shared workspace.

Book it
An effective flexible workspace typically has a mix of bookable and non-bookable work settings to support both planned and spontaneous activities. You can experiment with the balance here — more formal meeting spaces and hot-desks are best managed with a booking system.

There are some expensive dedicated software packages, but any organisation using a proprietary diary programme such as Lotus Notes or Microsoft Outlook can save the expense and adapt the existing system with little effort. But a hi-tech answer is not obligatory. In some organisations, space is still reserved using a paper-based system.

If the flexible office is provided for only part of the organisation — perhaps on a pilot basis — then do remember to welcome the rest of the organisation to the new world. Encourage their participation and use of the area (and build this into your capacity planning) and even formalise their visits through events or by placing key facilities or resources that are needed by the rest of the organisation within the flexible workspace.

Such exemplary space should be highly visible and easily accessible. This will be important so as not to create an 'us and them' situation, as well as to assist in preparing the wider organisation to understand, adjust to and accept the changes — paving the way for refits elsewhere.

Management should take an active part in such pilots — providing visible leadership and direction through example.

In some respects, the transition for staff can be the most difficult aspect of all. The modern, dynamic office can require considerable cultural adjustment. For example, the emphasis on sharing and on a more open working environment undermines many of the traditional status-orientated aspects of office life.