Birmingham City Council is refurbishing the offices of 9,000 council workers. It wants to show them how their workplaces will look.

Its Business Transformation property programme aims to modernise workspaces to encourage more flexible working and introduce better ICT services, with a view to saving £100m over a 25 year period.

To show how these new workplaces will look and feel, and invite feedback from council workers, Birmingham converted a cluttered basement beneath the Council House into a new workspace (pictured). This conversion became a template for later refurbishments.

Name

Workplace 2011

Client

Birmingham City Council

Partners

Urban Design, Square Dot, Thomas Vale Construction

When it happened

January 2009

Budget

£159,093

Brief

Give council workers a taste of the flexible and open plan offices being implemented by Birmingham City Council as part of its Business Transformation programme.

Aims

• Create a more efficient and flexible workspace in the basement of Birmingham’s Council House extension to be occupied ultimately by Birmingham Property Services
• Use the refurbishment to show other council employees how their new office working practices might work, with 9,000 employees expected to be in similar refurbished offices by 2015
• Get early feedback on any flaws to the new working practices before they are implemented elsewhere
• Test out new IT solutions that would be used in the new office spaces

How it was done

Converting a 3,360 sq ft basement office  space in the extension of Birmingham’s Council House into a flexible workplace with team working areas, break out areas, and kitchenette areas

Introducing new IT solutions such as wi-fi laptop computer areas and Voice over Internet Protocol, which allows phone calls to be made via the internet

Using the conversion to create a set of guidelines that act as a ‘house style’ for refurbishments across Birmingham offices

Modernising a century-old grade II listed building and consulting with English Heritage on this

Marketing the office to encourage more than 1,000 council workers to visit the area and offer feedback

Key benefits

124  to 53 sq ft per person reduction of space needed for staff in the office

24 to 63 number of people able to fit into the workspace almost doubled

Five new meeting areas added and number of workstations increased by 50%

What they say

“When you consider we have more than doubled the amount of people working from here and significantly increased the number of workstations, it is strange that the place does not feel crowded.”

- Tracy Lawrence, council officer

“Previously, I had my own office with a meeting table and chairs, and piles of paperwork.  I am now sitting in the open plan area with the rest of my team and my own personal storage has reduced dramatically. Behaviours are changing and we realise many of our meetings can be held within the open plan environment”

- Dave Fletcher, Birmingham Property Services

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