With more employees working at home, many companies are making open plan office spaces more efficient by converting them for hot desking and hoteling use. In these environments, workspaces are shared and employees don’t have an assigned desk. That means creating areas for different types of work tasks and work preferences.
If you are renovating an open plan office for hot desking or hoteling, chances are you have a few goals in mind for your space, including reducing costs with energy efficiency, improving productivity, and attracting and retaining talent. Here’s how the right HVAC design can help you achieve those objectives.
4 HVAC tips for an open plan office with hot desking & hoteling
1. Rightsize your open plan office HVAC system for energy efficiency
If you are remodeling an existing office space, it’s important to make sure the new HVAC system matches the revised occupancy, usage, and design of the space. That means choosing the right type of technology, the right system capacity, as well as the right ventilation and distribution design.
First of all, make sure that your builder or GC are working with HVAC experts on the design. Qualified professionals will calculate the HVAC load requirements based on the expected occupancy, how the space will be used, and the new design and materials used in the space. Then they will design a distribution system that creates consistently comfortable conditions for your employees. And ultimately install the system correctly to make sure you get the promised benefits.
Properly sizing, designing and installing your HVAC system will optimize energy consumption and efficiency, leading to cost savings for you.
Your HVAC team may also recommend choosing more modern HVAC technologies, such as VRF systems, that use less energy because they operate at the precise capacity needed for the current conditions.
Learn more:
Why you need HVAC design for your commercial renovation project
7 Advantages of a VRF System for Offices
2. Reduce the heating & cooling load to cut operating costs
To further reduce operating expenses, it’s smart to consider heating and cooling loads when making renovation plans for your new space. Things like window coverings, insulation, and lighting can have a huge effect on heating and cooling costs.
Use daylight to your advantage. In the summer, you’ll want to reduce the heat entering your space via sunlight, so your AC doesn’t have to run longer to remove the additional heat. But in the winter, allow more daylight in to take advantage of the heat it produces. So install blinds or other window treatments that you can close in the summer and open in the winter.
Choose cool lighting. Some types of lighting create more heat than others. Commercial spaces have traditionally used fluorescent lighting, which is cooler than incandescent. But LED lighting produces the least amount of heat AND the bulbs last the longest.
Don’t overlook duct insulation. When you’re renovating, chances are your architect and builder will recommend adding insulation where needed for energy efficiency. If your HVAC system uses ducts, you should make sure your ducts are properly insulated as well. That prevents the loss of heated and cooled air into the walls and crawl spaces.
3. Create comfort zones to improve talent retention
In today’s economy, attracting talent is challenging but keeping valuable employees can be even harder. Improving comfort in the office is one way to do that. Office temperature matters more than you may realize: in fact, being too hot or too cold is the top complaint from office workers. If they have to put up with it for too long, you risk losing them.
It’s not surprising that people get too hot or cold in the office. Conditions vary within an open plan office and the HVAC system has to be customized to match the requirements. For example, meeting rooms are often too hot because there are more people in a small space, which creates extra heat. Also, the perimeters of the space (where the windows are) often get too hot or cold because of the sunlight coming in or heat being lost through the windows.
What can you do? Choose HVAC technology (like VRF systems) that allows you to create zones that can be individually controlled, so each space gets the precise amount of heating and cooling that your employees need.
You can even take things a step further and add sensors to better control office temperature, and other smart technology to improve your employees’ comfort.
Learn more:
Smart HVAC & Sensor Technology for Smart Buildings
4. Improve IAQ to boost productivity
Open plan office spaces used for hoteling and hot desking tend to be heavily occupied because they are designed that way. It’s a more efficient use of space, but it also can create unhealthy conditions that hurt productivity.
With so many occupants in the space, you can end up with high levels of carbon dioxide building up in the air everyone is breathing. Too much carbon dioxide can make people drowsy and give them headaches, which decreases their work output. High occupancy conditions can also increase the spread of airborne illnesses like the flu and Covid.
Proper ventilation is the key to keeping people healthy and productive. Make sure your HVAC design includes proper air flow, and also consider adding HVAC air purification technology to remove contaminants and improve indoor air quality.
Learn more:
How Does Workplace Ventilation Impact Employee Productivity?
Get expert HVAC design for your NYC open plan office
If you’re renovating a commercial space in the NYC metro area, Arista’s experts can make sure your system is correctly designed and installed to meet your requirements. Schedule a consultation today.