Archive for April, 2009
Six Pack Abs in Seven Days
by Phil on Apr.30, 2009, under General Interest
The advertisements claiming you can get six pack abs in seven days seem to be everywhere these days. The truth is that the greatest abs ever can just be attained if you combine the proper exercise routine with a decent dose of ample dietary habits. Yes, you may be performing crunches and sit ups until you sweat like there’s no tomorrow but, if you do not have the goal of increasing your metabolism, nothing will proceed properly.
An additional myth that is involved in the idea of attaining those nice looking abs says that one should work the muscle by doing constant exercises. Your abs are waiting to be revealed by your targeting of the fat layers that cover them. The intensity of the workout primes the abdominal area for a quick slimdown.
The only real way to lose that extra abdominal fat is to burn it off with exercise. The next item which you must watch out for is the diet so consume the right food at the proper time. According to professionals, it is best to eat six little meals daily to maintain your metabolism function so it can burn fat and extra calories. Foods that are high in fats, proteins and carbs must be eaten in moderation.
If you desire to enjoy the benefits of the hard work you have put into it then you must be patient.
The Journey From Fatigue to Energy
by Phil on Apr.30, 2009, under General Interest
Having enough energy to make it through the day has always been an issue for me. Even when I was in high school I would come home tired knowing that I would have an evening of homework to get through before going to bed. I was taking vitamins, walked to school, had gym class and eventually even started running for track and field. My Mom saw to it that I was eating my vegetables so I was doing all the things that are supposed to give you more energy and keep you healthy. It just wasn’t working.
As an adult this lack of energy still kept me worn down and I started looking for a better answer. To my surprise I found it in a large green glass bottle with a label of a man blowing a conch, called TAHITIAN NONI® Juice. How a little green fruit grown in the French Polynesians could make such a difference is beyond me but it wasn’t long after drinking TAHITIAN NONI® Juice that I really noticed the difference. It’s so simple too – just 1 oz in the morning and 1 oz before dinner. I have trouble swallowing big vitamins, so drinking a liquid has been great for me.
Best of all, the amount of colds and flues have gone down to almost zero. It’s a keeper in our household!
Now I’m doing the things I’ve wanted to do but was too tired like gardening, working out at the gym, going for walks even bike riding. It doesn’t surprise me that athletes drink TAHITIAN NONI ® Juice for energy and endurance. If it works this way for me, it would work great in a finely tuned body.
Hmmmm…..maybe I’ll take up snowboarding this year!
As indicated at the bottom of all our web pages, these statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and these products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Please visit our website for details.
Early Australian Lighting
by Phil on Apr.30, 2009, under General Interest
A typical domestic scene of a squatter’s bark cottage has been captured by many colonial artists such as S. Prout, S. T. Gill and others. The paintings generally show a group of people, usually male, sitting in front of a huge walk-in fireplace which is lit by a crackling timber fire. Occasionally a candle stuck into an empty bottle is seen on the table in the sparsely furnished room or the most basic lard impregnated cloth lights might be seen on the hearth in the flickering light of the fireplace. Most of the early working men’s huts, were equipped in this fashion; a more decorative interior with lined walls, blinds and oil cloth or matting floor usually indicated the presence of a woman in the home.
When settlers arrived with their wives, wealth and possessions, interiors showed a marked improvement in elegance and comfort. As soon as they were able, the settlers built more substantial homes replacing the tents and bark huts or upgraded and improved upon existing homes. By 1822 Sydney had 59 stone, 221 brick and 773 wooden homes and by 1841 the statistics showed that there were 769 residences in Melbourne.
Interiors were made practical and comfortable, following the dictates of English fashion and, except for the very rich, lighting was not a priority. As late as the 1830s, Louise Anne Meredith gave a dank description in her letters of home lighting in the colony ‘where candles are not attainable, a light is procured by a bit of rag rolled up stuck into an old cup or pannikin full of dripping and lighted. Homemade mould (tallow) candles are generally used in houses where wax-lights are dispensed with, and certainly vary more in quality than any other article of domestic manufacture.’
Later sketches of the interiors of rich settlers’ residences attest to this bleak picture of domestic lighting. There was small consolation in the fact that the general quality of light fittings and equipment had significantly improved in standard.
Finely crafted candlesticks and custom made blinds were now proudly displayed in parlours, replacing the bottles and tin pans that were used in the kitchens cum dining rooms in previous decades. S. T. Gill’s interior watercolour of the Noufflard’s house in Bligh Street, Sydney in 1856 depicts a scene common to many early Victorian homes.
The drawing room or parlour is lit by a pair of tall elegant candlesticks placed on a central table around which the family and friends would gather at night to read, write, play instruments or socialise. Often a vase of flowers would be placed in the centre of the table in an arrangement to complement the candlesticks. Sometimes an additional pair of candles would illuminate a piano on which a member of the family would play.
In wealthier homes the number of candlesticks might be increased to include a pair of candlelabra on the overmantel of the fireplace; alternatively an additional pair of two- or three-branched candle wall sconces might be positioned on either side of the sideboard, chiffonier or mirror hung over the fireplace in either the dining or drawing rooms. The rest of the house would be in darkness except, perhaps, for the entry hall where an enclosed hanging lantern would burn one or more candles to illuminate the way for visitors. A candlestick would have been taken to light the way to the bedroom, but these were not kept in bedrooms; they were brought to the kitchen each morning to be trimmed and maintained. The article brought to you by laser hair removal services.
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Improve Your Gas Mileage With These Products!
by Phil on Apr.29, 2009, under General Interest
With the wild fluctuations in oil prices, and the ever growing problems of global warming, it is time to look at a couple of so called ‘Water Gas’ products that claims to help you reduce your reliance on gas, and reduce carbon emissions. Below are portions of article reviews from ‘Ezinearticles’ =
1. WaterForGas
1. “Recently, there has been a lot of news about the technology of cars converting water to energy for the engine. It has been featured on Fox News, and is all over the internet today. Having used this technology, I have been able to save up on gas and improve my gas mileage. Your car is not exactly using water for energy, but extracting flammable gases from it using electrolysis. To be able use this system yourself, you will need to build an electrolysis device for your car, and it can be easily done at home with parts that cost less than $200.” => Author – Judd Marshall
2. “This is not the type of technology that will one day, when the oil finally does run out, power our vehicles. There are better options. However, for under $150.00, a regular person (even a girl like me from the country) can make and install one of these hydrogen generators that allows your car to run on water and will cut your gas bill in half. One of the neat side effects of this technology is that water molecules are broken down into their component parts, hydrogen and oxygen and mix with the fuel vapors of gasoline allowing them to burn much more efficiently and cleanly…helping clean and add oxygen to our air and reducing CO2. I’ve been running my car on water for a while now and am thrilled with the results. I built my system in just under six hours and installed it in a matter of hours.” => Author – Myla Madson
2. Gas4Free
1. “This system breaks down water into hydrogen gas and oxygen gas using the electrical process called electrolysis. It then channels the hydrogen into the engine air intake system where it will then be combusted to produce energy to power the car.” => Author – Judd Marshall
2. “What Gas4Free offers that diversifies them from their competitors is the membership you gain after you purchase the system. First of all, you get FREE unlimited help, advise, and guidance from their support team. You also get access to all future updates made on the system (free as well). They have so many members that contribute in the membership program, people are always coming up with better and more efficient techniques to get better fuel efficiency.” => Author Jason K
1. “You run your car with water by electrolyzing water: breaking it down into its fundamental elements of hydrogen and oxygen. In this electricity-induced process, the result is oxyhydrogen, more commonly referred to as HHO gas. This gas burns very powerfully, with the atomic energy of hydrogen gas. However it is not explosive, since it retains the stability of water. HHO gas only produces water as a bi-product.” =>Author Ken Akasatsu
There you have it – three different options for creating your own water powered cars!
Using The Weight you Have to Build a Lean Physique
by Phil on Apr.29, 2009, under General Interest
Lets face it, most of us want to have a great body but a number of different issues stand in the way of it, including time & money. It takes a lot of time for us to go to the gym, sweat on a regular basis and then make sure that we are keeping up with things as far as exercise is concerned. If you workout at the gym, you are not only going to have to worry about the membership, you are going to have to worry about your clothing and some other things.
One way that you can fix this is by doing it at home and skipping some of the worry and cost that are usually associated with working at the gym. As a matter of fact, you don’t even need any commercial equipment in order for you to get started. All you really need is the physique that you carry around with you every day. In Fact, bodyweight exercises is one of the best things that you can do for yourself.
It’s good to make sure that you start out without overdoing it whenever you are doing these types of exercises. Your body is going to get used to the new workout that you are doing fast enough but don’t overdo it from the start. Simply do exercises such as muscle ups, crunches, dips and squats. Not only will you build excellent muscle tone, you will also be losing weight rather easily if that is your goal.
Working out with your bodyweight is an excellent way for you to get a lean body and to keep yourself in shape for the long-term. Make sure you use it to your benefit and work out with your body every day.
Tissa Godavitarne and GDI is a Win Win Combination
by Phil on Apr.29, 2009, under General Interest
You have probably heard or Tissa Godavitarne and his Affiliatize Program and may be wondering if this is a legitimate program to start a business with. I know that I had the same thoughts about his program as well.
I have been in and out of different online businesses for the last three years and have grown weary of most of them. When I stumbled across this one through a recommendation of a friend I thought it sounded too good to be true. So I started slowly and found out it is as good as the promises say it is.
You don’t have to spend a lot of money and time to make this program work; in fact, Tissa Godavitarne will set you up for free and give you a month of advertising without cost just to see the potential in making money. The only thing you would have to provide is a domain name and a hosting account. Of course with Tissa’s Afffiliatize Program you have been given three ways you can choose. Either to put your web page on your own existing hosting account or pay for a hosting account that he provides you with and the third choose is the GDI plan.
Another great money making potential is in having an account with GDI [Global Domains International] which after the free trial is ten dollars a month that won’t break the bank. For the ten dollars a month you receive free hosting and a free domain name. Take a look at what your potential could be with this plan like if you introduce a couple of new recruits then your hosting and domain name are free. Of course, there is a lot more you can achieve with GDI as Tissa has but that is not the scope of this short post.
No matter how you look at it Tissa Godavitarne and GDI is a win win situation for you and your future business.
Raw Food Dehydrator Recipes
by Phil on Apr.29, 2009, under General Interest
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Food dehydrators are great instruments for making your own snacks. Kids love dehydrated snacks as do adults and now it’s even easier. However, often time we forget that it’s easy to make unhealthy snacks by adding too much sugar or salt to our food dehydrator recipes. At food dehydrator pro com you can find several recipes for your dehydrator for free.
If you’ve ever made dehydrated beef jerky you might note that you combine sugar and salt to make to sweeten and prep the meat for it’s time in the dehydration unit. The problem is that people typically over salt and over sugar the meat which ends up making a would be healthy snack, unhealthy. An easy way to avoid a unhealthy problem is to cut the sugar and salt you use down by substituting healthier herbs and spices for your meat. If you are looking for more recipes for food dehydrators you can find those here.
If you’ve never made fruit rolls (fruit roll ups) from your food dehydrator you should consider it. These are very healthy snacks and you can easily substitute these instead of unhealthy snacks. Dehydration isn’t anything new but it’s a great way to keep snacks healthy and tasty all at the same time. Keep in mind that you don’t have to get rid of sugar altogether just tone it down and enjoy a healthier snack instead. If you are looking for more healthy food dehydrator snacks and recipes visit this site here.
The Scoop about Waterproofing your Basement Walls
by Phil on Apr.28, 2009, under General Interest
Waterproofing basement walls should be a standard thing to do when finishing a basement. Moisture entering through the walls of the basement is the main reason that area of your house is more damp than the rest of the house. The most common reasons for water build-up problems in basements are caused usually by cracks, leaking windows and pipe condensation. You will run into all kinds of issues if you allow too much water retention or allow it to stay for too long.
Basement Wall Options
You do not have to stick to one particular method when it comes to waterproofing the walls of your basement:
- French Drains
- Hollow Baseboard Molding
- Sump Pumps
- Waterproofing
- Damp Proofing
French Drains – An exterior system running the perimeter or partial perimeter of your house for heavy rain run off drainage, or an interior system if water is coming into your basement through the floors or cove between the floor and the wall. An excavation was made inside the drenched basement floor. First you need to position a plastic drain pipe, ready perforated, and then make sure that it is surrounded by gravel or similar The floor over the French drain system is sometimes re-cemented by repair and wet basement waterproofing contractors. A gap is left of between one and two inches in the floor, along the walls, which lets the web wall seepage drain below floor-level into the drain system. A drain that connects to a sump pump is usually the French type.
System for installing a hollow baseboard channel use a waterprof-of epoxy for the bonding to the floor and joint. This empty molding will gather wet wall seepage as well as fluid which rises at the cove region. Usually connected to a sump pump.
One item you can include when waterproofing your basement walls is a sump pump that can be installed below the basement floor. In order to collect underground water one case install a device known as a sump pump. This should solve your underground water problems! A good way of draining excess water from a basement floor or from any underground drainage pipes that you might have is to utilise a sump pump.
Wall Sealers – Varieties include spray applied basement wall sealers, brush or roller applied basement waterproofing sealers, or panel type basement waterproofing sealers for wet basement walls.
The truth is even with a good drainage system, it can’t assure a dry basement wall. We need to evaluate the most economical method to stop moisture from getting in the basement walls and this may be damp proofing and waterproofing.
What is Damp Proofing?
You may be asking yourself what is involved in damp proofing your basement and the best example I can give of damp proofing would be to think of a castle with a moat and think about how to keep the water away from this castle; first you build the permiable pallette layer where you want the castle floor, then you would place a solid layer over that, then you would leave a vent space and lay your foundation; as for your walls, you would build your walls, then do your solid layer and then your permiable layer, and now you have damp proofed your castle.
Damp proofing products are typically a tar based material in a solvent base. Application is inexpensive but efficiency is limited since they are manufactured to retard and not to prevent moisture penetration. The main problem is that it becomes brittle once it cures and as the foundation settles and hairline cracks appear, the tar based coating will not stretch to bridge the cracks and this allows moisture to penetrate into the basement.
Does waterproofing may help a lot in protecting basement walls?
Products used for waterproofing underground areas, such as a basement, are only designed to prevent water from penetrating the walls especially after heavy rains or spring thaws; but, if you have underground water from a source such as a spring you may need to install a sump pump to prevent water from entering your basement from under the floor. Advanced Waterproofing Technologies products contain rubber which provides superior waterproofing protection and allows the product to remain flexible even when it dries. How you will stretch the foundation to settle the flexibility of waterproofing
How to Apply
Obviously it would be most sensible to use waterproofing as it offers better long term results and you might well find that it comes with a guarantee that lasts for up to thirty years.
Builders, many times in the past, paid little attention to waterproofing basement walls. At this point you have the opportunity to put this situation right with convenient products that have easy to follow instructions Most of the products are safe and easy to apply by the do-it-yourselfer. Available even in 5 gallon pails or 55 gallon drums, they are ready for use and do not require heating or other application equipment – just the use of a brush or roller. Commercial airless sprayers can be rented by the day to waterproof basement walls. In 2 or 3 hours, a couple people using rollers can waterproof an average-size basement (about 1,000 square feet) without difficulty. So get to it and start enjoying all that space without the damp.
Exercise Reduce Bust Size
by Phil on Apr.28, 2009, under General Interest
If you have the mindset that bigger is better when it comes to bust size then you simply have never suffured under the embarrassement and physical weight of them. A Large bust does not equal a better life and there are plenty of women who want to reduce their bust size to relieve the discomfort. There are difficulties that women with a big bosom are suffering and having a smaller bust will make their life better.
Reduce bust size information and details, since this brief article cannot tell you everything be sure to vist that link and learn more today.
Women with excessively large busts often have low self esteem because they do not enjoy too much attention from other people that sometimes make them look funny. They also have to be satisfied with loose, unattractive clothing just to give more room for their big bust. Women may be very limited in their clothing choices and stuck with buying the same old black top they know works with everything.
There are also health concerns in carrying an excessively large bust. Lower back pain, spine and muscle inury, shoulder and neck problems are just a few of the related physical problems. Large busted women would have had a hard time engaging in sports when younger and when older cannot or don’t want to exercise due to physical limitations and potential embarrassment.
Most women with a large bust want to reduce bust size to end all their dilemmas both emotional and physical traumas they may have suffered under most of their life.
There are several different approaches to reduce bust size. Cosmetic bust surgery to reduce bust size, Exercise, and Herbal Pills to reduce bust size.
Bust surgery is the most common cosmetic procedure performed by cosmetic plastic surgeons, but maybe you have heard about the scary stories and news about bust surgery and its irreversible side effects. Cosmetic surgery should be investigated fully before undertaking such a drastic action since it is easier and cheaper to explore other options first.
If you want to learn more details about how to reduce bust size then visit that link today.
Natural and less painful methods involve exercise and herbal pills. Through herbal pills you can reduce bust size and the cost is considerably less than a surgery bill. The pills are made from natural herbal ingredients targeting the fatty cells in the breast region reducing bust size.
It is not this article’s intention to provide specific medical advice to users of this website, instead this article is meant to provide users with information to help them better understand their health. You should consult a doctor before taking any medical advice.
Office Refurbishment Ideas for Productive Employees
by Phil on Apr.28, 2009, under General Interest
Introduction
An enormous number of people work in offices of one kind or another. They may be offices in buildings purpose built or attached to a factory or in business premises. For many self employed business people the office is a room in their home converted for that purpose. Solicitors, doctors, estate agents and insurance agents, in fact any business that you can think of, works from some kind of office or another. You might even say 80% of the adult population work in an office. But I wonder how many of those people have any say in what kind of office they have and whether or not it suits their requirements. Mostly when someone new joins a company or firm, they are given a space for their office usually left by the previous incumbent. I suspect that if you asked occupants how they would like their office to be they would find it difficult to tell you.
When you think of the number of hours we spend in an office, at least eight hours per day and sometimes up to sixteen hours if it’s a busy period. Yes people are allowed out for breaks and rest times, but it is an awful lot of your life cooped up in small space. If at least a third of one’s working life is to be spent in an office, then it makes perfect sense to ensure the environment is as comfortable, pleasant and as healthy as possible.
So how much thought goes into the planning of workspaces?
Where a building is purpose built such as an office, then the architects I am sure will have created good designs to suit the purpose. However, it has been known for new buildings to be problematic for the people working it them. For instance, synthetic materials used for carpeting can sometimes give off toxic fumes which cause allergies or illness of the staff. Air conditioning that relies on recycled air has the potential to carry bugs that can lay the whole office off at the same time. So there are many factors to consider in creating an office environment to ensure the staff are productive, creative, energised and remain healthy.
Old buildings, originally built for other uses, when converted to office space will have different issues to resolve. Often old buildings have very high ceilings where the heat rises up so that the inhabitants below are cold yet the heating bills are going through the roof, literally!! How to maximise the space available to provide a comfortable working environment will be a real challenge and this is where often the use of a mezzanine floor and suspended ceilings are valuable.
It is a well known fact for any organisation that happy workers give better performance and generate more revenue than unhappy workers. The workforce are more motivated, creative, helpful and have less time off work for illness if they are happy in their jobs. I am sure there are statistics available for these details, but it’s basic common sense if you make sure your interior fit out specialists cater for the needs of your staff and their comfort at work then the company will perform better moving forwards.
Ergonomics
Ergonomics is the study of workplaces and the equipment used, to achieve the best design for comfort, safety, efficiency, and productivity. Research has been carried out over the last few years at Nottingham University on office space allocation challenges.
Workspace planning is fast becoming a specialist industry because of all of the current regulations and legislation. Formerly known, in the UK as the Factories Act and now known as the Health and Safety Executive regulations are in place to ensure that employees have sufficient working space in which to perform their work. This can be a potential minefield including such things as physical space, usable space, corridor spaces, and minimum light and ventilation regulations. If you are about to commence on an office refurbishment project ensure that your interior fit out specialists of conversant with all of these regulations before you engage them to perform your work.
What are the Criteria for a good office environment? We are sentient beings, which mean we react with feeling and perception as well as intellectually to our surrounding.
Seeing
The first thing to consider when commencing an office refurbishment project is how does it look? The initial impact on us comes from what we see. The decor and arrangement of furniture, the window aspect and lighting are important in our perception of whether or not it is pleasing to the eye. Does the office have all the necessary equipment, computer, phone and sufficient storage for files and books etc? Plants create a sense of balance in the space as long as they are discreetly positioned and don’t make it look cluttered. Plants are oxygen generators and help to refresh the air.
Smell
On entering a new place the first thing we take in is the scent whether we pay attention to it or not. We notice immediately if the air is stuffy or if there is an unpleasant smell such as sweaty bodies. However a pleasant fragrance or no smell at all will be inviting. Baker shops nearly always pump out the fresh smell of baked bread into the street to entice people in to buy the goods. So although we may not be aware that smell plays an important part in our responses, we are still animals and we do use our olfactory senses a great deal more that we realise.
Feel touch
How does the furniture feel? Plastic seats can be very uncomfortable to sit on for a long time. Plastic does not breathe, it draws moisture from the skin so that when you stand up your posterior will be damp and uncomfortable. Padded fabric is warmer than leather for comfort and not as expensive. The desk chair needs to be the correct height for desk and give suitable support, a computer needs to be set correctly to avoid neck and wrist strain of the operator.
The temperature in the surroundings is best if it’s not too warm and not too cold. Office space planning should also take into account that people work best in a temperature of around 21 degrees.
Too warm and we become sluggish and sleepy, too cold and we become distracted and use up valuable energy keeping warm. Fresh air is also beneficial to stimulate the brain cells.
Sound Hear
What can we hear? Is it noisy or quiet? When I was first starting out in business, I went to visit a local manufacturing company to learn about the way they managed their business. At lunch time I was taken into the executive dining area where there was a waitress service and we had a very civilised lunch. Later I was taken to the works canteen. When we walked in I was hit with a blast of noise such as I had never experienced before. The hall was large with a very high ceiling and nothing to damp down the echo. The result was that everyone ended up shouting to be heard and there was loud music playing as well. I was shocked, not just at the noise level but by the contrast between the executive dining room and the workers canteen. I had come from an environment which treated all members of the company the same so there were no executive areas and everyone, high and low mingled together for meals and break times. Guess which company had the better worker relationships and higher output?
Where a company utilises an open plan office then noise levels can be very distracting and one solution is to incorporate ‘White Noise’ which is a low level background noise to interfere with the general office talk going on over the phone or mini meetings. Sometimes quiet relaxing music is introduced as background noise but this is not usual in a business place.
Taste
Well we are not going to go around licking the furniture, but another important consideration is to ensure that a there is an area to enjoy a nice coffee or tea away from the desk throughout the day. So is there a pleasant area for making drinks and preparing snacks, or even lunch facilities alongside the office. I once worked in an office where they had a small kitchen area off the main office for making drinks and snacks and there was always a bowl of fresh fruit for workforce, as the company recognising the refreshing effects of fresh fruit.
Workspace planning
So as you can see there are many things that can make the work environment a pleasant place to be. However getting the original layout and size of spaces for the employees is a complex process.
How much area does each individual need to work in? According to the Officewise publication from the Health and Safety Executive in the UK employers must provide a minimum of 11 cubic metres for each person permanently occupying a workplace. However there are all sorts of exceptions and caveats to this rule, such as making sure the space is usable space, and clearly if that space were under the stairs with no windows, or ventilation then it would not be suitable. So it is very important to ensure that your new office fit out adheres to all of the current legislation with regards to workspace laws.
Suspended ceilings can be used by the industrial fit out specialists to make good use of otherwise unusable space which makes the installation of services easier and more less expensive. Electrical supply, air conditioning units, water pipes and telephone cables can all run behind the suspended ceiling making access easy if anything goes wrong and repairs need to be implemented.
Positioning of the electrical and telephone outlet is also crucial. The computers used in offices today all require their own electrical supply even if they are networked with the system.
External light from windows is a requirement for offices. The days of the cupboard office cubbyhole are gone. Light airy spaces make people feel good and doses of sunshine each day lift our spirits. However too much sunshine will overheat an office so the use of vertical blinds is recommended to deflect the rays of the sun without reducing too much the level of illumination.
Costs
To save on office space costs some industrial fit our specialists have come up with the idea that instead of having a board rooms for meetings they have their meeting standing up around a special tall coffee table. This reduces the amount of time spent in meetings and the space is reusable for the lunches. Other schemes encourage employees to work from home for part of a week and utilise a system of desk sharing or moveable desks.
Reconfigurable spaces
Another way of economising on the cost of office space is by careful rearrangement of the existing floor area. There may be dead areas which could be released and turned into useable space. The installation of new interior partition walls can rearrange the existing space to create a pleasanter working environment. Sometimes working in an open plan office is beneficial for communication between staff, other times it is a distraction and prevents efficiency. So having the option of both open space and separate offices provides the full range of options which can be easily introduced with new partition walls.
For example one of my clients, took over a set of offices and had various walls moved, so instead of it having two small offices, one without a window, they created one large office for the MD and a really good sized store room which they needed for long term storage of customer files. They then took out another divider and made a good size open plan office space and rearranged another wall to create a board come conference room. Also access to the little kitchen was changed to be more convenient. The choice of subtle colours on the walls and new vertical blinds caused the whole suite of rooms to be transformed into a pleasant and airy working area. Where there is plenty of ceiling height the introduction of a Mezzanine floor generates valuable areas perhaps for storage, private meeting rooms or extra offices.
Other thoughts in workspace planning, is the situation of facilities such as kitchen, toilets, relaxation areas and outside space if available. Sometimes the introduction of a simple partition can create a relaxation/dining area without losing too much of the work area.
All Health and Safety regulations are paramount they have to be adhered to in the workplace and must be incorporated into any plan along with full fire regulations.
Conclusion
Many companies may feel that upgrading the facilities is a ‘nice to have’ idea and the reality is that it usually comes at the bottom of the list on money allocation. However this is erroneous thinking; office refurbishment is never a waste of time or money. Creating a pleasant office environment by upgrading worn out or old fashioned surroundings and furnishings will make a big difference to the working life of the employees. Improved working conditions may be only part of the picture in achieving real job satisfaction, but it is a good start in the right direction. It also says a lot about what the senior people in the organisation think about their employees. If they ensure that their staff are given the necessary equipment and facilities to do their job effectively then the employees will give better service and can be more efficient and there will be a better working environment all around.







































