The Guardian newspaper sent in famous office design guru Mervyn Hill to sort out the offices of a local Blackpool charity that hadn’t seen a facelift for years. The difference to the ambience in the office and to the mood of the people that worked there was uplifting once they saw an update to their office furniture and an upgrade to their office design.

The charity

Problem: lack of ventilation, dreariness, dark cramped space, old carpet tiles, headache inducing lighting, utilitarian office furniture. The biggest problem is that money is tight. Jim Jevereux is the manager and his office has been cobbled together by knocking through two shops on Fleetwood high street to make a charity housing aid centre which is extremely threadbare with a few posters on benefits, a clock and lots of clutter.

"But our biggest bother is space. There's nowhere to go for a break, so everyone has lunch at their desks, and we've got six new staff starting soon. Mind you, you should have seen where we used to work." Says Jim.

Solution: Architect Mervyn Hill said;

“We can't put a quart into a pint pot. We could put a cheap box extension in the reception for the extra staff, but sometimes the answer isn't design, but rethinking how you work, like how to work flexibly in the space you have: think of computers as workstations, do different jobs in different parts of the office, and keep mobile: not one person tied to a desk all day."

So this means that office desks become ‘hot desks’ What about the ambience if people are constantly swapping work space?

"The people here are so committed; they'd work in a coal hole with two candles. A charity shouldn't be plush, but it needs to be warm. This is spartan. The bare fluorescent strips have to go. Up-lights will lift the ceiling, make it sparkle. We can help them to be more visually aware with their posters too. Think before you Blu-tac."