This section explains how to apply principles of good workplace design to plan a workplace layout.
Consider the user
Understanding who uses the workplace helps ensure the right mix of spaces, access settings and technology. Consider the needs of:
- day-to-day users: people who work in the building regularly and can move freely through most areas
- visiting staff: people from another office, region or agency
- external guests: people from outside government who come in for meetings, interviews, workshops, or events.
Understand the building
Designers discussing floor plan design for an existing building.
Before designing a new workspace or major refurbishment, agencies need to understand how the building’s structure affects what’s possible. Things to consider include:
- location of the core and other fixed elements
- depth from the core to the exterior façade
- extent of glazing and orientation
- floorplate shape and proportions
- floor loading limitations
- egress routes
- opportunities for voids (floor cut-outs) or double‑height spaces
- structural grid and other fixed infrastructure
- any base‑build elements that cannot be moved, altered, or connected to.
Space planning considerations
What to think about when planning where to locate spaces.
- Open‑plan by default: use open‑plan areas as the main workspace. This supports flexibility, visibility, and shared use of space.
- Clear zoning: organise workplace settings into focused, ambient, and active zones to guide behaviour and reduce noise or activity clashes.
- Signal transitions between zones: use changes in materials, furniture, lighting, layout, or thresholds to differentiate between quiet, ambient, and active zones.
- Integrate cultural requirements early: engage with cultural advisors and stakeholders at the start of planning. This ensures cultural narratives, spaces, and elements are integrated into the design and considered from the outset.
- Allow for different sensory needs: provide options for people who prefer softer lighting and calmer environments. For example, locate quiet areas away from high foot‑traffic, glare, or noise sources.
- Prioritise natural light for work settings used for long periods of time (e.g. workstations). Provide alternatives for people sensitive to sunlight or glare. Locate settings or rooms used intermittently throughout the day deeper within the floorplate.
- Provide enclosed spaces for focus and confidentiality: provide enclosed rooms for activities that need privacy or quiet (e.g. meeting rooms, focus rooms, phone booths).
- Distribute settings evenly: provide a balanced mix of frequently accessed settings across the floor so people don’t need to travel long distances for everyday activities. For example: place phone booths near workstations so people can quickly duck away to take a call.
- Consider user journeys: plan the layout around everyday routines. For example, lockers near entries/exits make setting up and packing down quick and easy.
- Adjacency and flow: place related spaces near each other. For example, put collaboration areas beside kitchens/tea points, or along main thoroughfares to support movement and social connection.
- Consider interconnecting stairs between stacked floors where practical to support movement. Balance this with acoustics, privacy, security, lease and cost considerations (including both installation and make‑good).
- Use premium locations to encourage space to be used as intended: for example, place open collaboration settings in visually appealing areas with features such as higher ceilings, and attractive views.
