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Showing posts from January, 2021

In Every Pandemic, There’s an Opportunity

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  If you were considering an office-buildout before the pandemic hit, having lived through it can only be considered a blessing. At BE Builds, we’ve seen our clients designing workspaces that are dramatically different than the ones they would’ve designed just 12 months ago. Of course, there are enhanced safety considerations, but the reality is that the pandemic has created a design aesthetic – and opportunity – that doesn’t show any signs of going away soon.  Health and Wellness Tech Re-opening in a post-COVID world means making health and wellness a focus of office design rather than a productivity-enhancing perk, and the tech industry has really risen to the occasion. From touchless control systems and sensors to air purification systems, contactless access control and germ-killing UV lights, these systems work behind-the-scenes to support the health requirements of a post-COVID workplace. And these enhancements are not just a temporary investment due to the pandemic – they’re

5 Reasons Why You Hate Working From Home

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  If you’re like us, you’ve probably always thought of working from home as a bit of a luxury, filled with visions of staying in your pajamas all day, enjoying the peace and quiet, and skipping all the frustration of a daily commute. But COVID-19 has shown many of us that working from home isn’t the dream we thought it would be! In 2021 companies are reimagining the return to work for sure, but they and their teams are actually more anxious than ever to get back together.  Here’s just a few reasons why. #1 – It’s Lonely Who would’ve thought that we’d miss casual meetings by the water cooler, small talk with clients, and chatting about our lives over our lunch hour? But we do. The reality is, working from home is lonely stuff, even with all the Skype, Zoom and Teams meetings we’re constantly having. There’s a lot to be said for in-person conversations and catch-ups, not just in terms of the easy way we can all communicate in the office, but the way we bond, build relationships and c

Will Open Office Furniture and Layouts Change Due to COVID-19?

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  The so-called “Open Office Plan” has been a go-to strategy for the development of business environments for literally decades. Its most basic advantages have to do with the lack of barriers allowing easy lines of communication (some might say too easy..), and the layouts typically utilize tighter more intimate desking or short cubicle configurations in an open room, that use less square footage per person. That’s good in big cities and other places where office space is at a premium. Open office when done right allowed a working environment that was intimate, team-oriented, and economically efficient. While many in our industry are loudly heralding the death of open office in a post-pandemic world, the team here at BE has a different take. While companies in a post-pandemic world may be looking for more hygienic office design and furniture solutions, and looking to redefine the role and size of their offices, the answer is more complicated and nuanced than simply throwing the open