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4 minute read
Part 3 of 3: How to plan a manufacturing headquarters that won't hold your business back in five years' time.
Moving into a new headquarters is a pretty big moment for any manufacturing business.
You've finally got the space you need, the machinery is installed and things are starting to run the way you imagined.
Then business really takes off.
Which is fantastic, until you realise your shiny new headquarters has absolutely nowhere to put the extra equipment you suddenly need.
If you're still at the planning stage, it's worth working through your requirements before committing to a property. Our Office Fit-Out Readiness Assessment can help with the wider project brief and budget, although the specific infrastructure and expansion requirements of a manufacturing facility will need further technical assessment.
In Part 1, we looked at getting the building's infrastructure right. Part 2 explored how the space should support the operation.
For Part 3, we're looking a little further ahead. How do you invest in a headquarters that works today without making life unnecessarily difficult for the business in five years' time?
Future expansion: will the building still work in five years?
Nobody has a crystal ball. And if they did, they'd probably be using it for something more exciting than predicting warehouse requirements.
But while you can't know exactly what your manufacturing operation will look like in ten years, you probably have a reasonable idea of where the business is heading.
Perhaps you're expecting to increase production capacity or bring a process in-house that you currently outsource.
That changes what you need from the building.
Imagine you've installed 15 CNC machines with the intention of adding more as the business grows.
There's enough floor space, which is a good start. But if the electrical infrastructure is already operating close to its available capacity, adding those machines could become a much bigger job than expected.
You don't necessarily need to build everything now. You just need to avoid making it unnecessarily difficult to build later.
At Shoal Group's 85,000 sq ft headquarters in Luton, bringing the business together was part of creating a facility that could support its continued development.
The project consolidated three existing locations into one headquarters, combining a substantial warehouse operation with the wider workplace.
It was an opportunity to think about the business as a whole, rather than continuing to accommodate different functions across separate sites.
For manufacturing organisations, that same forward thinking should extend to technical infrastructure.
If additional production equipment is likely, could the electrical distribution be designed to make future connections easier? Would it be sensible to leave space for additional services, rather than having to pull apart a finished building later?
That doesn't mean installing equipment you don't yet need.
It means thinking about the changes that are reasonably likely and deciding whether a little planning now could save a considerable amount of disruption later.
Investment: the cheapest building isn't always the cheapest option
Imagine you're comparing two potential headquarters.
One has a lower rent and looks like a pretty good deal. The other is more expensive but already has much of the infrastructure your manufacturing operation needs.
On paper, the cheaper building looks like the obvious choice.
Until you discover that the electricity supply needs a substantial upgrade before you can run production.
Suddenly, that attractive rent isn't looking quite so attractive.
This is why manufacturers need to consider the total cost of making a building operational, not just the cost of occupying it.
A building can be relatively inexpensive to lease but require significant investment before it can support the business properly.
And depending on what's needed, those works could also affect when production can start.
Our work with Atlas Copco Group at its Hemel Hempstead headquarters is an interesting example of how the wider property decision can influence what's possible.
Initially, Atlas Copco was considering occupying the existing building as a tenant. As the project developed, the business explored acquiring the property instead.
That created an opportunity to look more broadly at how the building could be transformed to support the organisation.
The resulting refurbishment brought five business divisions together and included significant changes to the existing facility, with additional warehouse capacity created as part of the project.
Of course, purchasing a building won't always be the right decision.
But the project demonstrates why the building's long-term potential deserves as much consideration as the initial property cost.
It's worth understanding what alterations are possible before committing, particularly if future changes could form an important part of the business's growth plans.
Because a bargain isn't really a bargain if you have to spend a fortune making it work.
Long-term value: think beyond the day you move in
It's easy for the completion date to become the main focus of a headquarters project.
Everyone wants to know when the keys will be handed over and when the business can finally start using its shiny new facility.
Fair enough.
But the building might be home to the organisation for the next 15 years. What happens after the contractors leave matters just as much.
Take building performance, for example.
An ageing facility might have inefficient heating and cooling systems that are expensive to operate. Investing in the building's performance during refurbishment could make a considerable difference over the years that follow.
At Atlas Copco, the project involved transforming an existing facility rather than simply replacing it with a new building.
The refurbishment achieved a BREEAM Good rating, while the redesigned headquarters helped bring previously separate divisions together. Following completion, Atlas Copco reported a 30% increase in building occupancy.
Those outcomes help tell a much bigger story about the investment than the square footage alone.
The project gave an existing building a new purpose while supporting the way the organisation wanted to work.
There's an environmental benefit to considering existing buildings carefully, too.
Keeping and improving a suitable structure can avoid some of the embodied carbon associated with replacing it. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors' whole-life carbon guidance encourages looking at environmental impact across the life of a building, rather than just during construction.
And sometimes, one of the most sensible long-term decisions is simply designing something you won't need to rip out and replace in a few years.
Build for what comes next, not just what's happening now
Nobody wants to spend millions creating a new headquarters, only to discover a few years later that the business has already outgrown it.
But future-proofing doesn't mean making everything bigger or paying for infrastructure you may never use.
It's about understanding where the business is heading and making decisions today that won't unnecessarily restrict it tomorrow.
Sometimes that might mean choosing a property with better expansion potential. In other cases, it's making allowances for future production equipment while the building's infrastructure is being designed.
The important thing is recognising that the cheapest option today isn't necessarily the best investment for the business over the longer term.
At Habit Action, we work with advanced manufacturing businesses to plan and deliver headquarters around their operational needs and long-term ambitions.
If you're considering a new headquarters, speak to our team about making sure the building is right for your business, not just for your move-in date.
Missed the first two parts?
That's a wrap on our series exploring how advanced manufacturing companies should plan a new headquarters.
Catch up on Part 1: Getting the Infrastructure Right and Part 2: Automation, Logistics and Access.
And if you're planning changes to an existing manufacturing facility rather than relocating, our guide to minimising downtime explores how to manage building works around an active operation.
