CASE STUDY

Ericsson Case Study

Prior to becoming a client of Design Group Five, Ericsson Communications had moved into new design build premises in Mississauga. They worked with the architect, engineer and builder to do office and workstation layouts. After their

Before Reconfiguration

move-in, the employees were dissatisfied with their new workplace and we were asked to provide two days consulting and make suggestions on layouts, traffic flow, visual and acoustic privacy and some design aesthetics.

Five years, a dozen moves, and 150 additional staff later, Design Group Five created CAD facility drawings, torn down partitions, created a typical workstation footprint and planning grid, and established facilities procedures for construction and office relocations. This system was put to the test when we directed and coordinated a 12,000 sq. ft. record fast track design, construction, furniture acquisition and move-in in 21 days.

Two years after conducting a Feasibility Study of Present and Future Staff Accommodations Ericsson implemented our recommendations of:

eliminating hard offices on the window

moving away from fixed height 65 " high panels

standardising on 51" high flexible height modular panels

creating teaming work clusters

supplying mobile casual meeting tables

creating a casual meeting space or "Cybercafé"

installing indirect lighting and sound masking

providing power and data access at worksurface height

A full scale working prototype area consisting of 19 workstations was installed and first occupied by a Technology solutions group. The prototype was a success and the project was approved for fully for development in 120,000 square feet. In conjunction, with our partnering with Kathleen Lanni of GSM Design we implemented our strategic office concept.

During the process the Technologies solutions was moved out overnight the Finance department relocated with no changes to the workstations, except for adding four glazed panels onto the existing panels. The workspace worked as well for the external customer Technology group as it did for the privacy and confidentiality sensitive Finance group.

From the above relocation minimal costs where incurred. There was no need to produce workstation layout drawings, physically reconfigure workstations, pull cable, and relocate power poles, light fixtures, or diffusers. Minimal costs associated with "from-to" drawings, relocating personal computers, moving files and reprogramming phones were incurred.

We had designed workstations that supported teamwork yet remained flexible enough for reconfigurations as business needs changed.

After Reconfiguration

Workstation

Typical Corridors

Cyber Cafe

Cafeteria

Lobby

DESIGN GROUP FIVE PARTNERSHIP INC.
481 North Lake Road, Richmond Hill, Ontario, L4E 3A8 Canada

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