CREJ

June 2019 — Office Properties Quarterly — Page 19 www.crej.com F or as long as I can remember there has been a disconnect between the design of the core-and-shell of an office building and the design of the same building’s interior. And for as long as I can remember, that dis- connect has caused some unintend- ed consequences for both landlords and tenants. By code, all office buildings in metro Denver have been designed to provide occupancy loads of 1 per- son per 100 square feet. Indeed, this pre-World War II requirement is still in full effect for new office build- ing construction. But pre-war office buildings followed a design, which primarily called for “business” space: conservative, even spartan in both layout and purpose. Amenities were not a factor then as they are now. In fact, amenities have been essential in both building com- mon areas and tenant spaces for well over a decade. Developers and building owners must create or improve amenities to stay competi- tive in this market. Those amenity spaces may include conference areas, huddle rooms, break rooms, training rooms, open-style all- hands meeting spaces and recep- tion areas, among others. As such, they are designated for “assembly” use and must adhere to a required occupancy load of 1 person per 15 sf, certainly a far cry from the pre- war core-and-shell standard. And this is where design can get sticky for the landlords and tenants bound by the code. In short, the build- ing code addresses the potential for more people in these types of spaces that must be serviced with additional restrooms, break areas, heating, ventilation and air conditioning, and, most importantly, egress. As a life-safety issue, egress width (the maximum number of occupants permitted on the floor) is usually the first item designers focus on when planning tenants in an office building. The majority of metro Denver’s office buildings were completed in the 1980s. Those buildings have upper floors with the minimum two exit stairs, designed to accom- modate 265 to 360 people per floor. Even as late as the 1980s, those buildings were occupied by tenants with single-office designs. When tenants did introduce the occa- sional “break” space, for example, the building’s cushion could absorb the higher load. That just doesn’t happen anymore. The call for more assembly spaces with higher occu- pancy loads is the rule, not the exception, today. Some new buildings are designed with wider stairs, more stairs or stair tower doors to ease the increased occupant loads. But not all. So, when that rule must be applied for new buildings or older ones, there are consequences to the building. There is a cascade effect, a series of unintended consequences. The driver for this set of circum- stances is today’s office culture. That’s nothing new. The rise and fall of the fully open office has given way to a number of hybrid-style agile or activity-based cultures. But all still favor a plan in which real estate is maximized. That means more people, sometimes as high as 20% to 30% more in any given space. And the codes are explicit in how to handle that extra load. A heavier occupancy load puts a strain on many of a building’s resources. From details as simple as the number of toilets in public spaces (more people equals more restrooms) to a complete overhaul of the building’s HVAC systems can be immediately affected when the occupancy ratio rises to 1 person per 15 sf. Tenants adding more people to an existing space will require more power. Systems furniture worksta- tions typically need more circuits, so the building could be required to add an additional transformer to compensate for that heavier load. Lighting can be affected, as well. Despite the latest conservation codes for LED lighting, the equation remains simple: More people equal more power and more lighting. Increased occupancy’s unintended consequences Jaime Brunner Senior project manager, Kieding Please see Brunner, Page 22 Kieding Open or hybrid offices typically include more gathering spaces, which push up occu- pancy loads. Market Trends