What To Consider When Renovating Your Office Bathrooms

If your office bathroom is looking a little run down, it may be time for an upgrade. As high-traffic areas of the office, often bathrooms sacrifice comfort or attractiveness for features that offer utility and longevity. However, it is possible to have both a functional and welcoming space without having everything appear too industrial.

Restroom renovations are one of the most common renovations commercial facilities undertake. Upgrades often are designed to bring the space into compliance with accessibility guidelines. Office bathroom renovations can offer a company, a wide range of benefits, including:

• Ensuring there are enough facilities for employees to use
• Giving the space a more modern look and feel
• Allowing for accessibility
• Creating a more sanitary environment
• Energy and water savings
• Less paper waste
• Odour control
• More environmentally friendly elements
• Greater comfort
• An overall increase in employee happiness

When you’re ready to upgrade your office bathroom, there are a few things to keep in mind. The most important is to make sure whatever you create is up to code and enough facilities are available for the number of employees in your office. There are other elements to consider as well, which will help ensure you create a space your employees will appreciate. These include:

Sanitation and the Environment

Germs can easily spread across surfaces in bathrooms, but by adding sensor-activated no-touch features, you can help ensure employees come in contact with less bathroom surfaces. Bathroom fixtures such as toilets, soap dispensers, taps, and hand dryers can all be sensor-driven.

Also, think about how fixtures can place less stress on the environment. Low-flow toilets and sinks will use less water. Replacing towel dispensers with hand dryers is also better for the environment and ultimately offers cost savings for the company as fewer resources will be used and less waste will be created on a daily basis.

Employee Comfort

When designing a bathroom, consider ways to make the space more inviting. For larger shared bathrooms, look for stall dividers that go all the way to the ground and/or ceiling and have less space between the doors and walls so those using the facilities can enjoy a sense of privacy. Have shelves above sinks or coat hooks on doors so that anyone can place their items within reach and away from pooling water. Also, consider choosing soft calming colours and interesting wall elements to keep the space from feeling beak and industrial. By adding floor to ceiling mirrors, the space will feel bigger and more open.

Lighting

Often, bathroom lighting can feel harsh, especially if it’s fluorescent. Consider adding softer light and in different layers. This will help colours render correctly. Lighting can be added at the back of and above mirrors, in the ceiling, and even on the walls in sconces. The softer light will transform the entire space and help create an environment that’s more comfortable and welcoming.

Don’t forget that upgrading your lighting can also help your company reduce costs and lower its carbon footprint. Consider adding sensors to your lighting so that the bathroom lights are only on when the bathroom is in use.

Accessibility

The most important element of any bathroom is its accessibility. Many of us take for granted that restrooms will be accessible in modern buildings, but this isn’t always the case for those with disabilities. If your building is older, be especially mindful of accessibility and how to make it even easier after a renovation. This may require adding a specialised stall or making sure elements such as doorways or floor space can accommodate individuals with special needs.

How Crystal Bathrooms Can Help

When you’re ready to renovate, it’s a good idea to do so during a company’s downtimes so that the disruption to work is kept to a minimum. Our company, for example, can work during off-hours or within specific shut-down periods, like around Christmas and the New Year. That way, employees don’t have their days disrupted by construction work.

The New Year is the perfect time to install a new bathroom. If you have questions about how we can help your company renovate its restrooms, speak to the team at Crystal Bathrooms today.