The case study in full
Six sections below, as the PDF sets them out. The last one is the part worth reading if you are planning your own floor.
The brief
- 78 workstations, four meeting rooms, a 14-seat boardroom, a reception and a pantry.
- A single floor plate of 6,200 sq ft carpet, warm shell, with existing AHU capacity.
- Target density of 62 sq ft per person at day one, with headroom for 90 desks at 24 months.
- Move-in over a single weekend, with no disruption to the existing office until the last day.
The constraints
- Landlord fit-out manual with nominated vendors for sprinkler and fire alarm work.
- An existing duct drop crossing the ceiling centreline where the boardroom was planned.
- Full-height glazing on two faces, which meant heat gain and screen glare.
- A hard-finish slab, which on an 78-desk floor sounds like a call centre unless treated.
What we did
- Moved perimeter cabins inboard and glazed them, so the open floor kept its daylight.
- Built a ceiling raft below the duct in the boardroom rather than dropping the whole ceiling.
- Specified acoustic baffles over the desk clusters and carpet tile under the workstations.
- Set workstation orientation perpendicular to the glazing to remove direct screen glare.
- Submitted the fire NOC drawings in week two, before the ceiling framing began.
Programme
- Weeks 1 to 2: survey, test fit, landlord submission.
- Weeks 3 to 6: partitions, glazing, ceiling framing, electrical and data first fix.
- Weeks 7 to 9: HVAC modification and balancing, ceiling close, flooring.
- Weeks 10 to 11: joinery installation, second fix, AV and access control.
- Week 12: furniture, snagging by zone, deep clean, weekend move.
Outcome
- Fire NOC cleared on first submission, which saved an estimated three weeks.
- Measured reverberation at desk level came in under 0.6 seconds.
- 62 sq ft per person achieved without the floor feeling dense.
- Move completed over one weekend; the team worked normally on Monday morning.
What transfers to your project
- Read the fit-out manual before the layout is drawn, not after the landlord rejects it.
- Glazed cabins inboard beat solid cabins on the perimeter on almost every Mumbai floor plate.
- Acoustics on a hard slab is not optional above 40 desks; budget it from day one.
- Submit statutory drawings in week two. It is the cheapest programme insurance available.
How to apply it to your floor
- Read the fit-out manual before the test fit. A layout drawn against an unread manual is a layout that gets rejected.
- Glaze the cabins and move them inboard. On almost every Mumbai floor plate this beats solid perimeter cabins for daylight and for resale of the layout.
- Treat acoustics as a line item above forty desks, not as a remedial measure after occupancy.
- Submit statutory drawings in week two. It is the single cheapest thing you can do for the programme.
Three lessons that transfer
- A duct is a ceiling design opportunity. A raft below it costs less than dropping the whole ceiling and reads as deliberate.
- Workstation orientation solves glare. Perpendicular to the glazing removes it without a single blind.
- Fire NOC on first submission is worth three weeks. That is more programme than any amount of site acceleration buys.
Download the case study (PDF) →
See the project photographs at Sleepmax office, and rates on the office cost per sq ft page.
Frequently asked questions
What density was achieved?+
62 sq ft per person at day one across 6,200 sq ft with 78 desks, with headroom planned for 90 desks at 24 months. That is towards the efficient end of the comfortable range for Mumbai, and it worked because the meeting and phone-booth provision was generous enough to take pressure off the open floor.
How was the acoustic target met?+
Acoustic baffles over the desk clusters, carpet tile under the workstations and glazed rather than solid cabins so the sound had somewhere to go. Measured reverberation came in under 0.6 seconds at desk level, which is the point at which an open floor stops being tiring.
Why glaze the cabins?+
Because solid perimeter cabins take the daylight and give it to six people. Glazing them and moving them inboard returns the window line to the open floor. The acoustic cost is manageable with a properly specified double-glazed partition and a full-height head detail.
What would you do differently?+
Start the HVAC modification a week earlier. Balancing and commissioning sat on the critical path at the end, and a week of float there would have taken pressure off the final fortnight. Everything else ran close to programme.
What did it cost per sq ft?+
Within the warm-shell premium band, Rs 2,100 to 2,900 per sq ft ex-GST, with the AV and acoustic specification pushing it towards the upper half. Furniture was procured separately and is not in that figure.