Telecommunications Company Restacking
Facility planning and restacking to keep a regional telecommunications leader competitive
In the late 1990s, the regional provider of telephone service announced plans of a major corporate downsizing effort in order to remain competitive in the rapidly changing telecommunications industry. To implement this downsizing in New Orleans, the company hired Manning to assess the current space occupied, make recommendations for appropriate space and furniture standards, prepare options to reduce leased areas, prepare phasing plans to keep the company fully operational during the transition, prepare construction documents to implement the chosen plan option, survey existing furniture and plan for its reuse or disposal, specify new systems furniture, administer the contracts for construction and furniture installation, and coordinate the move-in process. Manning closely partnered with the company from the inception of the initial transition concept until operations had successfully transitioned to the new environment.
The facility planning project conceptualized options for decision makers to consider. Factors driving the options included the amount of rentable square feet, departmental densities, departmental adjacencies, estimated costs, and estimated savings from reduced leases and the value of existing furniture that could be sold. Almost half a million square feet were studied.
Once options were selected, the renovation project took over. 430,000 square feet were renovated, including the Canal Place headquarters building. A choreographed phasing scheme moved twenty departments into vacant space while new locations were under construction until the total space occupied was consolidated into contiguous floors and efficient adjacencies were established. Following the downsizing, the corporate headquarters occupied only six of the original seventeen floors of the 31-story office building.
As part of this consolidation effort, Manning created new space and furniture standards for the company. Manning was tapped by the company for a similar effort for the Jackson, Mississippi headquarters building, for urgent repairs to facilities in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, and for multiple renovation projects throughout Louisiana and Mississippi.
The facility planning project conceptualized options for decision makers to consider. Factors driving the options included the amount of rentable square feet, departmental densities, departmental adjacencies, estimated costs, and estimated savings from reduced leases and the value of existing furniture that could be sold. Almost half a million square feet were studied.
Once options were selected, the renovation project took over. 430,000 square feet were renovated, including the Canal Place headquarters building. A choreographed phasing scheme moved twenty departments into vacant space while new locations were under construction until the total space occupied was consolidated into contiguous floors and efficient adjacencies were established. Following the downsizing, the corporate headquarters occupied only six of the original seventeen floors of the 31-story office building.
As part of this consolidation effort, Manning created new space and furniture standards for the company. Manning was tapped by the company for a similar effort for the Jackson, Mississippi headquarters building, for urgent repairs to facilities in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, and for multiple renovation projects throughout Louisiana and Mississippi.