Office storage and lockers: planning a floor that works

If desks are shared, personal storage cannot sit under them. A locker bank gives each person a fixed, lockable place for a laptop, a coat and a pair of shoes, and it removes the negotiation about whose drawer is whose. Size the bank for peak occupancy rather than headcount — that is usually well below the number of people employed.

Lock type is a real decision. Keys are cheap and get lost; combination locks remove key management; electronic locks add allocation and audit at a cost per door.

Most offices keep far more paper capacity than they use, because filing was specified once and never revisited. Measure the linear metres actually in use, add what your retention policy requires you to hold, and specify to that. Cupboards and tambours are more flexible than filing cabinets when the contents are mixed.

Multidrawers earn their place where small parts, stationery and samples need to be found quickly — studios, workshops and reception areas. Pedestals still make sense at owned desks. Both are welded steel products where build quality shows up years later, in whether the drawer still runs true under load.

• Count lockers against peak occupancy, not headcount
• Measure filing in linear metres in use, not shelves owned
• Match finishes across storage and desking so the floor reads as one system
• Check drawer load ratings if the contents are heavy — paper is heavier than it looks

Bisley builds welded steel storage in Newport, Wales — multidrawers, pedestals and lockers that have been specified by architects for decades. Sotubo produces storage as part of a wider system, so cupboards and pedestals can be matched to their desking and tables.

• Storage category
• Bisley
• Sotubo

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