It's been a fantastic year for the office landscape. Boundaries have been pushed, rules have been broken and traditions have been overruled to continue to transform the office into a collaborative, creative and supportive place to work.

Workplace trends are always evolving, and we've brought out our crystal ball to predict the office interior trends we're likely to see next year. We've conversed with some of our trusty suppliers to gain their insights too, which means we have a wonderful rounded view of the future workplace trends you can expect to see next year.

Office Furniture Trends in 2020 - Told by Elite Furniture

Furniture in the workplace is hugely important and has a direct impact on health, happiness and productivity at work. Get it wrong, and it can be costly to your business in more ways than one!

Office furniture trends are constantly adapting in line with the changing needs of employees and the workplace, and as Elite Furniture have identified, the office landscape in 2020 is likely to become even more fluid, flexible and collaborative than this year gone.

“From a desking and general office environment point of view, collaborative spaces are becoming more the norm. We're seeing more requests for touch down or hot desking with an emphasis on more breakout and group working styles as opposed to the traditional bench desking routine. It's quite clear to us that when end users are considering their office fit out, the collaboration / breakout / meeting areas carry just as much, if not more, weight than the traditional desking arrangement. We can see offices moving away more from the traditional 9m3 individual desk space per person to a more fluid environment focusing more on increasing health, wellbeing and productivity.”

Office Lighting Trends - Told by Synergy Lighting

The importance of lighting in the workplace should never be underestimated. In fact, the National Centre for Biotechnology Information explains that great lighting can produce, "potent biological and therapeutic effects," among office workers, and bad lighting can cause serious health issues in the future. It goes without saying that good lighting is therefore pivotal to a comfortable and productive workspace!

Office lighting has evolved from simply being a basic necessity, though, and is also being increasingly used as an opportunity to introduce fantastic design features that make a workspace stand out. Synergy Lighting are one market-leading lighting supplier providing customers with the latest in lighting trends. Having seen emerging trends throughout 2019, Synergy Lighting expect to see more of these increasingly popular office lighting trends next year:

“This year, customers have increasingly wanted to integrate biophilic elements into lighting, such as moss panels and plants in the centre of ring and square pendant luminaires. There has also been a noticeable trend to use linear lighting that lines up with the architectural features of the building or that follow the layout of new fit outs.”

We can certainly support Synergy's testament, having seen an increasing opportunity to use creative and bespoke lighting as a feature within office interiors. Take our project at Coppergate House in London, for example. We installed Synergy's linear lighting to create a standout and impressive feature in the client-facing reception area, and it’s one of the most defining features of the space!

Office Fabric Trends - Told by Camira Fabrics

Fabrics introduced into the workplace affect employee comfort and the durability of a space, and we've definitely seen an increasing number of environmentally-conscious clients interested in introducing sustainable materials into their workspace. Camira Fabrics expect to see this as a huge office interior trend for next year:

“With eco-champions such as Greta Thunberg and David Attenborough creating widespread awareness of the challenges facing our planet, and movements such as the Extinction Rebellion making waves across the globe, sustainable design is now top of the agenda. Extending across every feature of interiors, from floors to ceilings, desks to chairs, and the materials used within them, sustainable fabrics will be a desired element in any eco-friendly workplace. Woven from renewable, naturally sustainable sources, textiles will feature alongside recycled materials to create interiors that reduce our impact on the environment by transforming natural fibres and plastic waste into beautifully woven fabrics.“

We've also seen a rise in 'resimercial' office spaces this year, with commercial interiors combining the office environment with the comfort of the home. Achieving a resimercial look and feel is considerably affected by the fabrics introduced into a workspace, and Camira Fabrics expect enlarged textures and chunky knits to dominate office fabric trends in 2020:

“Creating a welcoming office interior through their comforting aesthetics and texture, these fabrics are a key way to encourage workplace wellbeing through design - more important than ever before in a time of increasing stress. Woven from natural materials, these highly textured textiles - such as our British wool fabric, Yoredale - are the perfect antidote to clinical sterility.”

Office Flooring Trends - Told by Tarkett

We're big advocates of the flexible office environment. A workspace should enable different methods of working by offering employees a variety of environments to work in. Tarkett, flooring specialists leading the way in commercial flooring, have predicted that flexible working trends will continue in full force next year:

“Creating a flexible workplace to cater for many needs is still the hot topic. Creating a multifunctional space which blurs the lines between work and home life whilst being inspirational and a place for productivity. LVT is soon becoming the popular choice as the product is versatile. Easy to maintain, excellent acoustic properties on loose lay & cushioned backing products - you can replicate natural materials such as wood and stone at a fraction of the price. Feature carpeted zones or rugs are now the preferred choice. Tarkett offers 'Fusion', a concept that offers several different flooring products to cater for each room of the office.”

Colour trends in office flooring are also changing, and Tarkett explain that you can expect to see warmer tones in 2020:

“Cool tones are being replaced with warm tones. The 70's colour palette has had a refresh - swapping out yellow for gold/copper. Orange for burnt sienna and bubble-gum pink for dusky pink. A more sophisticated take on a famous colour palette. Surprisingly we are seeing grey carpets being swapped for beige and chocolate tones.”

Office Design Trends - Told by Danielle Fleming, our Design Manager

Lenta Business Centres // Coppergate House, London

Inclusive environments

Inclusivity in office design is becoming an increasingly important focus for many companies, and we can see it becoming even more of a necessity for businesses wanting to attract and retain the best talent.

Businesses are becoming savvy to the importance of creating a workspace that caters to everyone in the workplace, celebrating their diversity and ensuring the whole team feels welcome and supported. Inclusive office spaces are designed around all genders, personality types and job roles, making sure the office space is tailored to all. Inclusive design promotes choice where a single option doesn’t cater for all, whilst considering the barriers experienced by people with learning difficulties, mental illness, visual impairments and hearing impairments. We’ve been creating inclusive workspaces for a long time, but we imagine that it’s going to become a bigger priority for many businesses.

Agile Workspaces

Part of the solution for creating an inclusive office space is to create an agile workspace, which is an approach we urge for many of our clients.

The office environment is becoming much more conscious of how it makes employees feel and perform at work. We predict that more businesses will seek an office interior that will enhance the employee experience by offering various different work settings for people to choose from. Having been a big office interior trend this year, agile office design is certainly going to continue into the next and beyond! We’re excited to see how furniture suppliers respond to this trend, creating innovative and dynamic products to enable the highest productivity.

Sustainable Spaces

Sustainable office design is also likely to be a big and important office interior trend next year. More of our clients are asking us to source sustainable materials and we’ve educated ourselves on the best sustainable products available on the market and will continue to seek sustainable alternatives. We’ll be making an effort to be more sustainable in our future designs, and we predict this to be a big priority for many of our clients in 2020.

Getting office interior trend insights from the experts is a fantastic opportunity for businesses to evaluate their current office environment and recognise important changes that can be made to their workspace. The new year marks a new approach to the workplace - it’s not just a place to work, it’s an environment for employees to enjoy spending time in and one that supports and benefits them in many ways!