Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays From DJ McGauley & Associates Inc.
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DJ McGauley and Associates Inc. is your Space Planning, Renovation and Facilities Management company of choice for the Toronto, GTA and surrounding areas. If an office move or reconstruction of your 2,000 – 25,000 sq.ft. office space is in your plans, contact us to arrange a no-obligation site meeting. Our friendly experienced team will work seamlessly with your staff to guide you through the process, allowing your employees to enjoy a productive, stress-free experience.
Call 416-239-1931 , email [email protected], or visit our website to complete our contact form.
Rememberance Day…
In honour of those who fought in wars of the past and died in the line of duty and those who still fight today, we thank you.
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DJ McGauley and Associates Inc. is your Office Move, Reconstruction and Reconfiguration Project Management Company of choice for the Toronto, GTA and surrounding areas. If an office move or reconstruction of your 2,000 – 25,000 sq.ft. office space is a remote possibility, consider contacting us to arrange a no-obligation site meeting. We guarantee that by the end of that meeting you will know all that would be required to make your office move/reconstruction project a successful reality.
Call 416-239-1931 , email [email protected], or visit our website to complete our contact form.
Daylight Savings Time Ends this weekend!
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DJ McGauley and Associates Inc. is your Office Move, Reconstruction and Reconfiguration Project Management Company of choice for the Toronto, GTA and surrounding areas. If an office move or reconstruction of your 2,000 – 25,000 sq.ft. office space is a remote possibility, consider contacting us to arrange a no-obligation site meeting. We guarantee that by the end of that meeting you will know all that would be required to make your office move/reconstruction project a successful reality.
Call 416-239-1931 , email [email protected], or visit our website to complete our contact form.
Construction – A Sign of Economic Growth
We see it all around us—new buildings going up here, existing buildings being reconstructed there, new transportation systems being developed —it’s enough to frustrate the average person travelling from one part of the city to another with all the construction zones being erected. But according to a recent report from the Conference Board of Canada, construction is basically a response to a growing city and a growing economy.
According to the report, Toronto’s economy is expected to expand by 2.6 per cent in 2015 and 2.8 per cent in 2016 as a result of robust residential and non-residential activity, a healthy services sector, changes in manufacturing activity and the weaker Canadian Dollar, all of which are key contributing factors to the improving economy and increased construction happening all over Toronto and its surrounding areas.
Non-residential projects, such as the continuing construction on a number of downtown core office buildings like the Bay Adelaide Centre East, One York, and Ernst and Young Tower, plus the major expansion and upgrade of the city’s transit system extending through the GTA and surrounding areas contributes to the boost of construction activity in the Toronto region by 2.8% this year.
Toronto is not alone. Of the 13 major cities in Canada, Vancouver, Toronto, Winnipeg, Halifax, and Montreal are the top five on track to achieve a post economic growth of over 2%. All of these cities have a variety of residential, non- residential and transportation improvement construction projects either starting up or underway.
So the next time you get frustrated with traffic congestion due to a construction zone, don’t get mad about it. Instead, be proud that you live and work in a city with a thriving economy.
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DJ McGauley and Associates Inc. is your Office Move, Reconstruction and Reconfiguration Project Management Company of choice for the Toronto, GTA and surrounding areas. If an office move or reconstruction of your 2,000 – 25,000 sq.ft. office space is a remote possibility, consider contacting us to arrange a no-obligation site meeting. We guarantee that by the end of that meeting you will know all that would be required to make your office move/reconstruction project a successful reality.
Call 416-239-1931 , email [email protected], or visit our website to complete our contact form.
References:
Property Biz Canada, Conference Board of Canada: Metropoliatan Outlook, http://renx.ca/conference-board-canada-metropolitan-outlook/
Canadian Newswire, Toronto Among Top Economic Performers in 2015, OTTAWA, Sept. 23, 2015, http://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/toronto-among-top-economic-performers-in-2015-528798831.html
Smart Office Chairs Make Sitting a Smarter Choice
Sit-stand desks are not the only thing getting smarter. Now chairs are getting smarter too.
Earlier this year, the news came out that sitting too long during the day can be detrimental to one’s health — it increases the possibility of diseases such as cancer and diabetes, and shortens one’s lifespan. Movement helps one’s health.1 This message became the main reason why sit-stand desks were developed and are now used in various offices today. But office chair developers were not going to take this news sitting down (pardon the pun). Instead, they decided to restore sitting as a smart choice by developing smart office chairs.
How smart are these smart office chairs? Glad you asked.
Smart office chairs come with various features. Some smart office chairs are designed to automatically adjust their height, arm rest, head rest (if applicable) and lumbar sections to best fit each user and promote good sitting posture. These chairs also measure a sitter’s weight and uses this information to calculate and adjust the back of the chair to the optimal recline angle for that user (should the user choose to recline).2 Other chairs are built with sensors that measure a sitter’s posture. If the sitter is sitting poorly, these smart office chairs let the sitter know by either vibrating or “voicing” where the posture needs to be corrected.3
By far, the most interesting smart office chair on the market is one that actually keeps its sitter constantly moving while remaining in the sitting position. Unlike traditional office chair designs, these smart office chairs are made with custom-sized, carbon-fiber shells that wrap around each leg and move fluidly as its sitter moves to either reach for the phone, type on a computer, or lean over to speak to a co-worker. With these smart office chairs, sitters can stretch, twist, lean…even dance in their chair if feeling particularly creative. With all movements, the spine is supported, the body is constantly stimulated, circulation is improved and the back vertebrae are kept lubricated. The added bonus—these particular smart office chairs help the sitter feel good emotionally. Neuroscientists have found that constant stimulation of the body sends positive neuro signals to the brain, resulting in feelings of happiness.4
So, whether you just want to sit correctly, or keep moving while you work, there are smart office chairs out there that will keep you healthy and happy while you work.
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DJ McGauley and Associates Inc. is your Office Move, Reconstruction and Reconfiguration Project Management Company of choice for the Toronto, GTA and surrounding areas. If an office move or reconstruction of your 2,000 – 25,000 sq.ft. office space is a remote possibility, consider contacting us to arrange a no-obligation site meeting. We guarantee that by the end of that meeting you will know all that would be required to make your office move/reconstruction project a successful reality.
Call 416-239-1931 , email [email protected], or visit our website to complete our contact form.
References:
1 Ubelacker , Sheryl, The Canadian Press, “Sitting for too long can kill you, even if you exercise: study”, CBC News – Business, Jan 19, 2015, http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/sitting-for-too-long-can-kill-you-even-if-you-exercise-study-1.2918678
2 HumanScale, “Differient Smart, Designed by Neil Differient”, https://www.humanscale.com/products/product.cfm?group=DiffrientSmartChair
3 BMA Ergonomics, “Smart Office Chair”, https://www.bma-ergonomics.com/en/smart-office-chair/
4 Wong, Venessa, Bloomberg Business, “This $8,500 Smart Office Chair Never Stops Moving”, July 27, 2012, http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2012-07-27/the-8-500-smart-office-chair-that-never-stops-moving
Happy Thanksgiving From Your Friends at DJ McGauley & Associates Inc.
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DJ McGauley and Associates Inc. is your Office Move, Reconstruction and Reconfiguration Project Management Company of choice for the Toronto, GTA and surrounding areas. If an office move or reconstruction of your 2,000 – 25,000 sq.ft. office space is a remote possibility, consider contacting us to arrange a no-obligation site meeting. We guarantee that by the end of that meeting you will know all that would be required to make your office move/reconstruction project a successful reality.
Call 416-239-1931 , email [email protected], or visit our website to complete our contact form.
The Sit-Stand Desk Just Got Smarter
If you thought having the option to sit or stand at your desk…with your desk… while you work was great, then you are going to love what the latest models of sit-stand desks offer. They have gotten smarter!
Not only do the latest models of sit-stand desks give you the option of adjusting the height of your desk to facilitate you changing positions while you work, but newer models of sit-stand desks are built with sensors that actually monitor your sit-stand activity while at your desk. Do you get so focused on your work that you forget to change your working position? No worries. These new sit-stand desks will measure how long you have been sitting and will gently and automatically adjust your desk height so that you end up standing while you continue working, then do the opposite when it senses you have stood long enough—at least that is true for the sit-stand desks that adjust electronically. Some sit-stand desk sensors will also adjust the height of a desk based on the arm or hand height of a user while in either working position. Of course, these desks work best for user’s that remember to change their position.
For those who are health conscious or want to reach/maintain certain health goals, there are sit-stand desks that are also built with sensors programmed to measure the number of calories its user burns as well as sit-stand activity during the workday. Some of these desks even have a touch-screen display no bigger than the size of a mobile phone screen built into the desk which allows its user to pre-set activity goals and sit-stand height levels as well as see their health progress during the day. (As an interesting side note, did you know that a person burns 20% – 30% more calories while standing compared to when sitting?)
Other smart features of these sit-stand desks include connectivity to blue tooth and other smart devices that allow its user to control the lights and thermostat in a room.
What is best about these new sit-stand desks is that in most cases, they remain ergonomically friendly, optimizing the comfort level for users and minimizing pressure on one’s feet and back.
So, are you in the market for a smart sit-stand desk?
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DJ McGauley and Associates Inc. is your Office Move, Reconstruction and Reconfiguration Project Management Company of choice for the Toronto, GTA and surrounding areas. If an office move or reconstruction of your 2000 – 25,000 sqft office space is a remote possibility, consider contacting us to arrange a no-obligation site meeting. We guarantee that by the end of that meeting you will know all that would be required to make your office move/reconstruction project a successful reality.
Call 416-239-1931 , email [email protected], or visit our website to complete our contact form.
References:
Jolly, Jennifer, “Smart Desks to Keep you Moving”, Wired Well, New York Times http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/06/02/smart-desks-to-keep-you-moving/?_r=2&module=ArrowsNav&contentCollection=undefined&action=keypress®ion=FixedLeft&pgtype=Blogs
Stir Kinetic Desk, http://www.stirworks.com/stir-kinetic-desk-m1/
Office Link Group, “Axis Electric Height Adjust”, http://www.officelinkgroup.com/index.php?page=product&categoryid=93&sco=2
A Good Design Begins with Asking the Right Questions
In some ways, office space designers are not hard to find …once you can differentiate them from residential designers. They, in general, are quite creative and become very excited to offer their suggestions on how you can improve the look and feel of your office space once they are exposed to it. However, a really good office space designer can’t even begin to produce a proper office space design for a company without first understanding that organization’s wants and needs as it relates to its office space. The best way to know that is by visiting the site and asking the right questions.
What are some of those questions?
Well, to understand the culture and flow of your business, an office space designer may ask the following:
- How many employees (full time, part-time and contract included) does your company have?
- Do clients visit your office space to meet with your staff?
- How important is collaboration or teamwork?
- How important is privacy within the office?
- What is the flow of a regular workday for you and your staff?
- Are there any challenges within your current office space layout that you would want addressed?
- Are there any benefits within the current office space that you would want preserved or duplicated within your new office space?
This is just a sample of questions an office space designer may ask. With answers to the above, an office space designer can create an initial layout for your company that would immediately address any wants, needs or concerns that are not being met within the current office space layout. In other words, an office space designer that is truly client-focused will save you time and money by doing his or her best to present a design that is conducive to the optimal operation of your organization and best represents the character of your business.
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DJ McGauley and Associates Inc. is your Office Move, Reconstruction and Reconfiguration Project Management Company of choice for the Toronto, GTA and surrounding areas. If an office move or reconstruction of your 2000 – 25,000 sqft office space is a remote possibility, consider contacting us to arrange a no-obligation site meeting. We guarantee that by the end of that meeting you will know all that would be required to make your office move/reconstruction project a successful reality.
Call 416-239-1931 , email [email protected], or visit our website to complete our contact form.
Good Office Space Designers are Great CSRs
It’s very easy for office space designers to offer their suggestions on how one can improve the look and feel of their office space. However, really good office space designers need to be like customer service representatives–they need to take the time to find out who you are and what needs you want addressed before presenting their solutions to you.
In fact, some really good office space designers actually exude of the traits of great CSRs.
They are great probers and listeners. Great office space designers not only ask questions but take time to listen to their clients in order to gain a full understanding of an organization’s “personality” vision, mission and goals.
Great office space designers are patient when interacting with clients who may not be able to clearly communicate the details of their ideal office space as well as when coming up with the ideal design to make that optimal office space a reality.
Great office space designers are good time managers, aiming to deliver the best office designs for their clients’ approval on time and within budget.
Great office space designers are solution-oriented, developing designs that creatively address the unique challenges and operations of each client they serve.
Great office space designers are client-focused, keeping their client’s vision, mission, goals and “personality” at the core of each layout they develop.
Great office space designers are knowledgeable in their field of design and in the industries in which they chose to serve. They not only need to know how to draw up an office design, but they need to be fully aware of any limitations an office space may have as well as all building code standards.
Finally, great office space designers are committed. They are committed to providing quality solutions to office space needs through their designs as well as all around quality service to their clientele.
So, if your designer exudes the above CSR traits, you can rest assured that you have a great office space designer.
DJ McGauley and Associates Inc. is your Office Move, Reconstruction and Reconfiguration Project Management Company of choice for the Toronto, GTA and surrounding areas. If an office move or reconstruction of your 2000 – 25,000 sqft office space is a remote possibility, consider contacting us to arrange a no-obligation site meeting. We guarantee that by the end of that meeting you will know all that would be required to make your office move/reconstruction project a successful reality.
Call 416-239-1931 , email [email protected], or visit our website to complete our contact form.
Mixed-Use Building Designs — The Ongoing Trend For Toronto’s Skyline
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It used to be that commercial buildings were just commercial buildings, whether office, retail or industrial, and residential buildings just residential buildings whether apartments, houses or condominiums. But more and more, we see developers marrying the commercial building with residential developments to create new entities now known as mixed-use building designs.
Why the trend?
Well, originally it was in response to the influx of people returning to the urban centres to live closer to where they work. This fostered increased development in condominiums in certain areas of the down-town core, but with land space being limited, developers had to find a new `space` to continue their development projects. That is when mixed-use building designs were brought into being.
With mixed-use building designs, both the business or retail world and the residential world can co-inhabit the same real estate. For businesses, it creates an opportunity to be close to their potential clients or their ideal employees. For residents, it offers the conveniences of everyday living, playing, shopping and working close to home.
Now, developers see mixed-use building designs creating two new opportunities:
- The opportunity to establish community within the urban setting. Not only can mixed-use building designs bring general communities together, but they can bring people with common interests together. For example, in an effort to bring people with an interest in making a career in the arts, there is a mixed-use development arts and entertainment tower slated for completion in the fall of 2015 in the heart of Toronto’s Entertainment District, which will include a 43-storey condominium development strictly for arts-focused tenants atop a 6,000 sq ft arts and event venue which the arts-focused tenants can decorate using their talents as well as use for their fine arts, music, dance or drama events.1
- The opportunity to preserve the past and blend it with the present. With several older commercial buildings built in the 1920s still standing today throughout Toronto, some deemed historical sites are scheduled for restoration. The plans for these historical retail and commercial sites not only includes restoring these sites to their former glory, but also turning those sites into mixed-use building designs by adding brand new multilevel high-rise condominium buildings atop each site. Some of those sites are slated for completion in 2017.
And it won’t stop there. With a mandate to improve the physical appeal of Toronto for both tourists and urban dwellers, and with nowhere to build but up, more and more mixed-use building designs are certain to permeate the skyline of Toronto.
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DJ McGauley and Associates Inc. is your Office Move, Reconstruction and Reconfiguration Project Management Company of choice for the Toronto, GTA and surrounding areas. If an office move or reconstruction of your 2000 – 25,000 sqft office space is a remote possibility, consider contacting us to arrange a no-obligation site meeting. We guarantee that by the end of that meeting you will know all that would be required to make your office move/reconstruction project a successful reality.
Call 416-239-1931 , email [email protected], or visit our website to complete our contact form.
1 Artscape, Artscape Sandbox, torontoartscape.org/artscape-sandbox
Williams, Patricia, Daily Commercial News, $300 million Yonge Sheppard Centre upgrade planned, http://dailycommercialnews.com/Projects/News/2015/8/300-million-Yonge-Sheppard-Centre-upgrade-planned-1009361W/
Corporate Space Planning & Relocation Advice 