The following list provides a common-sense guide to choosing your materials with the environment in mind:

1.Use recycled materials where possible, and those with minimal environmental impact.

2.Use renewable resources (for instance, wood from sustainably managed forests).

3.Design your office renovation for an extended lifespan.

4.Try to minimise construction site waste. Up to 40% of all waste coming from building sites, it will save the environment and your pocket to minimise the waste coming from your renovation.

Floors: Choose flooring or carpets that are going to last. Staff and customers have to move around, and you can't expect them to take their shoes off as soon as they enter the office door.

While replacing carpets is temporarily disruptive, it's going to be a renovation that will have a massive effect. Buy a good Entrance Mat.

This will help clean off people's shoes and will keep most of the tracked in soils off the floor surfaces. The mat must be long enough, around 3-4 metres and also placed outside the office.

Vacuum your new carpets on a regular basis so it's easier to clean dust and dirt. If you clean your carpets frequently, you do not let the gritty particles pile up.

Choosing a new, more modern colour can give your office flooring or carpet a look that's so fresh your clients will think the entire office has been remodelled.

Walls: Often, a fresh coat of paint will not only liven up your workspace, but it will inspire creativity and positivity.

Colour trends come and go, and if your office is still stuck in the bright colours of the '80s and '90s, your clients are starting to notice. Those old cubicle panels with toxic paint & materials can be recovered with a new, fresh, safer look.

Paintings and wall coverings can be added to specific conference or meeting rooms for new flair.

Space: Once you start looking at office space a new way, you'll be amazed at the ideas that surface. Take a walk through your office with your fitout builder and take a critical inventory of how space is utilized.

Is unneeded or underused space prevalent? If so, consider closing off these areas of the office from use. Finally, creative cubicle planning can certainly make it possible to move more employees into a smaller amount of space.

By investing in modular furniture systems and getting creative with design, you can offer your employees a new look in less space.

If you maximize the space you give them with ergonomic and adjustable furniture and accessories, they won't even notice their workspace has been cut.

Remember, an office renovation is something to celebrate. It's a milestone in a business's life which displays strength and credibility.

With some effective design help from your office fitout builder, you'll be able to give your office its much deserved facelift without breaking the bank.