By Randy Meyers, PE, President

The Architect Engineer Contractor (AEC) community has quickly demonstrated its capability to progress the design and construction of our projects, while working 100% remotely from our offices.

While we await updated guidance from agencies and authorities, we are examining and envisioning how we will utilize our offices for the duration of the pandemic and post-pandemic. We are grateful for the collective efforts of our community as we share ideas on how to safely return our staff to the office when guidelines permit.

Our actions have been informed by our research and guided by our staff. Using data obtained through a survey of our staff, we are refining our plans to create a safe and healthy workplace for our staff.

Highlights of our planning include:

Collaboration with property management on building guidelines for restrooms, elevators, stairs, and circulation.
Socially distanced workstations for two teams. Each staff will have individual control of their own workspace.
Furniture removal in favor of more circulation space.
Installation of bike racks in the office – our survey indicated 20% of staff would prefer to bike to work.
Grab and go kitchens with individually packaged goods.
Use of hands-free devices where available.
Individual PPE, temperature checks, and signage.
Certified test & balance report for ventilation air and filtration from our property manager.

We update our Healthy Workplace Plan in biweekly all-staff meetings where we address questions and concerns as they arise.

M+ principals have started returning to our office part-time to coordinate our planning and work with property management on building common areas. We have tentatively identified September 1 as the day our office will be ready for a broader return if guidelines permit.

We look forward to sharing ideas for our collective benefit.