File Shelves Free Up Office Space
Files Moved from Drawers to Open-sided Shelves Use Less Room
Many offices use traditional vertical file cabinets because they are familiar and fit into tight spaces. Others use lateral cabinets in which up the drawers slide out sideways.
The fact that the files are put in and taken out from the top restricts them to five drawers. Any higher and most people cannot reach the top drawer.
Lateral Shelves
Space can be saved, first by a merge and purge to reduce the number of documents, and then by transferring documents to open lateral shelves in which files are accessed from the side. They can accommodate seven levels or tiers, which most people can reach. Nine tiers can be reached with a footstool.
This can reduce the floor space over vertical or lateral cabinets by, as a rule of thumb, one third. When combined with merging and purging of files and transfer of seldom-used files to off-site storage, this can increase the space saving by almost two thirds.
Tabs have to be attached to the ends of the file folders rather than the top. Colored tabs pre-printed with large letters and numbers can be obtained from filing supply stores or printed out with special software, so that files can be color coded. A person can see where a file is in the progression of colors and letters and numbers, and can see files that are misplaced on the shelves.
Office Esthetics
Lateral top-access drawer cabinets are sometimes used for esthetic and office layout reasons.
Two-drawer lateral cabinets can place files close to groups of workstations. They can also be convenient dividers between workstations. Being low, they allow people to see across workstations and do not block light from outside windows.
Modern open-plan office layouts place enclosed rooms at the interior and workstation cubicles between the interior and the windows. Partitions or dividers between workstations are lower the closer they are to the windows.
This allows daylight to penetrate across the floorplate, helping to save money on artificial lighting and giving staff the best quality of lighting, which is natural daylight. It gives people views to the outside, which improves morale and employee satisfaction.
Two-drawer cabinets are a convenient height for potted plants, ornaments, framed pictures and other items.
Esthetically, the color of vertical and lateral cabinets can match the decor of the office. By contrast, the open-sided lateral shelves expose the colored tabs and the ends of file folders, which may not be particularly sightly. They can be fitted with doors that fold down over the files, but during the working day these doors tend to be left open.
Floor Space Efficiency
The vertical drawer cabinet is more space-efficient than lateral.
34 42-inch wide 5-drawer letter size lateral files:
- occupy 504 square feet (46.8 square metres) and
- yield 13.2 inches of filing inches per square foot (360 cm per square metre).
54 5-drawer letter-size vertical files:
- occupy 431 square feet (40 square metres)
- yield 15.7 inches of filing per square foot (429 cm per square metre).
Seven-tier lateral open shelving is much more space efficient, and does not require room for drawers to be pulled out.
28 letter size, 36-inch wide shelving sections:
- occupy 270 square feet (25 square metres)
- yield 24.7 inches of filing per square foot (677 cm per square metre).
(Source: Spacesaver.)
Open-shelves with color-coded tabs on the ends of folders help people locate files quickly and see where folders are mis-filed. They also save considerable room over conventional drawer cabinets, improving the return on investment in rent and making room for additional staff.
Source: Association of Records Managers and Administrators (ARMA)
