Design Guidelines: The Most Powerful Tool in Your Real Estate Toolkit

Now more than ever, real estate leaders are facing uncertainty and a quick pace of change in the demands of organizations’ employees, clients, and consumers. Without the right tools, planning for the unknown in your portfolio is nothing more than educated guess that can yield too much space or not enough in the near or long term. This is where a Design Guidelines program becomes one of the most powerful tools any organization can deploy to facilitate portfolio change.

Whether you are managing a global corporate workplace portfolio, retail stores, or key properties in select locations, a Design Guidelines program can help navigate the challenges of updating the built environment with the latest strategies and solutions in response to ever-changing people demands and portfolio conditions.

Design Guidelines programs can help shape the built environment to improve workplace experience, customer experience, guest experience, and community engagement — all while reinforcing your culture and establishing the rules for delivering on your mission.

Design guidelines consist of a formal program that outlines your strategy, design, and implementation process as it relates to the built environment. Some programs may also include topics such as sustainability, inclusive design, project management, change management, and operations/facilities to ensure the experience of space doesn’t stop with the physical attributes but also includes how that space is experienced, used, cared for, and managed. In general, Design Guidelines typically consist of guardrails to guide teams through design intent but allow for some flexibility.

You may also hear “Design Standards,” which is a similar concept to guidelines; however, the approach includes more rigorous compliance using standardized solutions. The standard components are prescriptive solutions that must be adhered to for specific reasons. Have you ever wondered why a global or national retail store has a similar look and feel regardless of its geographic location?

Regardless of term, Design Guidelines have become core to many organizations’ real estate strategies. Design Guidelines can help companies:

• Build cohesion between design and culture across the portfolio
• Assure brand consistency
• Streamline the project process and delivery method at scale
• Leverage procurement relationships
• Balance performance and cost-consciousness
• Establish a kit of parts for program requirements

And when crafted with adaptability and scale in mind, Design Guidelines can be applied to both new and existing locations in a real estate portfolio.

Global organizations strive for cohesion in their real estate portfolios, and workplace guidelines provide the guardrails for delivering consistent workplace concepts and programs. They allow for flexibility in look and feel, cultural requirements, and unique local character based on each location. They can include:

• Clear concept to ensure consistent user experience regardless of where you are across the globe.
• Space types to ensure consistent layout, design attributes, componentry, etc.
• Variety of look and feel examples (palette, art, materials) illustrating the unique approach to each location (locally and culturally relevant).

This is a clear set of instructions for design and delivery that ensure brand consistency. Often used by retail (apparel, electronics, banking, etc.), hospitality, and convenience retailing (food & beverage), design standards are deployed at scale across a portfolio. Standards typically include detailed planning metrics, project types, space types, brand/signage, furniture, architectural solutions, specifications, technology, and equipment.

An emerging and critical guidelines program, these establish rules for selection and use of building materials, furniture and finishes, and equipment that align with an organization’s resilience goals. They also serve as a framework tracking means of construction, waste, and utilities to improve overall embodied and operational carbon output.

With either Design Guidelines or Design Standards, organizations with that operate with this type of program see the benefits in consistency, improved experience, and project savings. Regardless of industry or business model, these tools can be invaluable in evolving a real estate portfolio with control and rigor — while also allowing for elements of creativity and flexibility to meet evolving needs. Taking a moment to consider how they can play a role in your real estate strategy can translate to improved experience, cost savings, and the right balance of place to business.