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Brand Integration in Office Design: Reflecting Company Culture

Let’s be honest, most Australian business owners think brand integration means sticking their logo on the wall and calling it a day. But here’s what we’ve learnt working with businesses across Brisbane: your office design is either reinforcing your brand and culture every single day, or it’s working against you. We get it. You’ve got a business to run, and “strategic brand integration” might sound like consultant speak. But when you’re investing in an office fitout anyway, understanding how to weave your brand story into the physical space can transform your workplace from a functional necessity into a powerful brand […]

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Budgeting for Office Fitouts: Hidden Costs Businesses Should Expect

Picture this: you’ve found the perfect office space, negotiated a great lease, and you’re excited to transform it into your dream workspace. You’ve budgeted for desks, chairs, and maybe some fancy meeting rooms. Then reality hits and suddenly your $150,000 fitout estimate has ballooned to $200,000, with costs appearing from nowhere like unwelcome party guests. If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. Research shows that around 70% of small businesses haven’t correctly planned or budgeted for their office fitout, potentially putting their entire venture at risk. With Australian fitout costs averaging around $3,220 per square metre in 2025 (and Brisbane […]

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Tenant Attraction Strategies: Office Fitouts That Lease Faster

You know the feeling. Another week passes, and that prime CBD space is still sitting empty while the building down the street just took down its For Lease sign after only being available for a few days. What’s their secret? The answer often lies in something many leasing agents overlook: the office fitout itself. In today’s hyper-competitive CBD market, where vacancy rates hover around 10-18% across major cities, it’s not just about bigger incentives or lower rents anymore. Smart landlords are discovering that strategic fitout choices can be the difference between a space that languishes for months and one that […]

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Office Design Psychology: How Layout Affects Productivity and Wellbeing

You’ve probably walked into an office and immediately felt energised or drained, focused or scattered, comfortable or on edge. That reaction isn’t a coincidence; it’s psychology in action. Your office design is silently influencing your team’s productivity, wellbeing, and ultimately your bottom line every single day. A space that makes people happy and meets their needs is a space they want to be in and work in. Yet many business owners approach office fitouts thinking purely about aesthetics or cost, missing the psychological goldmine sitting right in front of them. With workplace stress affecting Australian workers and mental health triggering […]

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Office Storage Solutions: Stylish Ways to Manage Workplace Clutter

We’ve all walked into offices where clutter overwhelms productivity. Where papers are scattered across desks, cables are everywhere, and workspaces are buried beneath visual chaos. As business owners and interior designers, you know storage isn’t just about hiding things away; it’s about creating environments that actually work. The real challenge isn’t finding more cupboard space. Anyone can shove items away and call it organised. The art lies in weaving storage solutions seamlessly into your design, enhancing rather than compromising your aesthetic vision. When done thoughtfully, storage becomes part of your office’s visual language. Proper storage measures keep your office looking […]

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How to get your new office fitout over the line with management

The new office fitout can be a hard sell to management. Hey we need money to put towards the space we live and breathe in Monday to Friday, 9am-5pm. Yes it’s going to cost a bit and no commerical and office fitouts aren’t just for aesthetics. Here are some of the benefits of a good space: Office fitouts boost productivity No surprise these days that employee morale is important. A good office environment dictates work ethic, efficiency and morale (whether that’s commercial fitouts, office fitouts, dental clinics, medical clinics or your work from home station). Productivity increases by 20% in […]

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How to use partitions in an open plan office

Partitions have been a mainstay of office design since the rise of office fitouts. Creating individually compartmentalised workspaces has proven fruitful in creating a culture of success and efficiency in the workplace. However, as offices and businesses have continued to become more agile – and communication-focused – partitions have virtually disappeared in the modern open plan office. This is good for when open communication is required, but can hinder the efficiency and quality of the individual work produced in a workspace. Finding a workplace partition that effectively balances these two sides of the coin is the ultimate ideal in a […]

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How to make good at the end of a lease

One of the most overlooked pieces of the leasing puzzle is the “make good”. It’s a standard clause included in most commercial leases requiring tenants to return a property to its original state. It’s important to leave a few weeks, or even a month or so, to consider your property’s make good, as it may involve some renovation and construction. So how do you know what your obliged to do, and when is the right time to call an office fitout specialist? We explore this below: Check your lease agreement You’ll often find the make good clauses to be vague […]

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How are you prioritising air quality in your office design?

How are you prioritising air quality in your office design or office fitout? Air quality is crucial to our health, yet in recent years, comparative risk studies performed by the US EPA have consistently ranked indoor air pollution among the top five environmental risks to public health. In Australia, poor indoor air quality can result in significant adverse impacts on our health and environment and these impacts carry a significant cost burden to the economy. The CSIRO estimates that the cost of poor indoor air quality in Australia may be as high as $12 billion per year. Given how much […]

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Does your office design reflect your company values?

Here at Urban Group we are seeing organisations of all sizes beginning to understand the importance of culture and as an extension, the employee experience or their workplace. Your workplace environment is now far more than walls, desks and computers. Instead, it serves as a second home for some employees, a recruitment tool for hiring and retaining top talent and, most importantly, a place to inspire and grow your team. Bringing your brand to life in your physical work environment plays a huge part in motivating people to work hard in shaping and evolving your brand. Define your values Take […]

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