USER SATISFACTION WITH SPACE FLEXIBILITY IN OFFICES OF SELECTED TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS IN NIGER STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The design of office buildings and other buildings in tertiary institutions have mainly been determined by the management of the institutions with little or no input from the end users. It is expected of any building design that the building suits the needs of the users and not the users adapting to the building. The nature of work and facilities being used by the staff has also changed with the adoption of ICT facilities. The most significant change that has affected the office design is the increase in staff population in many tertiary institutions, which has increased the number of shared offices and an increase in number of staff per office. It can be observed that despite these changes in office use and capacities, there has not been any change in the design of newer offices. The problem therefore is that users of offices are finding it increasingly difficult to perform their duties conveniently due to the degree of adaptation they could adjust to within the building. The aim of this research is to examine the user satisfaction with the flexibility of offices spaces. The research method adopted is mixed method with the use of structured questionnaire and observation schedule. The data would be analysed using SPSS software and the results transferred to Microsoft Excel. The results will show that the users of offices in tertiary institutions are not satisfied with the office spaces. It will also reveal that space flexibility will improve user satisfaction with office. The paper will conclude that to achieve space flexibility in offices there is need to group functions properly.