Mezzanine floors are built above an existing area. If you want more space and don’t want to do major renovating, a mezzanine floor is a good option. The unused space below a ceiling is utilised by having mezzanine floors, which comes in handy for storage for example and this is even more useful if there is not a lot of space below the mezzanine floor. It’s infinitely safer not having a cluttered floor where people could trip and achieving this through the extra space provided by a mezzanine floor. Installing mezzanine flooring will increase the value of your property and with factories for example will attract a larger number of buyers who are keen to have lots of space for machinery or employee workspace.

If there’s a loft in the building, a loft conversion can be an alternative to mezzanine floors for creating utilisable space. This is a costly and lengthy process though and may require people who utilise the building to relocate for a few days for health and safety purposes. The loft conversion would cause a great deal of noise and dust which would make it very hard to live or work in the building while the conversion was ongoing.

Another option is to build an extension but like the loft conversion, this process will be more expensive and take longer than installing mezzanine flooring and people might need to relocate for a period while the building was taking place. Also, to get planning permission to build an extension is much more difficult than to get planning permission to install a mezzanine floor. Another available option for storage space is to get cupboards or lockers. These items will take up floor space however, which leaves less space for people to move freely. In addition you will have to account for the space required to open the cupboard or locker doors, which uses up even more space. You couldn’t place desks right next to the cupboards for instance as you’d need to move them every time you wanted to open the cupboard. Smaller items could potentially be kept in front of the cupboard space but they too would have to get moved when you wanted access to the cupboard, which would be a tiresome thing to do often.

Extra space can be provided through shelving but if they are high shelves it will be hard to reach the objects on the top shelves. Ladders may be required to reach the top shelves, which could lead to accidents if people fell off the ladders. As with the cupboard or locker option, shelving will also take up precious floor space. Another option is to rent storage space or rent further office space if required. This alternative can cost a lot of money, either through monthly rent payments or a hefty annual payment which could put stress on a business’s budget having to pay it all at once. This option is also inconvenient in terms of having to travel to the rented location to access whatever you have stored there and inefficient if you’re stretching your business over two locations potentially quite far apart.

In conclusion it is apparent that mezzanine flooring is the superior alternative for obtaining space.