5 Practical Tips to Find Your Perfect Clinic Space
Designing your dream clinic space is exciting.
You're debating which calming paint color to choose, how to make your treatment rooms comfortable and your waiting room inviting...
But before all of these design decisions, you first have to find your space.
So where do you even start?
Luckily, we have top-notch design advice to help guide you.
Clinic design experts Meg MacPherson and Neena Folliott, the owners of Articulate Design + Consulting, sat down with host Denzil Ford on Radio Front Desk to dive into all things design — the creative, the practical, and everything in between. One amazing outcome of that conversation was that Meg and Neena wrote advice just for you.
And here it is! Meg and Neena's top five tips to find your perfect clinic space:
Tip #1: Consider the location
Action: Consider the accessibility, parking, and public transport options available near the location you’re looking at.
Why it helps: Location is everything and if your target demographic or patient base relies on any one of these factors, it can heavily impact your business.
Example: If you work with new moms, is there easy accessibility for strollers?
Optional pro tip: Consider visibility and foot traffic — are those important for your business? Is it worth spending more to be at street-level?
Tip #2: Square footage is not created equal
Action: The shape of the space is often more important than the overall square footage. Consider the configuration of the space and how you can most effectively organize it.
Why it helps: When you are paying per square foot, you want to make sure the space is used as efficiently as possible.
Optional pro tip: Always create a solid floor plan before signing off on a space. You may be surprised how difficult (or easy) some spaces are to create a functional space plan.
Tip #3: Audit big items
Action: HVAC, plumbing rough-ins, sprinklers - these are all items that are expensive to move or relocate. Knowing where they are and how they work (or don’t) with your plans is key.
Why it helps: You want to limit how much of your budget is spent unseen construction.
Optional pro tip: Try to have as much of this work covered by the landlord, as you cannot take it with you when/if you leave.
Tip #4: Negotiate with a plan
Action: Have a good plan for your space, including a layout and general concept to help you when negotiating final details of the lease.
Why it helps: The more you can contextualize what you are building out, the more negotiating power you have for TIs / leasehold improvements / fixturing period, etc.
Optional pro tip: Medical and paramedical professionals are a Tier 1 leasee in the eyes of a landlord (i.e. you are a stable business), so feel confident in your negotiating power.
Tip #5: Understand your brand
Action: Have a brand identity flushed out before you sign a lease or get started designing a space.
Why it helps: The more you understand (at a deeper level) what you are trying to create, the easier it will be to bring to life.
Optional pro tip: Don’t jump to the aesthetics. Focus on how you want your clinicians and clients to feel in the space and create from there.
