The condition of a laboratory storeroom changes the way people move through their day. If every item has a clear place, collecting supplies can be a quick, familiar task. If staff have to search, shift boxes or improvise, those small demands add up.
This is something I have noticed over more than 30 years visiting laboratories, hospitals and education facilities. It became especially clear during a return visit to a hospital after our team had completed a storage installation.
A storeroom that felt different
We had returned to photograph and film the finished space. As staff collected supplies, I noticed how calmly they moved. They appeared to know where things were. One person was humming; another was whistling. It was a striking contrast to rooms I had visited where staff had to move boxes, open multiple cupboards and ask one another where stock had gone.
That visit was an observation, not a study measuring staff wellbeing. It did, however, change the question I ask when assessing a space: what does this room ask people to do, again and again, to complete a simple task?
The daily cost of an awkward storage layout
A poorly arranged room can make ordinary tasks harder. Someone may keep a private supply of consumables because they cannot rely on finding them in the shared store. Another person may leave stock on a bench because its proper location is difficult to reach. New staff may have to learn a different storage pattern in every room.
These are useful signals. A reminder to keep the space tidy may help briefly, but the arrangement itself deserves attention when the same workarounds keep returning.
Good storage can make the easier action the expected action. When supplies are visible, labelled and close to where they are used, staff have fewer decisions to make before returning to their main work. An empty location can also show when stock needs replenishing, provided the team has an agreed way to manage it.
Five design choices that support staff
Give each item a clear home
Use a location and label that make sense to the people who retrieve and replenish the item. Ask those staff to test the layout before treating it as final.
Make the contents easy to identify
Review shelf depth, lighting, container fronts and label placement. The aim is to let someone locate stock without repeatedly moving other stock.
Keep the arrangement consistent
Where the work allows, use the same logic across rooms. A familiar pattern helps staff who move between laboratories, teaching areas or shared stores.
Let the space change with the work
Research programmes, class activities and equipment requirements evolve. Adjustable storage helps a team revise its layout as needs change.
Judge the room after people start using it
A storeroom can look orderly at handover and become awkward within months. Review how it works during normal, busy use. Watch for repeated detours, clutter on benches and supplies stored outside their intended locations.
Plan for the working years ahead
The value of a storage decision is felt each day after installation. When planning a laboratory or specialist learning space, ask how easily staff will find, use and return items now, and whether that will still be true as the work changes.
Versatile Spaces works with teams to plan adaptable storage for laboratories and specialist facilities. Explore Vellex® or plan your space to consider a layout shaped around the people who will use it every day.