Allan Wille -
Klipfolio headquarters is undergoing a serious expansion. After turning in a stellar 2013, in which we grew our team by 50%, we're left with no choice but to increase our office space. Right now, we're literally bursting at the seams – 1 more hire, and we'll have to start sharing desks!
This marks the second expansion of our office since we moved here in 2004, and the second time we've doubled our square footage. Both these expansions involved more than a little luck, too. The reason I say "luck" is because we're located in the heart of downtown Ottawa where office space is in high demand. In fact, we're walking distance to a number of key landmarks, such as Parliament Hill, the famous Ottawa Canal, and dozens of popular museums and trendy shops. Thankfully, our landlord was able to accomodate our expansion.
Big, bold, friendly colours for our new office.
Fast forward to 2014
After posting 3X growth in 2013 (more to come on that piece of news), we need to expand our shop once again. This realization caused a bit of consternation as we don't want to give up our location downtown. Thankfully, our need coincided with tenant directly adjacent to us being at the end of their lease and wanting to relocate themselves.
That initial excitement may be waning, especially as the constant drum of construction crews tearing down the walls next door threatens to interrupt our usually serene work atmosphere. Actually, as I scan around the office, I notice a lot more folks wearing noise cancelling headphones than usual. Coincidence? I think not.
Peter Matthews surveying the destruction.
Even as I jest about the disruption caused by all the demolition next door, I can't wait to see the results. You see, in addition to nearly doubling the square footage of our offices, we're also completely redesigning and modernizing the office from the ground up. I do mean that quite literally, as we're replacing the old flooring with new flooring hand-picked by our CXO Peter Matthews.
One of the key elements of this redesign is preserving and improving on our lighting situation. The back wall of our offices are lined by a big row windows that naturally light the office so that we rarely need to turn on our fluorescent lights. In any case, we'll be replacing the old fluorescent lights with modern, dimmable LED lights that are green and flicker free.
The open concept design of the office prominently features Klipfolio's big windows.
There's a lot of buzz in the office around a few new goodies for our employees. At the top of the list is the new "comfy" room where employees can socialize, lounge, and maybe even play on the new company Wii. We're also going to install 3 new bigboard TVs around the office to display Klipfolio Dashboard – and some sport's scores, too – for the team and clients to see.
Itching for a tour?
If you're interested to see how it all turns out, I'd be happy to show you around the office the next time you're in Ottawa. If you're not going to be in town, then stay tuned to our Twitter page for updates and new photos.