How OECM’s Furniture, Mattresses and Related Services agreement helped the Town create a flexible workplace designed for today, and the growth ahead.
Results at a Glance
32% more planned workstation capacity
An optimized layout increased planned capacity from approximately 38 to 50 workstations within the same footprint.
More records brought on-site
High-density storage helped the Town consolidate records that had previously been kept in offsite storage.
Built for future expansion
Potential future workstation locations were incorporated into the planning process from the outset.
Design expertise and ongoing support
Digital space planning, direct collaboration and ongoing supplier support helped the Town plan, visualize and adapt its workplace as requirements changed.
In This Article
- A New Town Hall for a Growing Community
- Making More of the Available Space
- Planning for Tomorrow, Not Just Opening Day
- Solving More Than Furniture Needs
- The Value of Design Expertise
- A Supplier Relationship That Continued Beyond Installation
- OECM: Connecting Workplace Needs with the Right Expertise
- Planning a New Space or Rethinking Your Current Workplace?
When the Town of New Tecumseth opened its new Town Hall in Alliston in spring 2024, it marked the completion of a multi-year effort to create a modern workplace for municipal employees and a welcoming space for the community.
Through OECM’s Furniture, Mattresses and Related Services Agreement, the town worked with OECM supplier partner Hollend Furnishing Ltd. to plan and furnish the new facility. Many of the selected furniture solutions were manufactured in Canada, bringing together supplier expertise, Canadian-made furniture solutions and an established procurement solution through OECM.
The result went beyond furnishing a new facility: it created a workplace planned around the town’s operational needs, existing building infrastructure and long-term growth.
A New Town Hall for a Growing Community
Spanning two floors and approximately 45,000 square feet, the new Town Hall brought new life to the former Alliston Union Public School through adaptive reuse, new construction and modern building systems. Elements of the former school remain part of the building today, including the gymnasium, which was transformed into the Council Chamber.
With significant population growth expected over the coming decades, the Town needed to plan beyond opening day and consider how its workplace could adapt as municipal services and staffing requirements evolve.
The new Town Hall provided substantially more space than the Town’s previous facility, but making effective use of that space required careful planning.
The Town needed to accommodate employees moving from its smaller former facility, anticipate future staffing requirements, manage significant records-storage needs, and create effective public-facing spaces and work, all while working within the architectural and infrastructure conditions of a redeveloped building.
That is where access to Hollend Furnishing’s workplace-planning expertise through OECM’s established agreement proved particularly valuable.
Making More of the Available Space
One of the clearest examples came from the workstation layouts.
The original architectural plans included workstations measuring approximately eight feet by six feet, with space for approximately 38 workstations in one planned area.
Rather than simply furnishing the space according to the original plans, Hollend Furnishing worked with the Town to explore alternative workstation dimensions and configurations. The objective was straightforward: provide employees with functional work areas while making more effective use of the available floor space.
Town representatives visited the Global Furniture Group showroom, where they could experience different workstation sizes and visualize how various configurations might function within the new Town Hall. During the consultation, Rhonda Silver, President of Hollend Furnishings, encouraged the Town to reconsider whether the oversized workstations in the original plans were necessary. She demonstrated how a smaller workstation footprint could meet employees’ operational needs without compromising workspace quality or comfort.
Hollend Furnishing then used the Town’s architectural drawings and digital space-planning technology to develop an optimized configuration.
The revised layout accommodated approximately 50 workstations compared with the original 38, an increase of approximately 32% in planned workstation capacity within the same footprint.
The result preserved functional work areas, circulation and a consistent look throughout the workplace while increasing capacity for a growing workforce.
“It works fantastically. It looks great, it’s uniform and it looks like it’s supposed to be there.”
Michael Craig, Manager, Facilities & Property, Town of New Tecumseth
Planning for Tomorrow, Not Just Opening Day
Rather than designing only around immediate occupancy, the Town and Hollend Furnishing considered where additional workstations could be incorporated as staffing requirements evolved.
Potential locations for future workstation were identified during the initial planning, helping the Town understand how it could accommodate additional employees without fundamentally redesigning the workplace.
That foresight has already proven useful.
Within approximately two years of occupying the new Town Hall, areas originally identified for future growth have begun to fill, with additional furniture and workstation requirements continuing to emerge.
Planning expansion from the onset has made it easier to integrate new workstations while maintaining consistency with the surrounding workplace.
For a growing municipality, that flexibility can help extend the value of the original investment.
Solving More Than Furniture Needs
The Town’s workplace requirements extended well beyond employee workstations.
In some areas, existing electrical floor boxes and other infrastructure had already been established based on earlier layouts. Hollend Furnishing adjusted workstation orientations and furniture configurations around available power locations, allowing the revised workplace plan to make effective use of infrastructure already in place.
Storage presented another challenge. Before the move, some Town records were kept offsite, creating ongoing storage expenses as well as additional time and costs when files needed to be retrieved. Hollend Furnishing developed high-density storage solutions that maximized available floor area and vertical capacity while working around existing building elements. The solution helped the Town bring more records back in-house and make them more accessible to employees.
Hollend Furnishing also worked with the Town on a specialized customer-service space where employees needed an appropriate degree of separation and comfort while maintaining an accessible and welcoming environment for residents. A solution incorporating glass barriers, a sliding interaction window and a writing surface helped balance those requirements.
Across the broader Town Hall, furniture was standardized wherever practical, creating a more consistent workplace experience and making future additions easier to integrate.
Together, these solutions demonstrated how furniture planning and related services can help address broader operational requirements, from infrastructure and storage to employee and public-facing spaces.
The Value of Design Expertise
For the Town, one of the defining benefits of the project was the ability to see and evaluate furniture within the context of the actual building before final decisions were made.
Hollend Furnishing used CET Designer, a space-planning and furniture design software, to place furniture directly into the Town’s architectural floorplans, allowing proposed configurations to be viewed within the actual dimensions of the building.
During working sessions, representatives from the Town and Hollend Furnishing reviewed layouts together, discuss requirements and identify changes in real time.
Workstations could be repositioned, storage could be adjusted and furniture dimensions could be reconsidered as part of the discussion.
That made hundreds of individual furniture and design decisions easier to understand and evaluate.
“What it came down to for me was the design. We could pull everything up on screen, lay it out and see it measured in our actual space. I could provide our directors and CAO with a drawing and say, ‘Here you go. This is what it’s going to look like when it’s done.”
Michael Craig, Manager, Facilities & Property, Town of New Tecumseth
The approach also helped the Town respond quickly when timelines accelerated.
Following a showroom consultation, Hollend Furnishing was able to prepare revised layouts and related information within days, helping the Town move forward once decisions were required.
A Supplier Relationship That Continued Beyond Installation
For the Town, the relationship with Hollend Furnishing extended beyond selecting and installing furniture.
Direct access to people familiar with the project became an important part of the experience.
As requirements changed, Town employees could connect with Hollend Furnishing representatives who already understood the building, previous decisions, existing furniture and the Town’s longer-term workplace plans.
“When I call, they answer the phone. I’m not getting put through a call centre. I know who I’m talking to, and they know what we’re working on.”
Michael Craig, Manager, Facilities & Property, Town of New Tecumseth
That continuity reduced the need to repeatedly explain the project as new requirements emerged.
The relationship has continued beyond the original installation.
Hollend Furnishing ‘s support also extended to the Town’s move from its former facility. Alongside the new furniture installation, Hollend Furnishing helped relocate existing furniture and employee equipment within a compressed move period. Where practical, suitable existing furniture was reused, helping the Town make responsible use of assets it already owned.
OECM: Connecting Workplace Needs with the Right Expertise
The Town accessed Hollend Furnishing through OECM’s Furniture, Mattresses and Related Services Agreement.
OECM’s agreement provides an established procurement pathway for eligible public-sector organizations to access supplier partners and the furniture, expertise and related services they offer.
For the Town of New Tecumseth, that meant being able to consider not only products and pricing, but also the expertise and services surrounding the solution.
When the Town later assessed its furniture requirements through a second-stage procurement process through OECM, Hollend Furnishing’s design capabilities, service model and the time savings associated with its approach were important considerations.
The experience demonstrates how OECM’s Furniture, Mattresses and Related Services Agreement can help connect workplace requirements with supplier expertise and practical solutions.
“This project shows how an established procurement agreement can help municipalities connect their operational needs with supplier expertise in design, installation and long-term workplace support.”
Rhonda Silver, President, Hollend Furnishings
Canadian-Made Furniture Solutions
Many of the furniture solutions selected for the Town Hall were manufactured in Canada by Global Furniture Group. Canadian manufacturing was one of the considerations important to the Town when evaluating its furniture requirements.
Global’s furniture systems also supported the Town’s need for consistency and long-term adaptability, allowing compatible pieces to be added or reconfigured as teams and workplace requirements change.
The high-density filing system was manufactured locally in Toronto by Spacefile, adding another Canadian-made component to the project.
Planning a New Space or Rethinking Your Current Workplace?
The New Tecumseth experience offers several considerations for public-sector organizations planning a new facility, renovation, relocation or significant workplace change.
- Engage workplace expertise early
Furniture planning can affect electrical and data locations, circulation, storage and how many employees a space can ultimately accommodate.
Bringing a furniture and workplace specialist into the process early can help organizations consider those connections while more options are still available. - Plan for how the space will evolve
Designing only for opening day (current state) can limit future flexibility.
Consider future staffing, reconfiguration and expansion requirements from the beginning. Identifying potential workstation locations and using adaptable furniture systems can make it easier to respond as needs change. - Look beyond the desk and chair
Workplace planning can address storage, privacy, customer-service areas, power distribution, installation, relocation, reconfiguration and the reuse of existing assets.
Looking at the workplace as a whole can help organizations solve broader operational challenges. - Use visualization to make decisions with confidence
Showroom visits, digital floorplans and collaborative design sessions can help stakeholders understand how furniture will work within the actual space before final decisions are made. - Consider the procurement pathway early
Engaging with an established agreement can help public-sector organizations understand the supplier capabilities and related services available before workplace decisions are finalized.
OECM’s Furniture, Mattresses and Related Services Agreement provides public sector organizations with access to supplier partners that can support a range of workplace needs, including:
- Furniture and workplace solutions
- Space planning and design consultation
- Storage solutions
- Installation and coordination
- Reconfiguration and expansion
- Ongoing workplace support
The New Tecumseth experience shows that furniture procurement can be about much more than buying products. It can be an opportunity to rethink how space works, plan for growth and bring together the products, expertise and services needed to support your organization today and into the future.
Explore OECM’s Furniture, Mattresses and Related Services agreement and connect with a supplier partner to start planning your workplace needs.
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