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Mezzanine flooring

If you are looking to utilise and make the most out of the space at your premises, you might find yourself thinking, what is a mezzanine floor? And how can it benefit me?  Arguably, mezzanine flooring is the way forward for companies looking to utilise and control the space that they already have. Your mezzanine floor can be designed so it specifically works for the area you already have and to utilise the maximum potential your premises have to offer.

What is a mezzanine floor?

A mezzanine floor is essentially an extension on your premises without needing to extend as its simply using space that already exists. It’s the perfect way to offer more space by utilising any over-head space by building an extra floor. It is a floor that is built between two existing floors, or it can be a new floor built between the floor and the ceiling. They are installed to maximise the unused overhead space and ultimately double the area of the premises.

This is the perfect alternative to finding a whole new property and having the trouble of moving items, setting up the new space and on top of all that, dealing with the lengthy, tedious paperwork that a move would bring. Mezzanine floors are also tailor designed to meet the specific needs of each building to make the most of the space. These are just a few benefits.

After finding out what a mezzanine floor is, many decide that opting for one, is the most cost effective and sufficient way of gaining extra space at their premises. Mezzanine floors can be used for many different things such as:

Warehouses and Industrial

Warehouse and industrial mezzanine floors are constructed within a warehouse environment to double your existing space without the hassle of moving to a different premise.  If you need extra storage for products and packaging, it is the perfect solution as it offers a whole new space without having to disrupt the floor space that becomes underneath it.

Office Mezzanines

If you interested in generating office space at your building, a mezzanine floor might be the best option for you! An office mezzanine floor is significantly cheaper than having to move elsewhere. It’s the perfect way to generate new office space that will have no major effect on the already existing workspace. In addition, the new floor doesn’t take a long time to assemble which ensures that there will be minimal disruption to the running of your business whilst it is being set up.

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Safety Flooring

What is Safety Flooring?

Safety Flooring is vinyl flooring specifically engineered and designed for use in commercial environments to be hard-wearing, non-slip to prevent accidents and minimise the risks of slips, trips and falls.

safety flooring

What are the advantages?

The advantages of using safety flooring is the protection it gives for many industries where it is important to have no accidents. The main benefit is its non-slip properties, it is hard-wearing and easy to clean. Accidents at work are much more likely to happen without the correct flooring installed. When the incorrect flooring is wet, many accidents usually occur.

Although the primary benefit is safety, it is also an attractive option to bring light and style to any space. Whether you want to achieve wooden floorboards or smart grey tiles, you can easily create a modern workplace aesthetic.

Anti-slip flooring

Common places that anti-slip flooring is used include schools, shops, hospitals, care homes, kitchens and other places where there is a lot of indoor footfall. Anti-slip flooring is usually made from high-quality vinyl, which is highly durable and easily maintained. It is very versatile and comes in many colours and styles, often recreating the look of solid wood or tiled floor.

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Forging

Forging is a worldwide industry, producing high-quality metal items in various shapes and sizes. Forging can produce many shapes in many different materials and finishes. A piece of metal is heated up and manipulated into the desired shape using forging tools.

Forging is a full-on process of heating, manipulating and finishing a piece of metal, it is made by forcing metals into customized shapes using various forging tools.

Some of the various forging tools that are used are:

Anvil: An anvil is a tool that is used in forging, it is a large block of metal, usually made up of steel it has a flat surface top.

Tong: A tong is made up of three pieces of metal, it works similarly to a pair of scissors, the three pieces are three segments called the jaw, the boss and the reign.

Hammer: A forging hammer is used to form the metal between two dies.

Fuller: A fuller is a tool used to form metal; it is used when the metal is hot.

Press: Press forging is usually done on a forging press; this is a machine that applies pressure gradually on a forging die.

Furnace:  A forging furnace is an open furnace that can reach temperatures up to 1250 degrees.

Forging can cost anything from zero pounds to over a thousand! Depending on the equipment you already have or what you must buy.

There are three main processes of forging, they are:

Impression die forging: During this process, the metal will be placed in a die, and then attached to the anvil.

Hot forging: This process helps metal get to their maximum strength.

Cold forging: This process increases the metal’s strength through hardening the metal at room temperature.

Forging
Forging

 

 

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IR35

Tax avoidance is a serious matter, IR35 is designed to stop contractors and clients from avoiding paying tax and national insurance.

As of April 2020, IR35 rules change for contractors who are working within the private sector for medium to large clients. As with the public sector, the client will have to look at the parameters and determine if the contractor falls inside or outside of IR35.

IR35 is a piece of legislation that enables HMRC to take additional payments from contractors who they feel should be paying income tax and national insurance based on the fact they are employees in all but name when working with certain clients.

It is relevant to both the public and private sectors where contract work is carried out, however, there are differences in how the payment is taken.

Public Sector – the contractor’s client is responsible for determining if IR35 applies to the contractor. If it does apply they will need to put the contractor onto their payroll and deduct income tax and National Insurance.

Private Sector – if it is believed that IR35 applies to the contractor then the client will have to make an extra payment to HMRC for the additional tax and National Insurance they would receive based on an equivalent employee’s wages.

HMRC take several factors into account when determining if a contractor should be within IR35, these include the following:

  • Control – how much control does the client have over where and when the contractor carries out work
  • Personal or substitute? – does the contractor carry the requested work out personally or do they send a substitute when needed
  • Work requests – does the contractor expect the client to provide them with work and does the contract have to carry out any work requested by the client?

If you are a genuine freelancer, contractor or consultant who is running your business from your account then IR35 will not affect you. Following best practices and keeping your books updated means you will have all the relevant information available should HMRC investigate you.

It is recommended that you seek expert advice as to whether you fall within the parameters of a contractor that should be ‘caught by IR35’ to ensure you have the correct information to hand. There are also several free online contractor calculators you can use for guidance.

If HMRC finds that you are inside IR35 there will be a demand made to retrospectively pay tax and national insurance that is owed and a possible penalty so it is very important to look into this and make sure you are following the requirements.

 

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Space Saving Desks

Space saving desks

Space saving desk

When working at a desk you may feel like there isn’t enough room to be able to work on, space saving desks will prevent this problem from happening. Along with a well organised desk, a space-saving desk will allow you to have more room from retailers like Pure Office Solutions. A way to save you space is grouping all the items together that you feel are most valuable to in your working environment and place them relatively close. The key step to having tidy desk is to keep things you use on a regular basis in arms reach including pens, notepads etc. other items that you tend to use on a weekly basis can be kept in a draw on your desk or even on your desk but still so you are able to reach them. If your desk is smaller and there is no way of placing items around your workspace use facilities around you to store your items. If your work environment contains using a lot of folders containing key information why not store all this information on your desktop or pc. Saving desks are a very up to date version of a normal desk, however, variables that have been added to a saving desk will allow you to have more room. Many people will a standard desk will have trouble finding places to store the items they need to work with, the back of your computer monitor can be a good spot for hidden storage.

Ways to hide your storage

A back of a monitor will allow you to attach pens, external hard drives and index cards this will save you space! If your desk has been designed to allow you to pull a draw out underneath use this to store your keyboard this will allow you more room on the top of your desk. If there are a lot of wires around where you are working try to use pegs. This will hold all your wires into one, clutter that is caused from cables can look messy by using binder clips can be insanely useful allow you to choose which wire you want to put the clip. Wires that find are not always being used so any spare wire that you notice don’t go anywhere be ensured to remove them.