MGZA assists David's Bridal in advance of a critical headquarters commitment.

The Situation:
David's Bridal, a family-owned and nationally recognized retail chain, had orchestrated its business growth from a small headquarters in Ardmore, Pennsylvania. In late 1999, David's found the perfect headquarters building along the Schuylkill River, in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania. The complex of building, formally brick mill buildings along the river, were proving to be significantly less efficient for office planning than originally thought by the David's Bridal real estate professionals. The company's senior executives felt that an accurate report of the organization's personnel structure, growth projections and operational support needs should be garnered in advance of making the move. MGZA was hired to confirm these organizational needs.

The Problem:
David's had made commitments on the time frame and location of their headquarters move. As the dates for the change loomed, the organization feared that the detailed operational requirements for individual departments had not been considered in early test-fit planning. The company had done estimates of needed space by application of bulk "per square foot" estimates, but early planning showed that the building might not be able to handle the numbers of people and support rooms that were necessary. Contributing factors to the concern were stringent use restrictions imposed by the county codes, as well as building planning inefficiencies brought on by the position of key core elements, including stair and elevator locations. As space was eaten away by these elements, critical operations were being squeezed.

The Process:
David's looked to MGZA to provide a realistic report of existing personnel, projected growth and support needs including files and storage requirements. MGZA conducted extensive interviews with key managers of all of the organization's departments. Questionnaires, designed to extract vital data concerning operations and personnel needs, were distributed to selected departmental representatives. MGZA also did extensive field surveys, including count verification of files and storage support areas.

The Solution:
MGZA compiled a detailed report of current & projected personnel and support needs for David's. Via our methods of projection plus data calculation, we provided David's with information packaged for both the base building architect's use, and the key managers within David's. Strategies were developed, in both office and work station zones, that would appropriately handle the space constraints without sacrificing operational needs. MGZA worked with the base building architect, to finalize plans using the programming data.

The MGZA forecast of personnel needs became a working document for David's management team, as the headquarters move came to fruition. MGZA participated in the move, providing interiors-oriented assistance during the fast-track construction process.