Choosing a conference table

Most offices buy a meeting table once every few years, for a room that already exists. It has to fit that room and seat the people who use it. It also has to last.

Sizes and seats

Each maker sets its own conference table sizes. The office desk standard, BS EN 527-1, gives sizes for work desks, and its scope leaves out other office tables.

So the seating numbers you see come from sellers, and they differ. One UK maker seats 8 people at a table 2.4 metres long. Other guides put 10 or 12 at the same length.

The difference comes down to two choices. One is how much table edge each person gets. The other is whether anyone sits at the ends. Ask which assumptions a seller has used before you compare tables.

Space around the table

People need room to pull a chair out and to walk behind someone who is seated. One space-planning tool suggests at least 75 cm behind each chair. A wheelchair user needs more. Approved Document M's guide for reception counters asks for a clear space in front of one that is 1,200 mm deep where there is a knee recess, and 1,400 mm deep where there is none.

Wheelchair users

Employers must make reasonable adjustments so that disabled workers are not put at a substantial disadvantage. GOV.UK gives physical changes to the workplace as one example.

For meeting tables, the nearest official guide is the same one for reception counters. It asks for one section of the counter to be no higher than 760 mm, with a knee recess of at least 700 mm.

At a meeting table, look for clear knee space at one or more seats, without a central leg or a rail in the way.

Room space rules

Under the Workplace Regulations, every room where people work must have enough floor area, height and unoccupied space. The Health and Safety Executive's guidance gives 11 cubic metres per person as a minimum in most workplaces.

The HSE's code of practice lists rooms used for meetings among the exceptions to that minimum.

Power and data in the table

BS 6396 is the British Standard for electrical, data and telecoms systems built into furniture. Ask a supplier whether a table's power unit meets it.

The HSE says portable appliance testing is not compulsory. An employer must keep electrical equipment safe, and the law leaves the method to them. The HSE says new equipment should arrive safe and needs only a visual check.

Strength and timber

BS EN 15372 sets safety, strength and durability requirements for tables used outside the home. Ask a supplier which edition a table was tested to.

Under the UK Timber Regulation, a business placing wooden furniture on the market must check that the timber was not illegally harvested. FSC runs a certification system for responsibly managed forests.

Buying for a business

A company, school or charity buying a table is not a consumer under UK consumer law. So the 14-day right to cancel an online order does not apply, and the seller's own terms do. Read them before you order.

Reused and refurbished tables are another option. WRAP has published a case study of one UK firm that has refurbished more than 125,000 desks, chairs and other office furniture.

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