UK law doesn’t set a fixed distance between desks. What it asks for is enough room: enough for each person to move and change position, and enough to get out quickly in an emergency.
So the right desk spacing comes from two things you can measure: the space a chair needs behind the desk, and the walkways people use. This guide shows how to work out both, plus the minimums that do apply to the whole room.
Quick answer: there’s no minimum space between desks in UK law. Leave enough room behind each desk for the chair to push back, plus a clear walkway wherever people pass. As a rule of thumb, that’s around 1 m behind a desk for the chair, and more where people walk behind it. For the room as a whole, HSE guidance sets a minimum of 11 cubic metres per person, and the British Council for Offices recommends planning on about 10 m² of floor per person.
Minimum space between desks in a UK office: what the rules say
The rules describe the space a person needs, not a gap in millimetres. Three apply to desk spacing.
- Room to move at the desk. The Display Screen Equipment Regulations say a workstation must give the user enough space to change position and vary their movements.
- Room in the room. HSE’s workplace guidance says the room’s empty volume, divided by the number of people who normally work in it, should be at least 11 cubic metres. Any part of the room over 3 m high counts as 3 m.
- A way out. The same guidance says people should be able to leave their workstations swiftly in an emergency, along routes wide enough to move safely.
HSE adds that 11 cubic metres is a minimum and may not be enough, depending on the layout, the furniture and the work. Treat it as a floor, not a target.
How much space do you need behind a desk?
Enough for the chair to push back far enough to stand up, plus a walkway if anyone passes behind. A common rule of thumb is around 1 m from the desk edge for the chair. It isn’t a legal figure, and chairs vary, so check it by measuring your own.
- Sit at the desk in the chair you’ll use, at your normal working distance.
- Push back as if to stand up, and stand.
- Measure from the front edge of the desk to the back of the chair. That’s the chair zone.
- Add a walkway behind the chair zone if people need to pass while someone is sitting there.
How wide should the walkway be? HSE asks for routes wide enough for people to move safely, without setting a figure. Make it wide enough for two people to pass, and for a wheelchair if anyone in your team uses one.
Measure with the real chair you’ll use. Chairs vary in depth, so a measurement taken with a different chair can mislead.
Leave room to stand up and stretch, too. HSE’s guidance is that breaks from screen work should let people get up from their workstation and move around. That only works if standing up doesn’t block a neighbour or the walkway.
Space for a wheelchair user
A wide enough walkway is only the start. A wheelchair user also needs room to approach the desk, turn at it and get their knees under the worktop.
There’s no single figure that fits every chair, so measure the person’s own wheelchair and ask what they need. Check the route to shared spaces too, such as the kitchen, toilets and meeting rooms, and think about visitors. Employers must make reasonable adjustments for disabled workers, and GOV.UK lists working on the ground floor as one example.
Space between the desk and the wall
If your back is to the wall, the gap between the desk and the wall is your chair zone. Measure it as above, and don’t let it shrink to the point where you squeeze out sideways.
If the back of the desk is against the wall, you only need a small gap for cables. A cable spine keeps the leads tidy as they drop to the floor.
Distance between back-to-back desks
Back-to-back desks face each other, so the desks themselves need no gap. The space you plan is behind each row: a chair zone on each side, plus any walkway.
If two rows of people sit back to back instead, with their chairs facing away from each other, the gap between the rows has to hold both chair zones, plus a walkway if people pass between them.
Bench desks take this further. Two people share one frame, facing each other. Our Partage back-to-back bench is 1600 mm deep overall. See all office bench desks.
Space between side-by-side desks
Desks in a row usually touch, so the question is how wide each desk should be. Each person needs enough width for their screens, keyboard and the work beside them, with room to move their elbows.
Check three things along a row:
- Width per person. Lay out what each person uses, including papers and a phone, and measure the width it takes. Then pick desks at least that wide.
- Room in front of the keyboard. The Display Screen Equipment Regulations ask for enough space in front of the keyboard to rest your hands and arms. So don’t push the keyboard to the desk edge to save depth.
- A way in at the ends. Everyone needs a route to their own chair that doesn’t mean climbing past a colleague. On a long row, leave a gap or a walkway every few desks.
What to measure, layout by layout
| Layout | Measure from | The gap must hold |
|---|---|---|
| Facing desks (back-to-back desks) | The front edge of each desk, where you sit | Nothing between the desks; a chair zone behind each row, plus any walkway |
| People sitting back to back | The front edge of one row to the front edge of the next | Two chair zones, plus a walkway if people pass between |
| Side by side in a row | Across the row | Each person’s working width, plus a way in at the ends |
| Desk against a wall, you facing it | The front edge of the desk to whatever is behind you | One chair zone, plus a walkway if anyone passes |
Desk spacing for the whole office: about 10 m² per person
For planning a whole floor, the British Council for Offices recommends 10 m² per person for general office space. It updated this in 2023, and now treats 8 m² per person as a special case for exceptional situations.
That 10 m² covers the whole usable floor: desks, walkways, storage and shared space, not just the desk itself. It’s a design standard, not a legal minimum.
To turn a floor area into a number of desks, see our guide to how many desks you can fit in your office.
Spacing desks for privacy and less noise
Sometimes the problem is people sitting too close for comfort, rather than room to move. More distance helps, but so do a few changes that need little or no extra floor.
- Desk screens. A screen between facing desks gives each person their own field of view. Our desk screens fix to the desk with clamps or brackets.
- Staggered rows. Offsetting desks so people don’t sit directly opposite or side by side spreads them out in the same floor area.
- Somewhere to go. A meeting room, breakout area or booth takes calls and chats away from the desks. A booth needs its own floor space, so plan it in. See meeting pods and booths.
- Soft surfaces. Acoustic wall or ceiling panels, and fabric desk screens, absorb some of the chatter that bounces round a hard room.
Balance quiet work and teamwork
Spacing is a balance. Spread everyone out and teamwork suffers; pack everyone in and nobody can concentrate. Plan for both kinds of work:
- Keep teams close. People who swap ideas all day should sit within easy talking distance of each other.
- Give quiet work its own place. Some tasks need peace. Set aside a quiet area for focused work, separate from calls, meetings and the kitchen.
- Give talk its own place. A meeting table or breakout area gives groups somewhere to brainstorm without disturbing the desks. If you keep a breakout corner quiet, it can double as a retreat for focused work.
- Let people choose. If there’s a quiet area and a shared area, people can move to the one that suits the task.
- Use shared tools. Shared documents, chat and video calls let colleagues work together when their desks aren’t side by side, or when some work from home. Put power and a good connection wherever people switch between solo and group work.
A little personal space helps a desk feel like someone’s own. Leave room for a photo or a small plant, as long as it doesn’t eat into the working area or the chair zone. Plants also make shared areas more inviting; just keep them out of walkways.
In an open-plan office, desk spacing matters even more. Our guide to creating an open-concept office covers the rest of that layout.
Fit more desks without cramming
If the measurements don’t add up, change the desks before you squeeze the gaps. A shallower desk gives the room back to the chair zone behind it.
Our narrow desks are 600 mm deep instead of the usual 800 mm, which frees 200 mm in every row. Our guide to how deep an office desk should be explains when that works.
Before you swap to shallower desks, check the setup still fits. HSE’s guidance is the screen about an arm’s length away, with the top level with your eyes. So set the screen and keyboard out on a 600 mm depth first, with room left for your hands in front of the keyboard. A monitor arm can win back some depth by holding the screen at the back edge.
Storage is the other place to find room. Cabinets between rows take floor that chairs need. Move them to the walls and build upwards, with taller units, and leave space in front for doors and drawers to open. If pedestals go under the desks, check they still leave room for knees. See our office storage solutions.
Other ways to fit a small office:
- Furniture that does two jobs, such as a desk-high pedestal that adds worktop and storage, or a meeting table that doubles as a spare desk.
- Desk pods or clusters. Grouping four desks together can use the floor better than long rows. Check every chair zone and the way in to each desk on your plan.
- A layout you can change. Desks and screens that move easily let you rearrange as the team changes, without losing the chair zones and walkways.
Measure first, then order
Good desk spacing is easy to check before anything arrives. Measure a chair zone, mark the walkways on a plan, and check the room against 11 cubic metres per person.
Two more things to plan in. Give desks a share of the daylight, setting screens side-on to the windows to avoid reflections. And choose chairs and desks that adjust to the people using them: see our ergonomic office chairs.
Then test the plan in the room itself:
- Mark the footprints. Tape the outline of each desk, pedestal and cabinet on the floor, at its real size.
- Mark what’s in the way. Include pillars, radiators, sockets, the swing of every door, and drawers and cupboard doors fully open.
- Walk it with people in place. Sit people at a few of the marked desks with chairs pushed back. Then check others can still pass, carry a box through and reach the way out.
Send us your room measurements and the number of people, and our friendly team will help you choose desks that fit.
