Retail branches, as the public face for financial organizations in the community, can be on their greatest assets. Promoting brand identity, connecting with potential and existing customers, and engaging their communities—the importance of branch location and visibility cannot be overstated.
Below are three steps to crafting the ideal branch:
1. Networks
One of the biggest challenges that financial institutions face is figuring out where to build a branch—or whether to reinvest in an existing branch or not. A network of branches across the community, positioned at critical points of interest, enable customers easy access to your financial institution and your services.
Through location analytics and conversations with design experts, selecting the ideal site for a new presence can be done with confidence. The same process will likely identify that many of your existing branches are already uniquely located and could benefit from a refresh.
2. Sites
After identifying a new location to grow your network, individual site selection requires due diligence, and maybe just a bit of luck! What sites are on the market? Are they shovel-ready sites, or do they house an existing building? Many variables play into the availability of a key site at any given time.
A thorough review of visibility, accessibility, and buildability can help narrow the search for sites worth pursuing. The perfect site rarely exists; but identifying and weighing as many of the challenges and opportunities as you can will set the groundwork for success.
3. Layouts
Site selection and the due diligence process often inspires thoughts about where the branch could sit, how parking is organized around the building, or where remote ITMs could be positioned. Conceptual layouts take a birds-eye-view of the site to locate these major pieces required to make decisions about visibility, circulation, and landscape.
How your branch fits on a given site will directly impact your goals and help you establish a key node within your network. This is where the fun really begins!
More from Author
Design Collaborative | Mar 4, 2024
Illuminating your path to energy efficiency
Design Collaborative's Kelsey Rowe, PE, CLD, shares some tools, resources, and next steps to guide you through the process of lighting design.
Design Collaborative | Feb 1, 2024
Prioritizing water quality with the WELL Building Standard
In this edition of Building WELLness, DC WELL Accredited Professionals Hannah Arthur and Alex Kircher highlight an important item of the WELL Building Standard: water.
Design Collaborative | Jan 19, 2024
How to strengthen office design as employees return to work
Adam James, AIA, Senior Architect, Design Collaborative, shares office design tips for the increasingly dynamic workplace.
Design Collaborative | Dec 12, 2023
Transforming workplaces for employee mental health
Lauren Elliott, Director of Interior Design, Design Collaborative, shares practical tips and strategies for workplace renovation that prioritizes employee mental health.
Design Collaborative | Oct 9, 2023
Design solutions for mental health as a secondary diagnosis
Rachel Vedder, RA, LEED AP, Senior Architect, Design Collaborative, shares two design solutions for hospitals treating behavioral health patients.
Design Collaborative | Aug 1, 2023
Creating a nurturing environment: The value of a mother’s room in the workplace
Since becoming an architect, Rebecca Martin of Design Collaborative has drawn a mother’s room into numerous projects. But it wasn't until she became a mom that she fully appreciated their importance in the workspace.
Design Collaborative | Jul 20, 2023
Transform your work environment with biophilic design
Lauren Elliott, Director of Interior Design, Design Collaborative, shares various ways biophilic design elements can be incorporated into the office space.
Design Collaborative | Jun 14, 2023
Design considerations for behavioral health patients
The surrounding environment plays a huge role in the mental state of the occupants of a space, especially behavioral health patients whose perception of safety can be heightened. When patients do not feel comfortable in a space, the relationships between patients and therapists are negatively affected.
Design Collaborative | Jun 5, 2023
Modernizing mental health care in emergency departments: Improving patient outcomes
In today’s mental health crisis, there is a widespread shortage of beds to handle certain populations. Patients may languish in the ED for hours or days before they can be linked to an appropriate inpatient program.
Design Collaborative | Jun 5, 2023
The power of student engagement: How on-campus student housing can increase enrollment
Studies have confirmed that students are more likely to graduate when they live on campus, particularly when the on-campus experience encourages student learning and engagement, writes Design Collaborative's Nathan Woods, AIA.
