How Institute of Finance relocated after 9/11.

The of Finance, now known as FT Knowledge, fled the 17th floor of the 2nd tower of the World Trade Center on 9/11, the parent company Pearson immediately found a new home for them at their headquarters in midtown Manhattan.

Since they lost everything in the attacks including all of their data and information, they had to recreate the business from scratch.

Founded by the New York Stock Exchange in 1922, FTK is the world's leading financial training company.

"Luckily we had enough temporary space available on three different floors that could be easily rearranged to integrate the FT staff according to departments (research, program development, operations and sales)," says Tom Daulton, facilities director.

Although the 35th floor was available, the employees didn't feel comfortable working on such a high floor.

"It was a lifesaver to already have MJS Design Associates, a Manhattan based architectural and interior design firm on board at Pearson as they had just completed the redesign of the 16th and 17th floors prior to 9/11," says Sharon Resnik, Director of Operations. "We immediately assigned them the challenging task of reconfiguring the 10,000 sq. ft. on the 10th floor to permanently house the staff of FTK. During the second phase of the project, MJS redesigned a portion of the 9th floor for the training rooms."

In one weekend, MJS finished the layout and by 9/17, they already had blueprints for the 10th floor. Because FTK now had 1/2 the space as when they were housed in the WTC, MJS had to find a creative solution to consolidate them onto one floor.

Right from the start, Pearson coordinated focus groups with the employees and department heads who met daily to discuss their special needs including amount of filing, training rooms, conference areas and quiet rooms, and overall flexible, efficient use of space.

MJS planned the space according to the workflow. For example, they placed the outside sales force next to the product managers. This arrangement allows them to listen to different styles of selling and learn from each other. While moving FTK onto one floor, the company also developed a disaster program that delineated how people could contact each other in a crisis. They also found other locations to store data that would also be backed up on a regular basis.

In addition to designing the new offices, MJS also helped the FTK employees cope with the transition to the new space, which was much smaller and had a completely new layout mandated by Mark Malcomson, President of FTK.

He required an open office plan without private offices as they had at the WTC. With the new layout, everyone could have clear visual access to their co-workers.

Low workstations with 36" high partitions, versus the usual 48" height also reduced the fear of people getting left behind in case of an evacuation. Both Mr. Malcomson, president and Ms. Resnik sit in the same types of offices as the other employees.

Creating a more dynamic layout than what they had at the WTC offices where employees sat in straight rows of cubicles, MJS designed the workstations in a zigzag angular arrangement. This allowed for wider aisle spaces, more privacy and increased efficiency. It also encouraged a more integrated group enhancing communication among employees.

Due to the lack of private offices, MJS provided FTK with flexible spaces which could be used as quiet areas for personal calls, writing, computer work and formal or informal meetings. Placing glass insets in the walls of these rooms allowed people to be seen, which contributed to their comfort level in case of an emergency.