Cable management – get to grips with cable chaos in your office

Cable management is a critical part of office design. Cables look unsightly and can cause a trip hazard, yet they’re so critical. Power cables for computers and monitors, chargers for phones and tablets, and cables that take data from one device to another – despite Bluetooth and WiFo, cables are still an important part of our work environment.

However, making sure they don’t interfere with the aesthetic of your office can take some planning.

Here are some of our favourite solutions to help keep cables tame and tidy and out of harm’s way.

Cable snakes

Running cables inside walls and between partitions can be one of the neatest ways to manage your office cables, but these cables need protecting. Horizontal cable snakes can be used with vertical cable snakes to offer end-to-end protection of cables running within walls, ceilings and floors.

Cable management floor trunking

Typically, power needs to get to a bank of units to be hidden on the underside of these units and run to the device needing the power.

Our plastic floor trunking provides an effective solution to keep cables safe and ensure they don’t pose a hazard as they take your data and energy from A to B. These trunking strips are supplied in 2-metre lengths as an all-plastic unit, or an aluminium-capped unit with a plastic base. These have three dividers enabling you to run 4 separate lengths of cable to deliver power or data to wherever it’s needed. And, as with most things at Box15, the more you order, the lower the unit price.

Cable spines

Sometimes you simply need to make sure cables track in a tidy manner and are protected. For this, we have our aerofoil vertical snake kit – a subtle but effective way to keep cables in one tidy place. These can run from the ground to the underside of the desktop, and then along the underside of the desk to the cable port. Alternatives include our Helix Metal Cable Spine and, for up to 4 cables, our 4-cell vertical snake with a weighted base to ensure that the snake extends the full length of the cable.

Kuba Slim profile snake

Of course, with the sit/stand desks available today, you may need a more flexible cable management solution such as our KUBA SLIM square profile snake. This comes as a 66-piece set which comprises 2 cells. These snakes are modular so you can add or remove cells to achieve your required length, and even the slack in this smart cable snake looks smart. This range has a whole host of accessories to help manage your cables such as magnet holders, floor trunking, cable powers and under-desk cable trays.

Cable carriers

One of the biggest challenges is getting power to a device, or data from one device to another. Wire basket cable trays can be attached to the underside of desks, tables or cabinets to hold cables out of sight. These are available in lengths that range from 200mm to 1800mm. If you prefer a solid cable tray to further conceal cables from sight, those are available from 300mm to 1400mm. These cable trays are simply screwed to the underside at the rear of a desktop and cables run through the tray, out of sight and out of mind.

There are also extra-width trays that can be used for a  bank of desks together for a centralised cable management solution.

For those power cables that need to be channelled in a direction that isn’t a straight line, our under-desk cable cradle system is compiled of a series of interlocking cable cradle cells. These slot together and pivot, allowing you to channel your cables where they need to go. These are available in silver, blue or natural and can be purchased in a variety of different lengths.

With the use of cable trays, cables snakes and spines, and floor trunking, you’ve now managed to get your cables exactly where you need them. There’s just the small issue of a desktop between the cable and your device.

Desk cable ports and grommets

Here, you have two options; brushed furniture slots and cable ports, plates or slots.

For an extremely chic and discrete look, you could opt for an Oval metal cable grommet that comes in three different sizes and slide back to allow cables and power cords to pass through and then closes again.

Alternatively, you could use a cable plate. Cable plates are usually square or rectangular plates that simply slide back to reveal a hole for the cable to pass through and then slide back, closing for a continuous desk surface. Plates can be single or dual access cable plates allowing cables to be brought up both sides of the plate.

Or, the alternative option is a cable desk grommet. Sometimes also referred to as a cable port, a cable desk grommet is a circular casing that fits into a standard circular desk hole and has a small gap for the cable to emerge from. These are really easy to fit retrospectively to a desk. These also come in many different finishes so you can get the look you’re after, and they are ultra-affordable.

You can get all of these cable management solutions from Box15 or, if you’re not sure what you need, you can chat with our friendly advisors online or call us on 01295 565001.