I eluded to these changes a while ago during an attendance debate, the reduction of seats is a long overdue project this team has needed to work on.
I'm not sure what exactly will be going into that vacated space, but they need to think long and hard about the viability of a "social media area" in the long term. I'd imagine that would be pretty obsolete in a few years.
Either way, I'm glad this is finally underway.