THE TERRACE IS A COMMUNAL SPACE
WITH MAJOR BIOPHILIC IMPETUS AND
THE PLANTING STRATEGY FOR IT HAS
HAD A VERY POSITIVE RECEPTION
FROM STAFF
A striking red feature was also used on the building’s 9th floor,
in the form of a rectangular feature wall area, which is clad in
individual, red Muratto tiles in 3D off-centre pyramid shapes,
angled once again to mimic the stair. This idea is continued
along a narrow galleried seating area on the same floor,
where the tiles this time are arranged as wall art in a series of
alternating 4 or 6-tile portrait-format rectangles, accompanying
a 6-person meeting space.
NATURAL LIGHT AND SUSTAINABILITY:
The client brief also requested the use of glass to maximise
natural light and the scheme therefore features fire-rated glass
for dividing walls wherever possible. As the more traditional
working zones for the teams also require privacy and security
for FCA compliance, privacy manifestations are used for some
of the glazed partitions. Further light was created via white-
painted ceilings, deliberately exposed, allowing for a very
generous 3m ceiling height – almost a metre more than the
average office interior – whilst at the same time ensuring a less
corporate feel.
From an energy perspective, the large elements of glazing
pull in as much natural daylight as possible, with cellular
spaces confined to inner core areas and the lighting scheme is
entirely LED-driven, with suspended up and down-lighting to
limit glare to work surfaces. Floor finishes, meanwhile, feature
a high degree of recycled content, as do the slatted timber
acoustic panels in the presentation space, made from off-cuts
of Australian red cedar.
AGILE WORKING, WELLBEING & BIOPHILIA:
‘When it came to designing the workspaces themselves, we
knew that our client has a strong collaborative relationship with
its staff and engages in a number of programmes promoting
health, wellbeing and balance within the workplace’ Gurvinder
Khurana explained. ‘This project therefore represents the
continued evolution of the Group’s people-centred working
environments, which support the development of agile,
activity-based working practices. A high level of trust is placed
in the teams to choose the appropriate spaces in which to work
– whether traditionally desk-based, buzzy-and-collaborative
or quiet and reflective, with an overall workplace technology
infrastructure which allows these to work seamlessly.’
Workspace furniture includes sit-stand desks from Hayworth,
along with a mixture of desks and seating by Naughtone,
Orangebox and Brunner. Whilst the scheme created a suite of
varied workplace environments for an agile workforce, each
work zone also encompassed small meeting spaces and work
areas, screened with combinations of furniture elements,
hanging planting and open Abstracta frameworks, to create
more intimate neighbourhoods within larger zones, along with
jump-in jump-out phone booths to provide local quiet spaces.
Each area very much has its own character and this approach can
also be seen in the different meeting room design treatments,
with carpets in two rooms in turquoise, two in green and one in
yellow, for example.
A commitment to creating a biophilic environment meant an
extensive planting strategy for the space too, creating a natural
connection via externally-planted roof terraces, which also
improve internal air quality and help mitigate the breakout of
sound into the building’s shared atrium space.