Mix Interiors 177

Mix Interiors 177

September 2017

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UPFRONT 10 22 Perspective

Inside 66

26 Seven...

ROUND TABLE 72 CASE STUDY 78

28 Forward Thinking

78 Bird & Bird

31 Material Matters

86 Stockport Homes

32 Desert Island Desks

PROFILE 94 94 Ciara Keeling, Bruntwood

SPOTLIGHT 39 41 The Big Question

PREVIEW 101

44 Paul Scialla, International WELL Building Institute

101 London Design Festival

48 Lara Conaway, Oktra

THE FINAL WORD 112

49 Gavin King, SpaceInvader 50 Oliver Heath, Oliver Heath Design

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52 James Stawniczy, HOK 54 Levant Caglar, FIRA 58 Alex Gifford, Steelcase 61 Johanna Ljunggren, Kinnarps 62 Wendy James & Tyler Ashworth, HKS 66 Kavita Kumari, Cundall

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The cover

The logo HLW nurtures a culture of collaboration both within and outside its organisation. The inspiration for the logo came from the accompanying image, a graphical representation of the origami crane – a symbol of hope during challenging times. www.hlw.com The cover image The freedom is in your hands with a wide range of pastel shades

by Silverline. Make your storage solutions smart with the new SWITCH, SLEEK and STACK ranges.

Enhance your workspace with features including powered lockers and high density rolling storage, all within a smart, slimline carcass design. www.silverline-oe.com

MIX INTERIORS 177

Mix Interiors 177

September 2017

This stylish monitor arm, arguably one of the slimmest of its type on the market today, has been awarded FIRA’s prestigious Ergonomic Excellence Award and is now supplied with a 10 year extended warranty.

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from Mick I had an intro all ready to go as we approached this deadline – and then we were given the sad news that Keith Kindell had died. There was no way I was going to not mention someone who was once described to me as ‘the best salesman this industry’s seen’.

We’d like to pay a proper tribute to Keith in our next issue – as we’ve currently got a printer tapping his fingers with impatience, the last thing we want to do is rush things.

The majority of our more experienced, mature (old) readers will certainly know of Keith, even if they hadn’t worked with him or met him either here in the UK or in Dubai, where he spent the last few years as MD of Optima Partitions.

I know that a few of those old boys and girls will probably proclaim ‘There’s no

SEPTEMBER 2017

Get in touch Back issues 05/09/2017 13:46

Contact us to buy back issues: rebecca@mixinteriors.com

Editor Mick Jordan mick@mixinteriors.com

Contributors Steve Gale Andy Swann

Editorial support Rebecca Sabato rebecca@mixinteriors.com

Address Mix Media Limited 2 Abito 85 Greengate Manchester M3 7NA

Sales director Gary Williams gary@mixinteriors.com

Telephone 0161 946 6262

Director David Smalley david@mixinteriors.com MIX INTERIORS 175

With more and more devices using USB the demand for traditional sockets on the desk is falling. Chip is a stylish and fully integrated 4A USB charging module that simply connects to your under desk power, using a Wieland or plug, to offer 2 USB power supplies capable of charging all leading phones and tablets.

Mix Interiors 175

June 2017

ROCKETSPACE DODS PRODUCT DESIGN SPOTLIGHT CDW REVIEW

wroom Street

Designer Georgina Nicklin georgina@mixinteriors.com Managing director Marcie Incarico marcie@mixinteriors.com Founding publisher Henry Pugh

Contacts t: 01709 385470 e: sales@cmd-ltd.com w: www.cmd-ltd.com

JUNE 2017

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characters like Keith left in this industry’.

I’m not sure that’s entirely true – there are plenty of characters around, although none of them are quite in the Kindell mould.

Keith really was a character. I was lucky enough to spend a bit of time with him in Dubai one afternoon a couple of years ago – and then joined him for a cigarette outside Orgatec in Cologne last year. When I say joined him for a cigarette, we must have stood outside the Messe for an hour and half, with Keith regaling industry stories of days gone by for the majority of that time.

By the time I checked my watch to make sure I wasn’t late for my next appointment, we had a proper audience!

There are plenty of characters in this industry. They don’t make them like Keith any more though. Pity.

CIARA KEELING LDF PREVIEW

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BIRD & BIRD HEATONS WELLBEING CUNDALL

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A Word

06/06/2017 16:16

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e-mail editorial@mixinteriors.com Website www.mixinteriors.com Twitter @mixinteriors Instagram @mix.interiors

Get your own!

To ensure that a regular copy of Mix Interiors reaches your desk, please call 0161 946 6262 or e-mail: rebecca@mixinteriors.com Annual subscription charges UK single £45.50, UK corporate (up to 5 individuals) £140, Europe £135 (airmail), Outside Europe £165 (airmail).

Printed by S&G Print ISSN 1757-2371

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Š2017 Steelcase Inc. All rights reserved. Trademarks used herein are the property of Steelcase Inc. or of their respective owners.

in partnership with

SWITCH | SLEEK | STACK SMART STORAGE Make your storage solutions smart with the new SWITCH, SLEEK & STACK ranges. Enhance your workspace with features including powered lockers and high density rolling storage all within a smart, slimline carcass design.

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FURNITURE FOR ACTIVE LEARNING

Introducing Ruckus. Shaking up learning spaces.

Move with the chair, move within the chair. Ruckus lets you decide.

A chair unlike any other in the world, created especially for maker-centred & project based learning.

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Experience Ruckus at our London HQ New Fetter Place, 8-10 New Fetter Lane, London EC4A 1AZ www.kieurope.com/ruckus | education@kieurope.com | 020 7405 7082 9

Upfront

MATERIAL LAB UNVEILS REFURBISHED LONDON STUDIO Visitors to Material Lab, the UK’s leading design resource centre, will be met with a brand new showroom, as it celebrates its 10th anniversary.

CONNECTION AND BISLEY ANNOUNCE AMERICAN PARTNERSHIP Connection and Bisley North America have announced their partnership to provide comprehensive workspace furniture and storage solutions across The Americas.

Bisley North America will act as the exclusive distribution partner in The Americas for Connection.

The companies will collaborate to deliver unique workspace solutions focused on smart workspace design, efficiency and on-trend furniture designs for customers.

Launching the partnership with a new Flatiron showroom on 1140 Broadway, Connection and Bisley North America will display a working office space with meeting, socialising and breakout areas.

Kelvin Bromley, Managing Director for Connection, explained, ‘It is my pleasure to announce our Bisley North America partnership. Bisley are recognised globally for their strength in the workplace storage market and so coupled with our expertise as commercial furniture specialists this collaboration offers a natural partnership for us to offer our customers holistic and smart workplace solutions.

Providing all the expert advice and inspiring exhibits the A&D community has enjoyed since its inception in 2006, the studio extends its offering to include live, interactive room sets, brand new client meeting zones and a fullystocked reading room – whilst serving as an elegant, modern canvas for all of the materials on display. It has been created using the finest materials and makers – the majority of which are UK-based.

Alongside surface materials from established and emerging designers alike, studio partners Johnson

Tiles, Vado, Dulux Trade, Formica, modulyss, Karndean, Tektura and Flowcrete are allocated designated spaces for showcasing their latest products and innovations.

Darren Clanford, Creative Director of Material Lab, said of the refurbishment: ‘Material Lab has been at the heart of the A&D community for over 10 years, providing a place of exploration and experimentation.

‘To celebrate our 10th anniversary, we could think of no better way than to expand our offering – further encompassing the elements that visitors know and love, alongside placing products in situ for a greater understanding of the best option for all projects, great and small.’

MONZO – FLEXING FOR THE TECH REVOLUTION Further news from ‘Silicon Roundabout’ is the arrival of Monzo, one of a new breed of ‘challenger’ banks that is taking on traditional banking institutions with unprecedented success. The bank’s business model is designed from first principles around the format of a smartphone; making the user experience native and intuitive.

Launching only two years ago, the start-up now has 100 members of staff serving 240,000 customers. Having just been granted a full unrestricted banking licence, their trajectory looks set to continue with a target of a million customers by 2018. ‘The growth is still just phenomenal. I think we’re growing about 6-7%, week on week,’ CEO Tom Blomfield says.

The new home for Monzo is a classic Victorian red brick building at 230 City Road with a 1,100 sq m ‘shell’, where early design team meetings between Kings Cross-based architectural firm, The Mill, and Monzo mapped a typical fortnight’s activities and established a brief for highly flexible spaces capable of oscillating between focused work settings, team meetings, seminars and evening events.

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Upfront THE ULTIMATE FLOORING EXPERIENCE

AUSTIN FRASER MOVES INTO RECRUITMENT OFFICE OF THE FUTURE

As the crow flies, Reading is 36 miles west of London and home to some of the biggest business names in the UK. The developers have not been slow to react to Reading’s strategic location, not least because Crossrail will be arriving in 2019. Thames Tower is one such development, billed as a landmark office development, it is in the central piazza, directly opposite the railway station One of the first occupants of the 15-storey building is Austin Fraser, specialists in IT, engineering and life sciences recruitment.

Workplace design and fit-out specialist, Area, was brought on board to help create a special place to work. 100 office workers will have the benefit of a

restaurant, sky lounge and a 4,000 sq ft rooftop terrace.

We’ve been told the workspace takes inspiration from, and blurs the lines between, a modern home, boutique hotel, and coffee shop. The benefits can be seen through several brilliant design elements, which aid overall employee wellbeing, including an open-plan concierge area that instantly connects staff and visitors.

Peter Hart, Founder and CEO of Austin Fraser, said that the new vibrant space is not just about encouraging people to interact with each other, but also about inspiring candidates, clients and pretty much anybody who walks through their doors.

THE SOUTHERNS GROUP ANNOUNCES ACQUISITION OF BOWMAN PROJECTS The furniture, fixtures and equipment expert, the Southerns Group, has announced the acquisition of fitout company, Bowman Projects. The deal is designed to supplement the extensive interiors services provided by the rapidly growing UK firm. Its CEO, Andy Kendall-Jones, said: ‘It is a business that not only shares our values but also adds to our offering through the provision of specialist fit-out services, essentially giving our clients the choice of a full end-to-end provision.’

Leading the Group’s new offering will be Michaela Walker and Steve Bowman, who together have more than 20 years’ combined experience in the fit-out industry.

HLM TEAM CELEBRATES 10 YEARS IN CARDIFF The guys at HLM timed their 10th anniversary with their own office move absolutely perfectly.

The 14 architectural staff, interior designers and landscape architects will now make their way to Cardiff’s delightful Creative Quarter, above the Royal and Morgan Arcades.

The space has been designed by Senior Interior Designer, David James, with assistance from Vescom, Allermuir and Senator. Architect Dylan Pugh has hand-crafted bespoke copper light shades and the impressive geometric stag’s head, which sit so well against the black feature walls that highlight the buildings original fireplaces. The new office was opened by the President of the Royal Society of Architects in Wales, Robert Firth, during an evening of Welshthemed celebrations.

FAST TRACK DELIVERY OF CUBIC’S GLOBAL OPERATIONS CENTRE Whilst the name Cubic may not be familiar, for those in the know about ‘payment integration systems for intelligent travel applications’ (Oyster Cards) will know Cubic are a massive US firm. Pellings, the design, property and construction consultancy, has recently completed an office conversion for Cubic at Clearwater Park, Princes Wharf in Stockton-on-Tees.

Working with interiors contractors Skansen, Pellings has created what is Cubic’s first Global Operations Centre (GOC), which is now a template for similar fit-outs worldwide.

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The GOC has a capacity for 100+ technical support and service desk personnel. Adam Salazar of Skansen says: ‘A special feature of Cubic’s new operations centre is the installation of personalised artwork to highlight the culture and history of the company as a world leader in transport technology. This includes wrapping the full-height storage in a vinyl wrapper with a bespoke ‘stuff and nonsense’ design, such as the pairing of the A34 road to the West Country with Route 66 in America, together with a stylised graphic of a road and rail map.’

Upfront

MACE/COMO WIN PLACE ON £1BN HMRC FIT-OUT FRAMEWORK The much talked about HMRC framework was recently announced and Mace/Como were quick to let us know that they have been awarded a place on the major four-year £1bn framework The framework forms part of the Government hubs programme to fit out six million sq ft of office space.

We have kept our ear to the ground on this one and what’s piqued our interest is the desire for the public sector body to create spaces in line with what is happing in the private sector – or as Como put it, ‘The framework underpins the newer ways of working that we are about to witness across much of the public sector’. Good news for all.

The new HMRC estate will be reformed into new large, regional centres and a series of specialist sites. Trevor Bacon, Mace’s Business Unit Director for Como, said: ‘The Government hubs programme is a really significant initiative with the potential to make a huge difference to how British public sector services are delivered. It’s great that Mace/Como will be at the centre of that process, delivering real added value for the public.’

WORKPLACE WEEK – 13TH-17TH NOVEMBER One of the best things we visited last year was the WORKPLACE WEEK. Run by the talented team at Advanced Workplace Associates (AWA), this popular fundraiser will make its 6th appearance this autumn in London, the principle being that AWA arrange a host of great workplaces for you to have a nosey around – a sort of live version of Mix Interiors. We will have a thorough preview in the next issue, but in the meantime we have been told that the following will be included this year: Fresh food subscription start-up, HELLOFRESH, headquarters of MACQUARIE, ZPG (home to Zoopla; USwitch and Prime Location) and Expedia – with many more to come.

TARKETT AND DESSO’S INNOVATIVE FLOORING SELECTED FOR LEADING ARCHITECTS’ LONDON OFFICE Working across more than 30 countries in Europe, Bisset Adams is an award-winning architecture and design practice with its central hub based in the UK. To accommodate for the growing team of architects, interior designers, project managers and brand specialists, the London headquarters recently underwent a full refurbishment.

Not surprisingly, the Bisset Adams team managed the project themselves, and turned to Tarkett and DESSO to supply the flooring.

John Mgbadiefe, Director at Bisset Adams, commented: ‘With such a large space to play with, we decided to opt for a variety of flooring textures and patterns to outline separate zones with different uses.

DESSO’s Fuse and Fields provided a unique fade-effect from grey to yellow, that helped to create a natural flow connecting one area to another. We played with the Tarkett tiles to construct a modern and fun design for the social spaces, and we were extremely happy with the final result.’

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Upfront

SSE FIT-OUT IN READING We told you Reading was hot! Como has delivered an 185,000 sq ft fit-out for one of the UK’s leading energy suppliers, SSE, at 1 Forbury Place in Reading. Taking place over 26 weeks, the £8.4m project was delivered under a traditional Design & Build contract. Included in the project team were Lambert Smith Hampton, HKS, WPP, Diverse and Long & Partners.

The scheme followed SSE’s decision to consolidate multiple offices into one. Within the energy-efficient 10-storey building including basement and roof, Como has provided a multifunctional open-plan office space, with executive meeting rooms, a floor of highly-finished conference space, a staff restaurant, food stations and coffee bars. The space also includes extensive data suites and a Microsoft hub/bespoke audio visual system.

SEVEN NEW RANGES INSPIRED

BY BOTH NATURE AND THE URBAN ENVIRONMENT UK tile manufacturer Johnson Tiles has introduced seven new ranges of wall and floor tiles, inspired by natural and man-made surroundings. Glazed ceramic and porcelain designs are named: Classics, Harbour, Latitude, Threads, Fitzrovia, Enstone and Kielder The ranges have been created to span all price points and, importantly, are all stocked at the Johnson Tiles factory in Stoke-on-Trent to ensure fast turnaround.

SAD NEWS We received the incredibly sad news that two great industry figures have died in the last month – and the great age range probably means that many of you will know at least one of them.

Sarah Beveridge, who most recently worked with Flexiform, was well known to us at Mix as a fantastic supporter of both the magazine and our regional events. We felt the best way to pay tribute to her was to ask someone who knew her much better than we did, Darren Hilliker from CMD.‘Sarah was a great friend of mine,’ Darren tells us.

‘We met when I joined Flexiform in 2002 (I was there until 2007).

With a degree in interior design, Sarah had the skills and industry knowledge to create inspiring solutions that customers loved. She had a bubbly, sparkling personality and great sense of humour – she was a fantastic and supportive colleague and friend. She will really be missed by her colleagues, customers, friends and family.’

Max De Pree, the former CEO of Herman Miller, passed away in early August, at the age of 92. A corporate and civic leader, Max published

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eloquent and moving analyses of the qualities of leadership that carried his influence far beyond the company he led.

As Chief Executive Officer of Herman Miller Inc., he ensured the Michigan-based manufacturer was very much at the vanguard of innovative, enlightened, and compassionate corporations.

Under his direction, the company nearly tripled its sales and was frequently cited as ‘most admired’ by Fortune magazine.

Among Max’s original insights, he simply and eloquently stated: ‘The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality.

The last is to say thank you.’ He advocated for ‘inclusive capitalism’, based on a ‘concept of persons’ rooted in his Christian faith. Our thoughts go out to family and friends of both.

STRIDE TREGLOWN BRINGS MANVERS STREET OFFICES BACK TO LIFE What do you do with a dull 1972 six-storey office block?

Usually demolish it, right? Well, in the case of 20 Manvers Street in the UNESCO World Heritage setting of Bath, architect Stride Treglown has transformed the dated building to the point where they have succeeded in fully letting to DC Thomson and Chase DeVere prior to completion!

The new scheme features a rooftop glass box, providing an additional storey and great views across the city.

Communal areas were designed with the provision of shower, changing and locker facilities to encourage cycling, running and walking. According to Stride Treglown, the client’s sustainability brief was exceeded, with the building achieving a BREEAM rating of ‘Very Good’ and EPC A, superior to many new buildings.

PENKETH GROUP ACQUIRES MANCHESTER OFFICE SUPPLIES Bespoke office interiors firm Penketh Group has expanded its footprint in Manchester with the acquisition of Manchester Office Supplies (MOS), one of the UK’s leading office supplies and print companies.

Mark Penketh, Managing Director of Penketh Group, said: ‘We are delighted to have acquired Manchester Office Supplies. The company has been serving customers in the region and across the UK since 1918 and has a strong reputation.’

In March, Penketh unveiled its 4,700 sq ft WorkLife showroom on the 8th floor at Bruntwood’s Neo on Charlotte Street. As well as office furniture and space solutions from Steelcase, Penketh Group also showcases work by manufacturers including BuzziSpace, Frovi, Orangebox and naughtone.

‘We have received extremely positive feedback since opening our WorkLife Showroom in Neo,’ Mark adds, ‘the first showroom of its kind, giving clients and fellow professionals the chance to see at first-hand how varied and transformational workspaces can be.’

LONDON-BASED TRADING COMPANY – IN STYLE Recreational space was as important as the workspace for this London-based trading firm, who has attracted a high calibre of staff and now wants to keep them happy. An Olympic-sized table tennis area, a sleep zone, a putting green and pool area break up the area where day-to-day tasks are performed and meetings are held.

Space Workplace had to design a non-corporate space with a ‘young’ feel to compete with the client’s New York office. Natural flooring, combined with Crittal-effect glazing and brick slip clad walls, answered the brief. Sit/stand desking by TASK added necessary functionality, while meeting rooms furnished by TASK and its exclusive partner ICF added hip and style. This has been topped up with smart acoustic panels and a sumptuous lighting spec.

cm@spatial.co.uk / 0161 850 9005 17

Upfront

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON EARNS GOLD Overbury and Rider Levett Bucknall have delivered an award-winning fit-out for University College London (UCL), achieving the first SKA for Higher Education (SKA HE) Gold rating.

With a relocation of over 300 UCL staff from Euston to St Martin’s Le Grand, the £1 million project transformed 24,000 sq ft of office accommodation into a collaborative, highquality open plan workspace.

The team held a pre-assessment workshop to outline the sustainability and environmental considerations of the

ADOBE FIT-OUT IN LONDON’S WHITE COLLAR FACTORY

project in line with the targeted Good Practice Measures (GPMs) – SKA’s rating ‘points’. To achieve Gold, at least 75% of GPMs that fall within the scope of a fit-out programme must be adhered to and verified. These include energy and CO2, materials, project delivery, transport, waste, wellbeing, pollution, water and ecology measures.

Ben Stubbs, Sustainability Manager for UCL, says: ‘Delivering a sustainable estate is a key part of UCL’s 20year institutional strategy and assessment tools like SKA HE are essential for managing and measuring our progress.

We’re delighted to have also achieved the first Gold rating, which was managed and assessed by sustainability experts at Overbury and Rider Levitt Bucknall.’

Como has completed a 45,000 sq ft fit-out for Adobe, the global technology company. Spread over three floors in the new White Collar Factory building, Adobe’s office is located on the Old Street roundabout in London’s Tech City district. The office will serve as Adobe’s new Sales and Marketing hub for London and Europe and will house around 375 staff for the technology company.

We are due to cover this in more detail very soon but Como initially tell us they began working on site in March 2017, and handed over the majority of the site to Adobe by mid-June. Final completion of the remaining 13th floor took place in July.

The scheme, designed by Gensler and Hoare Lea, and managed by Turner & Townsend, is a mixture of open plan areas, meeting rooms, phone booths and a new customer experience centre.

A large combinable space is made up of a retractable front elevation movable wall and internal Skyfold partition. A microscreed floor finish, with the look and feel of concrete, runs through this and other selected areas.

FOURFRONT GROUP LAUNCHES UNIQUE BUSINESS MODEL Fourfront Group has merged design and fit-out company Area Sq with traditional contractor Cube to create Area – one of the largest workplace design and fit-out specialists in the UK. The new company delivers a comprehensive construction service, working with endusers, landlords and professional teams to cover all procurement routes, including design and build, detail and build, and traditional. The move comes off the back of an 80% increase in Group turnover over the last three years, creating a platform for even further market growth.

Area’s CEO, Gary Chandler, said the merger was agreed to ensure that Fourfront Group can deliver a single, focused offering to the market, allowing professional teams to engage with one business, irrespective of procurement criteria, for the first time.

Fourfront Group now consists of three businesses: Area, Sketch Studios which specialises in office furniture and logistics, and 360 Workplace – which provides workplace consultancy services.

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A floor tile series designed to interact with space and time Mosa µ [mu] cleverly responds to a setting’s changing light, subtly shifting shades during the course of the day. Born out of Mosa’s deep understanding of the world of ceramics, the series is inspired by the extraordinary relationship between illumination and the colour spectrum. Nature, art, and trends in architecture, as well as ancient Greek philosophers’ visions on colour and light, played a pivotal role in the creation of µ.

Experience Mosa µ in the Mosa Flagship Store in London or request your brochure online. www.mosa.com/mu

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BOSS DESIGN SETS ONE OF THE SCENE AT WATES HQ One of UK’s largest privatelyowned construction, development and property services companies, the Wates Group, have completed the refurbishment of their head office, consolidating the office in Leatherhead, Surrey The focus was on providing employees with a flexible, collaborative and private working environment – all in time for the Wates Group to be presented with the Queens Award for Enterprise: Sustainable Development, for the second consecutive time.

They were supported by Boss Design, whose detailed recycled content and recyclability for every product fully supported Wates’

impressive environmental and sustainability ethos.

Cyrille Ragasa, Site Surveyor at Wates, explains: ‘It was important to us that the suppliers we selected were committed to upholding the reputation and values of the Wates brand and for this to be reflected in the final install.’

Oliver Ronald, Sales Director at Boss Design, comments: ‘Having worked in partnership with Wates, supplying furniture for some of their major corporate and retail clients in the past, we were delighted to have been appointed to supply workplace solutions for their own head office refurbishment.’

SOCIAL TIME Dams has launched the new and improved Social Spaces product portfolio – an impressive, dedicated range of breakout furniture.

Manufactured in the UK, the Social Spaces collection of over 45 unique product designs has been created by the company’s in-house design team to enable total flexibility for any office or business environment.

Every upholstered item in the range is made-to-order using the customer’s choice of fabrics for a fully coordinated look.

The launch is supported by the publication of the second edition of Dams Social Spaces brochure with new, innovative designs to complement the already proven, successful products, which have been retained. The Social Spaces range of contemporary, design-led products includes upholstered soft seating, meeting pods, modular seating, lounge chairs, dining seating, tables and benching solutions to transform the office environment.

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Upfront

YOU ONLY HAVE TO ASK

BACKGROUND Ask Real Estate is an independent property company with an impressive reputation for delivering high-quality developments in urban centres. Established in 2000, Ask has built its reputation for multi-partner developments, featuring some of the most creative and bold concepts in regeneration, working at the highest levels with both the public and private sector.

The Manchester-based company now has a portfolio of 20 separate projects of over 3 million sq ft of floorspace and generating an end value of £800 million, with schemes in offices, residential, leisure, car parks and business parks. Whilst proud of its Manchester heritage and the work completed across the North West, Ask recently expanded into other regions, most notably at Gateshead Quays, where together with joint venture partner, PATRIZIA UK, it will deliver a new multimillion pound, state-of-the-art entertainment arena, conference and exhibition centre with complementary hotels, bars and restaurants along the waterfront.

One of the biggest developments in Manchester is First Street. The regeneration of the 20-acre site has been a long-held ambition for the partnership between Manchester City Council, Ask Real Estate and PATRIZIA UK. This month saw the announcement that the retail and leisure phase is now fully let with 16 operators open for business. When the 170,000 sq ft N0.8 office scheme completes later this year, thousands more employees will join those already working in N0.1, further enhancing this thriving neighbourhood.

First Street - Manchester’s outstanding urban neighbourhood

Those of you who keep a close eye on Mix will notice that we love to get the views of those throughout the property food chain – whether in Mix Interiors itself or at our Mix Inspired events, where we assemble a great panel of end users.

In this, our latest feature, we are throwing the spotlight on developers, giving them an opportunity to shout about their success but also give you, our dear readers, an insight into the company and some of their latest developments For our first installment, we thought we would hear from Ask Real Estate, the good people who helped us with our new creation Mix Blank Canvas (pages 34 - 36)

MASTERPLANNING AND VISION A comprehensive approach to masterplanning has seen First Street integrate into the wider city centre, providing an east/west connection with surrounding neighbourhoods and drawing in visitors to this new cultural heart, contributing hugely to Manchester’s economic expansion.

Our move to First Street was overwhelmingly positive. As well as the bars and restaurants, it was the area’s connectivity which was a big pull. We take the views of our employees seriously and satisfaction has definitely increased since we moved here. There is a great sense of community and we really feel part of it. – Alison Ross, Customer Experience and Operations Director, Auto Trader

The overarching vision for First Street, which was built on the site of the former Gaythorne Gas Works, was to create a distinctive, inspiring space for people to live and work; a space which would deliver the best possible amenities to draw in destination visitors and provide an unbeatable work location.

LIFE BEGINS AT FIRST STREET First Street is situated through the arches directly opposite the former Hacienda nightclub – where the legendary Tony Wilson created a musical and cultural explosion that resonated around the world. He lends his name to the estate’s central space and it is at Tony Wilson Place where the neighbourhood truly comes together.

PLACES TO WORK N0.1 was the first of the estate’s Grade A offices to open and is home to Auto Trader, Gazprom Energy, Jacob’s Engineering, Amaze and Ford Credit. These firms chose it because its transport links make it accessible to the widest possible skilled work force and the wealth of independent amenities help to attract and retain thousands of exceptional staff.

Soon to complete is N0.8, the next in a series of office buildings which will see a continued influx of companies seeking the highest quality office space, with flexible floorplates and a competitive pricepoint, which complements more traditional city centre office schemes.

When complete, the total office accommodation at First Street will provide over 2m sq ft of space and be THE place to work for almost 14,000 people.

PLACES TO LIVE Next year, attention will turn to the delivery of 624 PRS homes, which will support the aims of Manchester’s Growth Strategy to provide high-quality homes to accommodate the city’s rapidly growing population and will include Manchester’s largest private garden at nearly 14,000 sq ft. www.firststreetmanchester.com

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Koray Malhan

Upfront

Perspective For those of you paying attention, you will have observed that we have a wonderful mix of personalities featured in our monthly Perspective feature.

We have had a facilities manager, dealer, end user client, property agent and so on. This month we have travelled 2,000 miles to hear from Koleksiyon, a very established firm in Turkey and mainland Europe, but also making lots of positive noise in the UK and, indeed, worldwide. People advised us that we should speak to Koleksiyon’s Brand and Design Director, Koray Malhan – so here are some of his thoughts.

TYPICALLY, HOW MANY PROJECTS DO YOU HAVE ON THE GO AT ONE TIME? In a typical year, we deliver two or three mega projects of circa $5 million and 20 mid-size projects.

WHAT PRODUCTS ARE YOU WORKING ON RIGHT NOW? We have been working with HOK’s product design team on a new series of furniture for educational areas as well as a new approach for an alternative work bench solution.

HOW LONG HAS THE BUSINESS BEEN ESTABLISHED? Koleksiyon started off in a small metal atelier in 1972 and was established as a brand in 1980.

HOW MANY STAFF DO YOU EMPLOY? Koleksiyon has 750 employees worldwide.

WHEN YOU SAY WORLDWIDE, HOW MANY LOCATIONS DO YOU HAVE? We operate in more than 30 locations globally – with a turnover of above 60 Million USD. WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE MOST CHALLENGING/INTERESTING ISSUE FACING THE DESIGN INDUSTRY NOW? The most interesting issue facing the design industry is to have the courage to investigate novel materials and new production methods to achieve much more sustainable offers to present to the market.

WHEN IT COMES TO CLIENTS, WHAT HAS CHANGED OVER THE PAST FIVE YEARS? We have been delivering to more multinational corporations in the past five years. As we are in the process of a rapid global expansion, our client portfolio keeps growing every year. We have three showrooms in the USA (New York, Chicago, Dallas), one in London and one in Düsseldorf. Additionally, we have sales points in France, Austria, Spain, Holland, Poland, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, China, Russia, Colombia, Egypt, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Jordan, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Cyprus.

WHICH DESIGNERS OR DESIGN PERIODS DO YOU MENTALLY REFER TO THE MOST? I am still very inspired by the Bauhaus era, especially in terms of the fruitful dialogue between art, music, architecture, theatre, performance arts, graphic design, industrial design etc…a true revival of Gesamtkunstwerk, which is mostly associated with Wagner, but actually has earlier roots as well.

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Boccaporto, designed by Metrica

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Calder, designed by Studio Kairos

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Oblivion, designed by Koray Malhan

HOW MUCH MORE DO YOU FEEL YOU HAVE YET TO ACHIEVE AS A BUSINESS? We aim to be in the top 10 furniture companies present in the G20 countries and to manufacture in three continents.

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Proudly delivering Stockport Homes Group (SHG) in partnership with;

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Upfront

Myths About Manufacturing and the Environment

We’ve all, at one time or another, been faced with Greenwash or Eco-nonsense as certain manufacturers ‘play’ at being eco-conscious. Some of that nonsense sticks, however. Here, Andre Loosemore, A&D Director of Humanscale, dissects some of those myths.

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Eco-friendly products don’t look good…

In the immortal words of Niels Diffrient, ‘No amount of recycling will equal using less in the first place’. Consumerism is consumerism. The best thing you can do is buy well, buy once.

Just not true – good design achieves more with less. Look at progressive companies such as Bureo, who make skateboards, amongst other things, from recycled fishing nets, preventing harmful materials from entering the ocean. And established desirable brands like Stella McCartney, TOMS or Tesla prove that eco-friendly and good looking aren’t mutually exclusive.

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Consumerism is ok, as long as its green…

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It is impossible for manufacturers to be eco- friendly…

Being eco-conscious is too expensive to be viable in business…

A lot of initiatives designed to reduce impact on our environment will actually save money in the future – installing water collection systems, solar power, recycling materials, reducing materials used in designs etc.

Essentially, materials in products can affect the health of people who use them, and they can have serious environmental impact during production. The wellbeing of customers, employees and the planet is worth more than short-term income.

Nonsense. They just have to try. And there are plenty of places to look for guidance – the International Living Future Institute, for example, whose Living Product Challenge aims to make manufacturers the part of the solution for environmental problems.

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Once a product is made, it may as well be landfill already…

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The materials available to manufacturers now open up so many opportunities to create quality products that, after a long life, can be disassembled and the parts recycled or re-used.

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Manufacturers could never be net positive…

Manufacturing uses a lot of water…

Although it’s a challenge, it’s not impossible. Conscious efforts to improve production processes, material choices and facility practices can reap real rewards.

The Net Positive Project is a partnership of non-profits and businesses who believe companies have the potential to positively affect the world, rather than simply reduce negative impact.

They don’t have to be. A good water collection system, combined with a policy of re-using water in manufacturing processes, could leave you with an excess.

yuno The smart alternative to the folding table.

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Venice of the East Warwickshire Coalfield Steve Gale digs out an old magazine with ideas about wellbeing from 45 years ago!

In 1971, after more than 40 years at the head of the Architectural Review, its Editor – with the baroque name of Hubert de Cronin Hastings (often known as H de C) – delivered an 80-page rant, which took on the failings, as he saw it, of modern town planning. His bottom line was that, for people’s wellbeing, cities are good, suburbs are bad.

The piece was called Civilia: the End of Sub Urban Man and was based on an imagined development of a run-down area immediately Northwest of Nuneaton, where spoil heaps break the skyline and a redundant canal weaves through the disused mine-heads. It is a showcase for modernist ideals, a crystallisation of H de C’s vision of ‘township’ expressed in an almost comical post-Edwardian stream of consciousness.

…paved courts and alleys that glow in the wild poetry of neon

Hastings, writing under his pen-name, Ivor de Wolfe, exposed his deeply romantic desire to protect citizens from blandness or ‘the most boring life-style ever dreamt up by man’ – the suburbs permitted and even promoted by town planners. The whole issue is a manifesto for wellbeing at a regional scale, a rage against dreary low rise and wasted space. The centrepiece is the idea of town and country being like sleep and exercise – ‘the harder the exercise, the deeper the sleep’.

Nobody wants to be half awake or half asleep.

Nobody should be asked to suffer the horrors of the suburbs.

Buried in the purple prose is a convincing aspiration for people to have interest, charm, scale and entertainment in their lives. He uses expressions like ‘humanising the void’ and ‘arrangements desirable to social man’ and describes the town as a backdrop for ‘the plotting of special events’. If Civilia had been followed through I have no doubt that it would have proved a stimulating place to live.

Low density is heartily rejected, compressed city living robustly defended and described in terms of opportunities for relationships, community, employment, excitement and health, both physical and mental. In hilariously dated language he gives us ‘space for the healthy young ruffian’, ‘a ribbon of boscage’, ‘lyrical garden incidents’ and ‘paved courts and alleys that glow in the wild poetry of neon’. This is heady stuff but his belief in architecture as a force for good shines through the hyperbole.

The argument has the credibility of everyday experience, delivered in a flowery but unscientific essay. The ideas are not hard to grasp, but offered as a plea for more humane design and the deliberate creation of space to promote health and happiness. There is in equal amounts the demonisation of lazy planning, and synthetic proposals for edifying and engaging townscape.

The champions of garden cities – Lewis Mumford, Ebenezer Howard and Frederic Osborn – really get it in the neck, while the thinkers that inspire H de C’s finds are Marshall McCluhan (‘global village’ and ‘the medium is the message’) and futurists like Paolo Soleri, who were committed to mainly fictional dense urban architecture. Civilia is a hymn to the possibilities of modernists by someone who actually wrote little but studied a lot and employed other eminent critics and authors to make the AR (Architectural Review) a campaigning vehicle. He recruited, amongst others, Evelyn Waugh, Cyril

Connolly, Sacheverell Sitwell, P. Morton Shand and John Betjeman. This rare piece by Hastings (with contributions by others) was a high point in AR polemics.

Modernism is not considered obviously romantic, its foundations are functional, but in Civilia we get the human side. We hear a clamour for variety and stimulation in an environment for wellbeing at a very fundamental level, with frequent references to the needs of society and individuals ‘…on the principle that he who lives in a crowd should have special opportunities of differentiation, meaning in this context unique surroundings that restore his sense of identity.

No more dictatorship from the suburban street with its terrifying uniformity, repetition, bathos and iron grip on endless square miles of territory.’ The ideas still resonate for designers and planners at all scales. Civilia is a utopia of education and fun, a font of health and happiness, the ‘Venice of the East Warwickshire Coalfield’.

Image © Architectural Press 1971

Steve Gale is Head of Business Intelligence at M Moser Associates. SteveG@mmoser.com

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DESIGN BREATHER

Visit & See

“Patternistas for Panaz”

Take a breath, enjoy a bite to eat and a drink as the guests of Edge Design & Panaz Fabrics at Design Breather.

Inspired geometrically patterned fabric collection.

“New Designs”

Unique architectural sustainable surfaces made in the U.K. from 100% recycled materials.

“Alusid”

Wave & Ripple from Edge Design.

“The New English”

“Design By Ear with Soundtect”

Exciting and innovative ceramic installation.

The Art of Successful Acoustics in the workplace.

16.30-20.30 THURSDAY 21ST SEPTEMBER Edge Design . First Floor . 21-22 Great Sutton Street . Clerkenwell . London . EC1V 0DY t: +44 (0) 20 7253 7277 . e: showroom@edgedesign.furniture . www.edgedesign.furniture 29

Rooms by Connection Designed to define space and create a sense of place www.connection.uk.com sales@connection.uk.com 01484 600 100 See Rooms in our showrooms: London, Manchester, Huddersfield

Material Matters

In this month’s Material Matters, the team of experts at Material Lab highlights innovative sustainability. www.material-lab.co.uk

Made of Air: Carbon negative facades combine eco credentials with aesthetics Berlin-based practice, Elegant Embellishments, is on a mission to help buildings perform both environmentally and aesthetically. As a result, its expert team has developed Made of Air. The cladding material is formed by baking waste biomass from charred felled trees in an oxygen-free oven to produce a stable form of carbon. The carbon is then mixed with a biodegradable binder to make carbon negative facades. Through innovative, high-quality building products, the company aims to disrupt the existing sector. www.elegantembellishments.net

Banana Lab encourages you to Collect, Create and Compost Trailblazing designer, Lizzie Hall, has developed a new recycling process, ‘Collect, Create, Compost’, in the hope of increasing sustainability in local communities. Using banana peel, and through extensive testing and development, she has created a high-quality material for use in cutlery, bags and vessels.

She is now encouraging others to do the same by setting up their own banana material production facilities. Properties of the resulting material include the easy application of texture, colour and pattern, as well as ensuring a highquality finish. lizziehall123@gmail.com

JBH Soft Furnishings: Looks as good as it sounds Manufacturers of lightweight acoustic products and substrates, including fibre glass acoustic insulations, acoustic foam, rockwool and pinable cores, JBH Soft Furnishings offers bespoke colours, patterns and finishes that enable designers to create the perfect look, regardless of their environment. In addition to the attractive, aesthetic properties, the panels also promise stellar sound-reducing qualities. The company is dedicated to combining craftsmanship with service, working for a range of clients in both the commercial and residential sectors. www.jbh-soft-furnishings.com

Motion /// Vision: Move more with modulyss modulyss has launched its latest collection – Motion /// Vision.

Comprising a range of cutting-edge carpet tiles, the design is driven by the fluidity and strength of human movement, changing the rhythm of a space as colours flow into dynamic texture and shifting patterns. Made from high-performance solution-dyed PA 6 yarn, developed in-house, Motion /// Vision delivers outstanding performance and heralds a new era of product innovation for the company. www.modulyss.com

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Upfront

Desert Island Desks

Levent Çaglar is the Chief Ergonomist at FIRA International (Furniture Industry Research Association) and renowned for achieving practical solutions to design conundrums. He collaborates with designers to create iconic furniture, such as the Aeron chair and Virgin Upper Class cabin interior. He works with architects, interior designers and facilities managers to design workplace layouts and select furniture. He represents the UK on many European and international standards committees. Here’s what he would take to our desert island.

My telescope

Thonet rocking chair

Since being mesmerised by jewel-like shooting stars and the Milky Way when sleeping on a countryside roof terrace as a child, I have always enjoyed looking at the sky. Over 30 years ago, I made my own telescope, grinding the 150mm mirror then making the 1,200mm tube, castings and tripod. So, I would keep my beloved telescope with me in a place where I’ll have a great view deep into space, back in time and can marvel at the beauty and design of the universe. I could also see if any boats were passing – and set off a flare!

One of my passions is seeking out furniture designs where form and function are combined beautifully.

This chair is one I love and reminds me of marvelling at Thonet’s ingenuity when I saw all the originals in his museum in Boppard. What would be better than relaxing in the shade on the desert island gently rocking on this Thonet bentwood chair with a breeze cooling me, including through the cane seat and backrest.

Wind-up shortwave radio

I have always been interested in keeping abreast of what goes on in the rest of the world.

I want to hear the news from a country’s own perspective then make my own judgment in deciphering real news from propaganda. As a child, I found out all sorts of things by listening to shortwave radio and could still do this on the desert island, even without power, by using a wind-up radio. It would give me a sustainable link to the rest of the world and to humankind.

Dutch oven

Cooking is one of my ways of getting rid of stress. I enjoy creating and sometimes improvising many different Turkish dishes I learned from my mother. I also enjoy good and healthy food from different cuisines of the world.

On the desert island, I will have lots of time to use the Dutch oven over a flame or buried like an oven to help me experiment with what food stuff I manage to find.

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Tel 01925 850500 Email info@sixteen3.co.uk

Espresso pot and Lavazza coffee

One thing I must always have, especially after a meal, is a very good strong coffee.

There is nothing like a good espresso. When I am travelling, one of the challenges is to find where I can get a good espresso. Have you ever tried getting a decent espresso, or any strong coffee, in rural USA? So, I really cannot survive without the traditional Italian espresso pot with plenty of coffee – if possible Lavazza.

Sunflower seeds

Sunflowers are bright, large and pretty, like the sun.

Just like sunlight, they make me feel happy and smile. I am fascinated with the way they respond to sun so quickly – as soon as it starts raining they quickly bow their heads, but the moment the sun comes out they look up again. So, I am hoping to create my own sunflower fields from the seeds I will have. They will brighten up my days on the island and, as a bonus, I will have an endless supply of sunflower seeds to eat, reminding me of something I did a lot in my younger days.

All Marx Brothers films

Every time I see Marx Brothers films, I laugh at the incredible lines, acting and timing. Cigarsmoking Groucho hopelessly trying to flirt, Harpo with his horn and harp, Chico trying to be cheeky and wise at the same time – what a combination, and all in black and white. If I get depressed on the island, these films could do the trick!

London Showroom The Gallery, 21-22 Great Sutton St. EC1V 0DY / Manufacture/Showroom Chesford Grange, Warrington, Cheshire, WA1 4RQ

www.sixteen3.co.uk

Upfront

Over the summer, we were delighted to collaborate with PATRIZIA UK, Greater Manchester Pension Fund and Ask Real Estate to launch our newest feature – Mix Blank Canvas. The competition offered A&D the opportunity to get their creative juices flowing and design a unique space within NO.8 First Street, Manchester’s distinctive Grade A, BREEAM rated ‘Excellent’ workplace development, delivering the latest phase of the First Street neighbourhood.

This ground-breaking building incorporates six glazed, double-height ‘winter gardens’, which provide up to 1,685 sq ft of private amenity space for occupiers.

Entrants were asked to consider how a business from two different sectors of their

choosing might use the space. These could include call centres, professional services companies or creative agencies.

On one A1 mood board, we asked for details of the suggested materials, finishes and fitout, and to communicate visually how these complement both the office environment and the vibe of the wider estate.

Consideration needed to be given to the visual impact of the internal space when viewed externally, both during the day and at night time.

Entrants were also asked to consider the likely benefits of how their design will impact on the recruitment and retention of staff across their

74 The judges felt this design was visually beautiful and impactful. It offered a vibrant yet peaceful space, which truly provides a contrasting extension to the workspace.

The double-height space is accentuated with vertical drops of foliage and lighting, creating drama from both inside and outside.

The design is complemented with nature inspired furniture, surfaces and lighting This biophilic, human-centric space is designed to flex around individuals’ needs and can be utilised 24/7.

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chosen sectors. The amazing ideas and designs were judged by Jamie Hills, Senior Development Executive of Ask Real Estate, Ann Marie Duffy, Marketing Executive of Ask Real Estate, and Dan Williams, Head of Real Estate Development UK and Ireland at PATRIZIA UK, together with Chris Cheap, Regional Senior Director at GVA Manchester and James Evans, Director at Savills Manchester, who are acting as retained agents for NO.8 First Street.

We received some truly creative and innovative solutions from firms across the UK. Here are the results and a summary of six of the best…

BDP The judges were impressed with how BDP had researched the industrial heritage of the Gas Works, which was originally located on First Street, and used this to influence their design.

An innovative breakout space – the ‘Circular Drum’, which echoes the iconic gasometers that once existed, were particularly striking.

This flexible space with floor heating also ensures temperatures can be controlled in this room all year round.

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BROOMEJENKINS The judges felt this winter garden exemplified how to create a shared amenity that can support work activity whilst creating a connection with nature.

The movable cloud screens in the windows are a clever solution not only for visual impact, from both outside and inside the building, but also an innovative way to adjust how light enters and to create shading when required.

y Highl ed nd e m m Co

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Upfront

CLAREMONT The judges agreed this project was ambitious, aspirational and visually stunning, incorporating clever influences from Manchester’s rivers and cotton heritage. The use of dramatic water columns not only provided visual impact but also the source of recyclable water to maintain the planting.

SPACE ZERO The judges liked the clever use of colour and lighting on this design, which they felt would create a striking impact from the outside looking in. The design provided a flexible solution that offered areas for quiet, recuperation time as well as social gatherings.

GRIMSHAW The judges felt this was an extremely playful, fun design in keeping with the ‘tech rebels at work’ the design was targeting. They felt aspects such as the climbing wall/secret room would appeal to younger more creative businesses and assist with recruitment and staff retention.

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COLOUR COMPOSITIONS Harmonious and balanced or challenging and unexpected, explore colour and form with each individual floor composition.

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Spotlight Wellbeing

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Illustraion: Arney Fender Katsalidis

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The Big Question

Wellbeing

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Q

THE BIG UESTION

FRANCESCA GERNONE, FLETCHER PRIEST ARCHITECTS

Wh a t d o e s w e llb e i n g m e a n to yo u?

MICHAEL AASTRUP, DESSO

ZOE MOSS, COMO

For me, wellbeing is about balance. Balance between work and home, between working independently and the energy of being part of a team. We believe wellbeing is about creating healthy spaces that support both practical and emotional needs – everything from wayfinding to reducing fine dust in the indoor air. It also means using sustainable recycled and recyclable materials and designing products that help create spaces where people feel inspired and energised.

Wellbeing for me is personal contentment within the office. For some, the focus is plants, others breakout space or background noise. My individual wellbeing thoughts are always based around the activity I’m doing – thus if I need to concentrate, I want quiet Zen. If we are strategising, I want space and different mediums. If I could summarise it, then ‘diverse’ is where I would position it!

DAVID FOX, DAVID FOX DESIGN

NICOLA WOODS, OBI

NICKY MOORE, NOMA

Wellbeing means to me a sense of calm –you can always think better when you’re calm. Stressed out decisions are not always the best ones. Comfort and visual stimulus can be attributing factors to calm – the first being the labour of getting the ergonomics right, the second plants / nature / water. I’m a huge fan of biophilia at the moment – everywhere I have seen it, it just injects beauty into the environment.

To me, wellbeing means the sense of feeling comfortable and relaxed in a positive space.

You can feel a great sense of achievement when you’re in a proactive environment, whether that is at home or in the workspace. I spend the majority of my time in the workplace and will continue to do so for many years to come, so I pride myself on being able to provide advice and design diverse, productive workspace to maximise our clients’ wellbeing.

It’s a holistic concept. It’s that sense of balance and control, a feeling that we’re steering our lives in the right direction.

Socialising, being closer to work (meaning longer lie ins!) and keeping fit all play their part. It’s why we’ve designed NOMA the way we have - great watering holes, things to do that feed the mind, body and soul and all in a central location. It’s the little things that make all the difference.

Wellbeing is about shifting the focus towards the individual. It means designing workplaces to encourage positivity by empowering the user and providing a choice of adaptable environments. It is a way of going back to basics: exploring raw materials; engaging with nature, and using elements that are freely available, such as light and air. Creating ‘well’ buildings is a team effort that begins with design, evolves with the user and ultimately depends on a progressive work culture.

Umbrella editorial banner Mix Interiors JULY 2017.pdf 1 14/06/2017 12:10:48 C

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Spotlight - Wellbeing

Well, well, well Wellbeing is now a Top 10 word search, used by businesses, medical staff and even politicians. Interestingly and encouragingly for our sector, the concept of wellbeing is becoming part of the wider vocabulary. However, like many popularised words, wellbeing means different things to different people.

Here are four different versions from one simple search:

The state of being comfortable, healthy or happy.

In our attempt to provide clarity, this month’s SPOTLIGHT features a wide-ranging group of interested parties offering their views on the meaning of wellbeing. We hope, over the next few pages, you’ll discover something you didn’t know.

We have started with one of the hot topics – the healthy building rating system, the International WELL Building Institute’s WELL Building Standard – and who better to talk to than its founder, Paul Scialla.

Lara Conaway, the Sustainability Manager at Oktra, then gives a delightfully honest appraisal and asks whether we really need to do any of this and whether any of it is new.

Gavin King, from SpaceInvader, shares his thoughts on ‘thinking human’ and tells us about

Here are some building rating systems that are designed to address and measure wellbeing, showing a summary of what is available and the key elements:

Making small, gradual changes can have a positive impact on your mental wellbeing.

Wellness looks at how you concentrate on more than just physical health, exercise or nutrition. It is about the whole you and how you nurture all areas of physical, mental and spiritual wellbeing.

his experience of the WELL Building Standard, working with Hilson Moran at the Bruntwood owned NEO. Oliver Heath continues his worthy wellbeing crusade, explaining some of the tangible benefits when selling the idea to the client.

Next we are off to New York to speak to James Stawniczy at HOK. He shares the practical issues from a designer’s point of view, including what happens when the designer leaves.

Chief Ergonomist at FIRA (Furniture Industry Research Association), Levent Çaglar, puts his focus on the very hot topic of mental health within the context of wellbeing.

Newly arrived as the Head of Brand Communication at Steelcase, Alex Gifford, tells

LEED v4 BD&C

Wellbeing, or wellness, is a general term for the condition of an individual or group.

us about the enduring nature of the office and how to make it work better for all Furniture and its effects on wellbeing is what Sustainability Manager Johanna Ljunggren of Kinnarps thinks we should be thinking about – asking whether it is a silent danger.

Putting a specific emphasis on lighting, air quality and furnishings, Wendy James and Tyler Ashworth from HKS share their experiences of implementing wellbeing principles after designing their own office and studio.

Finally, we recently took a tour of the much talked-about Cundall office at London’s One Carter Lane to get a first hand insight into the very first Gold Standard WELL Certified project in Europe.

WELL v1 May-16

Living Building Challenge 3.1

Fitwel v1

Third party certified

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Certification costs

Medium

High

Medium

Low

Recertification

None

Every 2 years

None

None

Number of health related prerequisites

2

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All

None

Market maturity

High

Medium

Medium

Low Source: buildinggreen.com

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Spotlight - Wellbeing

N°1

The International WELL Building Institute We have all now at least heard of the WELL Building Standard.

We asked the founder, Paul Scialla, to give us a real insight. i

During 18 years of working on Wall Street, the meteoric rise of the green building and environmental sustainability was a trend that was hard to miss. It would come to fundamentally change real estate forever (and for the better), creating in its wake a multi-billion dollar market that simply didn’t exist 20 years ago – one that focused on energy efficiency, water conservation, waste reduction and materials performance. But in this focus on the building and its impact on the planet, I kept feeling like something was missing. And it dawned on me that what was missing in this equation was the building’s impact on people.

Fast-forward to today, and a growing body of research continues to underscore the impact indoor spaces can have on the health and wellness of the people inside of them. As we spend 90% of our time indoors, it has become increasingly clear that now is the time to bring health and wellness to the forefront of the building conversation.

Furthermore, with Real Estate and Wellness being two of the largest and most rapidly growing industries worldwide, I noticed a real opportunity to develop a programme that would marry these two concepts. It was this interest in sustainability and human health that eventually led to the development of the WELL Building Standard, the first building standard focused exclusively on the ways that the built environment affects human health and wellness.

Administered by the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI), WELL focuses on the environments in which we live, work, play, eat, and learn, and on how those places affect both our minds and bodies. By setting requirements in seven categories that have

been scientifically proven to impact the occupant experience, including air, water, nourishment, life, fitness, comfort and mind, WELL harnesses the built environment as a tool that works in the background to improve our comfort and wellness, drives better health choices, and generally enhances, not compromises, our health.

WELL was developed through seven years of rigorous research in collaboration with leading physicians, scientists, and industry professionals to provide a framework for how to incorporate a variety of strategies to integrate human health and wellness into the heart of building design, construction and operations. Comprising over 100 features within the seven core concepts of building performance, WELL takes a holistic approach to its monitoring of the built environment in order to deliver both active and passive health benefits to the people inside of these buildings.

As discussed, every feature of the WELL Building Standard is intended to address specific issues and building elements that impact the health, comfort or knowledge of occupants. While each of these elements has been shown to affect wellness in a different way and to a different degree, there are several building elements that have a particularly significant affect on human health, including lighting and indoor air quality. Light is the primary driver that aligns our body’s biological clock, our circadian rhythm, with the sun’s 24-hour day. Circadian lighting provides optimum light exposure for different times of day, such as energising light in the morning and an evening ambience that prepares the body for rest and therefore can help improve one’s energy, mood, productivity and u

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Center for Sustainable Landscapes

In a Nutshell - The WELL Building Standard (WELL) •

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• •

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A performance-based system for measuring, certifying, and monitoring features of the built environment that impact the health and wellness of the people who live, work and learn in the buildings.

Developed through seven years of rigorous research in collaboration with leading physicians, scientists and industry professionals.

Comprising over 100 features and focusing on seven categories of building performance: air, water, nourishment, light, fitness, comfort, and mind. These core concepts have been scientifically proven to affect human health and wellness.

Introduced in October 2014. Currently, there are over 500 projects registered or certified under WELL. Can be applied to several different project and building types, not just new construction.

Center for Sustainable Landscapes

50 Years 1967 - 2017

i Photography credit: Paul G Wiegman

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Healthcare

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Spotlight - Wellbeing

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All of the above: SCENEO - First WELL certification in France, a 130,000 sq ft office building in Bezons, France

overall sleep quality. The air we breathe is another fundamental component of our health and poor indoor air quality can contribute to conditions such as asthma, allergies and other upper respiratory challenges. As such, the WELL Building Standard includes several features that serve to create optimal lighting conditions and indoor air quality to support the health and wellness of building occupants.

How does it work?

While the task may seem daunting at first, incorporating WELL into the built environment is actually much simpler than it seems. Upon registration, all project teams are assigned a WELL Assessor to ensure that the project complies with WELL Building Standard requirements. The WELL Assessor is responsible for a project’s documentation review and performance verification and is an incredibly useful resource to aid in the process.

Once a project has decided to pursue WELL Certification, the upsides are vast. Addressing occupant health can help to reduce the largest line item in the 30-year costs of a building – the personnel – which accounts for 90% of the

building’s costs. Whether it’s a building owner looking to differentiate their space so they can lease out to tenants or whether it is a company looking to retain and attract employees, enhance productivity or potentially reduce healthcare costs, WELL has the potential to offer a valuable return on investment.

The rapid adoption of WELL worldwide further underscores the fact that building owners, developers and operators, as well as businesses and corporations, are taking notice of these effects and of the impact healthier indoor environments can have on the people inside of them. Since the launch of WELL V1 in 2014, more than 525 projects encompassing over 100 million sq ft of real estate have been either registered or certified under WELL in 31 countries. Although WELL V1 is currently optimised for commercial and institutional office buildings and has seen particularly wide adoption among the corporate community, IWBI has developed six pilot versions of the standard to test and refine how WELL can be applied to other building sectors. The pilot programmes allow us to solicit feedback from participants so that we can expand the

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markets that WELL can reach. There are now WELL pilot programmes for retail, multifamily residential, education, restaurant, commercial kitchen and community projects. The most recent of these pilot programmes, the WELL Community Standard, is a district-scale rating system, which aims to set a new precedent for city-planning, building and development by providing a thorough understanding of how communities can employ appropriate, actionable strategies and interventions to promote the health of their residents.

In addition to WELL’s wide range of applicability across various real estate sectors, WELL V1 can be applied to various types of projects including new and existing buildings, new and existing interiors and core and shell developments. Our goal is to make WELL as accessible as possible, which is why we offer certifications for both new and existing buildings. This will be further demonstrated through the development of WELL V2, which will incorporate this ethic of simplicity with a customisable approach. We expect the next version of the rating system to be released in early 2018. l

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Spotlight - Wellbeing

N°2

Well Worth It Lara Conaway is the Sustainability Manager at Oktra. Here she gives a brilliant, down-to-earth appraisal of her craft.

We have all fallen for the magic word, wellbeing. There is a love-in of sorts going on in the office design industry, with everyone furiously incorporating the word into their webpages, blogs and client pitches.

In my years of being in the Design & Build industry, many of them focusing on sustainability, having a word that actually means something to the layperson is a joy. We even have a certificated process to aim for – the WELL Building Standard – which is rapidly gaining respect and traction.

There are undoubtedly plenty of enthusiasts behind the wellbeing approach.

Why wouldn’t there be? It’s engaging, has a direct and measurable impact on the people it’s aimed at and encourages employers to go beyond the ‘that will do’ approach.

The power of how happy you personally feel runs deep, almost subconscious. Without even knowing it, your work environment has a direct impact on your overall wellbeing, both in the office and outside the office.

It’s not new of course. Now that wellbeing is firmly linked to productivity, there is interest from all types of businesses, not just the ones you expect – Google, Apple and the like.

We are currently implementing the WELL Building Standard in our own office. Our team of WELL Ambassadors are finding that there has rarely been a topic that has engaged people so quickly or garnered such involvement, ideas and enthusiasm.

There are the fence-sitters of course – quite an uncomfortable place to be for any length of time – the ones who probably find the middle lane of the M25 a more secure place, regardless of the reactions around them or issues caused. Challenged from both sides, particularly those who worry about the possible cost of implementing higher levels of wellbeing but know they should probably up

their game. They hear from their colleagues that things could be better, more attention could be paid to how they feel in their office environment – but they still seem to remain on the fence.

Then there are the cynics at the other end of the spectrum. You can tell the approach they have from their opening questions: ‘Do I have to do it?’ or ‘Will it become law?’ – and the classic ‘How much will it cost?’ They doubt this approach will last, that it’s a fad or a gimmick. Why should they bother making sure that they have happier, healthier staff? They have a job, they’re reasonably paid, the office is okay and provides the basics with a desk, chair, tea, coffee and there are always more fish in the sea if people don’t like it.

Well that’s okay until you start losing good staff and can’t attract the cream of the university crop – and all because some simple actions weren’t put in place, like fruit in the i

office, work/life balance strategies and having a pleasant breakout space that gives people the ability for quiet time.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had the polar opposite too – clients who immediately see that wellbeing has a direct correlation to their brand and business success and is what they have been trying to articulate without knowing how to.

In all honesty, this is not rocket science.

How long has ‘treat others as you would like to be treated’ been bandied around in common parlance? So much is common sense and can be implemented without fear of cost or upheaval. There are the options to certify and of course that will mean investment, but to steal the legendary Blind Date catchphrase, ‘The choice is yours’. There is a smorgasbord of wellbeing ideas, actions and approaches. My advice is to start browsing.

Incorporating the WELL Building Standard into Oktra’s workplace, agile area seen below

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N°3

Think Human Gavin King, Director of Manchester headquartered SpaceInvader, tells us about his experience with the WELL Building Standard.

We begin by considering the whole person, and everything we do spins out from that approach.

Our ethos is that it is entirely possible, indeed necessary, to create workspaces that enhance the health and wellness of the building’s occupants.

We always design with wellbeing in mind, so working in partnership with engineering consultants Hilson Moran on the extensive fitout of its new Manchester office space in NEO, the former Bank Tower owned by developers Bruntwood, was a real pleasure.

From the outset, emphasis was placed on collaboratively creating a design that emulated nature to create a vibrant and stimulating workplace. The floors’ design was also aligned to meet the WELL Building Standard. We genuinely welcome this standard because it gives a proper framework for the fundamentals of designing for wellbeing.

Design features included green moss walls in the collaboration area and various wall graphics and designs that invoke nature.

Plants were carefully selected using research conducted by the NASA Clean Air Study, choosing species shown to help remove pollutants from the air, all placed strategically across the office floor. To encourage collaboration and nourishment, the ‘refresh’ space was placed centrally, thereby creating movement and dynamism throughout the day.

A key element of the standard is also to reduce the amount of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from products and furniture in order to improve air quality.

This involved extensive research by the design team to source suitable products and was reinforced with the continuous measurement of air quality, to meet the required standards

h

Interior at Hilson Moran, Neo, Manchester

and ensure long-term compliance. Hilson Moran’s own acoustics experts used digital modelling to create the acoustic signature of the working environment, thereby creating optimum acoustic conditions – rarely experienced within an open plan office.

On the first floor, the building has a ‘shared space’ for use by all occupiers including formal and informal meeting areas and workspaces, a new outdoor terrace with meeting pods, as well as a refreshment area – every element specifically designed to promote a ‘peoplefocused’ mentality.

With accreditation now underway, Hilson Moran’s Manchester office is on route to become the first WELL Gold Standard accredited office in the North of England.

Chris Birch, Director of Sustainability at Hilson Moran, says: ‘Being our own client on the project meant we tested our expertise in MEP services, fit-out and acoustics, as well

49

as our belief in WELL Standards to the limit in order to practice what we preach. Most importantly, the work showcases Hilson Moran’s understanding and mission as a practice to deliver high quality projects that are desirable and meet the demands of the modern workplace. By ensuring our staff are in an office which showcases this ethos, we are clear advocates of this and will continue to use the office as a test bed for the WELL Standard and other technologies.’

It’s truly rewarding to work with a client where the fundamentals of improving the wellbeing of everyone in the space is central to its design.

Our approach is a holistic one. Consider the whole person first; not as a worker, but as a human being. Everything we do spins out from that principle and not surprisingly our clients understand and appreciate it. Everyone benefits from good design.

Spotlight - Wellbeing

N°4

How do we create spaces that improve the way we work and learn?

People take notice when Oliver Heath speaks – and it would be remiss of us not to ask the Architectural Designer and Biophilic Design Ambassador for Interface (and friend of Mix) for his views on Wellbeing.

i

‘The launch of the WELL Building Standard in 2014 served as a landmark moment in highlighting the growing desire from across the built environment to create spaces that better support the wellness of the people living and working in them every day.

‘The wellbeing trend has grown steadily as accumulating evidence demonstrates the tangible role interior design can have on improving the physical and mental health of building occupants – as well as their levels of productivity. Interface’s Human Spaces report, for example, has found that the incorporation of natural or nature-inspired design elements into office interiors can significantly enhance the productivity and creativity of users of those spaces.

‘And as the business case for prioritising wellbeing in building design becomes increasingly clear, its role continues to grow in prominence across the built environment.

‘For educational environments in particular, prioritising wellbeing can help create positive surroundings that aid pupils’ concentration and, in doing so, helps them flourish academically. A recent project I worked on was the renovation of The Garden School in Hackney, East London. The institution offers highly specialised provisions for learners with autism, striving to nurture communication,

learning and independence. To achieve these goals, it needs a special interior scheme.

‘Research has demonstrated that incorporating such elements influenced by nature – a concept known as biophilic design – can positively impact perceptual and physiological stress responses. So, natureinspired elements are used throughout the design, incorporating materials that mimic the natural world through textures, patterns and colours, as well as images of nature on the walls.

‘By adding window seats to the space, safe ‘prospect’ views of the playground are provided, along with an abundance of rejuvenating natural light. Textured carpets from Interface, with their varied pile heights, provide restorative, tactile references to nature that also help children to de-stress and relax.

‘In addition, offices across the UK and beyond are increasingly being renovated with the physical and emotional welfare of workers in mind.

‘Such spaces don’t just have benefits for building occupants though. There is growing evidence that healthy workers are also more productive and more engaged at work, boosting their output, with positive consequences for business performance.’

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The Garden School

Oliver always provides compelling arguments for the advantages of biophilic design and wellbeing. Here, he talks about providing some proof.

‘To provide definitive proof of the advantages of wellness in workplace design, the Building Research Establishment (BRE) has launched an ambitious project that will see an existing office space renovated with a nature-inspired design scheme.

‘Called The Biophilic Office, the project will involve refurbishing an entire floor of an existing BRE office building using a variety of scales of biophilic design strategies.

Working alongside core partners, such as Interface, my role in the project will be to create the nature-inspired design, and the impact of the environment will then be measured on the office workers’ wellbeing and productivity. The project will go on for two and a half years – year one is the pre-occupancy analysis of the current working conditions, followed by the design and refurbishment. The final year is focused on analysing the impact The Biophilic Office design has on the workers using the space.

‘As The BRE Biophilic Office demonstrates, the momentum for prioritising wellbeing in building design is only set to gather pace. As designers, it is important for us to watch such initiatives closely to gather the information we need to better create spaces that lead to positive outcomes for occupants – spaces where we can live, learn and work in the best possible ways.’

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Spotlight - Wellbeing

N°5

Designs on Health and Wellness James Stawniczy, Senior Consultant, Wellness in the New York office of HOK, gives us his view from across the pond

The two main contributors to people’s health are our physical and social environments. Genetics, surprisingly, accounts for only 10%. The recent introduction of healthy building rating systems, such as the International WELL Building Institute’s WELL Building Standard, gives architects and interior designers new opportunities to improve the health and wellness of building occupants.

The performance verification step of the certification process requires a WELL Assessor to visit the site and do a series of spot checks and performance tests on aspects of acoustics, air quality, water quality and lighting.

Workplace designers know, for example, that many knowledge workers are bothered by sounds – whether from noisy co-workers, mechanical equipment or busy city streets – in the open plan workplace. We apply many different programmatic, architectural and mechanical interventions to counteract these acoustic challenges.

Another way we can design for health and wellness is by creating ‘collision spaces’ for impromptu gatherings. Most of us are guilty of sitting for too many hours during the working day. The negative effects of remaining on our posterior range from higher blood pressure and cholesterol levels, to an increased risk of cancer. And when we’re deskbound, we’re less likely to experience the type of spontaneous interactions with colleagues that often lead to fresh thinking and innovative solutions. By providing more collaboration areas equipped

with movable seating and tables, workplace designers can encourage movement and foster the innovation that emerges when people get together and share ideas.

People are the most valuable assets in any workplace. By using a certification system like WELL as a framework, designers can create pleasant, stress-free spaces that support the wellbeing of the occupants. This, in turn, drives innovation and productivity in client organisations.

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Spotlight - Wellbeing

N°6

The Forgotten Side of Wellbeing Levent Çaglar, Chief Ergonomist at FIRA, gives us a different perspective – considering the psychological factors of wellbeing.

Wellbeing at work is now widely recognised as being an important consideration for employers if they want to recruit and retain the best candidates as well as keep them motivated, efficient and productive. But what is really meant by wellbeing? The Oxford dictionary definition of wellbeing is ‘The state of being comfortable, healthy or happy’.

The Health and Safety at Work Act and other European health and safety regulations, along with building regulations and standards, help to protect employees’ safety and physical needs. However, it is now being recognised that protecting workers’ physical environment alone is not sufficient to engender wellbeing.

There are rules and standards for such aspects of the physical environment as temperature, ventilation, noise, lighting and furniture dimensions. These specify numbers, but wellbeing does not depend only on meeting these values. It also depends upon the perception by staff that meeting these values actually contributes to their wellbeing.

I believe that we do not pay enough attention to the psychological factors that have a strong bearing on wellbeing. Some are interlinked. Here is a selection of these important factors:

Stress in the workplace Too much stress in the workplace can diminish wellbeing. Reducing stress on individuals has the immediate effect of people feeling better about themselves, regardless of the cause of the stress. Sources include too much work, too little work, office politics, being demoralised or feeling undervalued.

Mental wellbeing Mental health still carries a stigma in the workplace. No-one will readily admit that they may have mental issues. Unless this stigma is removed, mental wellbeing will not be improved.

Job satisfaction Jobs that are well designed to suit particular individuals and/or individuals that are carefully selected for particular jobs can contribute to job satisfaction, as the job is fitted to the person. If employees enjoy their jobs, their sense of wellbeing is likely to increase.

If they just watch the clock for the end of the workday, their sense of wellbeing and productivity are likely to be lower.

Feeling of being valued Employees need to feel that they are an essential part of the success of the organisation they are working for – and that their managers recognise this.

bike parking or showering facilities, it is not surprising that few staff, if any, take up cycling to work.

One effective way of solving these issues is through taking a human-centred approach.

In 2016, a new international standard, BS ISO 27500, entitled ‘The human-centred organisation – rationale and general principles’, was published. It focuses mainly on how managers can introduce policies to optimise performance, minimise risks to the organisation and individuals and maximise wellbeing in the workplace. However, employees buying into any changes is just as important as introducing the changes.

The organisation must enable employees to participate in wellbeing initiatives and adopt them naturally, so they automatically make healthy choices. The organisation must also ensure that initiatives enable employees to perceive them as beneficial to their wellbeing.

The organisation should also address other psychological factors.

Feeling of being involved Employees should be consulted about and participate in the key decisions concerning the future of their jobs. What Educational is needed is a feeling of being listened to, not just being heard.

It is easy for organisations to state that they buy into the wellbeing of their staff and support various initiatives, but it is much more difficult to encourage staff to buy into initiatives, take part in them and then turn them into lifelong habits. For example, if an organisation states that it believes in creating a healthier workforce and encouraging cycling to work, but does not provide secure

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Psycological Wellbeing

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Spotlight - Wellbeing

N°7

Culture Eats Strategy For Breakfast Alex Gifford, Brand Communications Manager at Steelcase, gives us his take on the why the office is enduring and how to make it work better for all.

The death of the office has been foretold a hundred times but it endures and the body of evidence is growing that a place to gather, even for the ever growing population of agile workers, is more important than ever.

So why has the office endured? On the surface, evidence suggests: 1.

2.

3.

For many, it is still the most practical place to get work done or hold meetings.

Not being visible in the organisation can mean being passed over for projects or promotion.

Individuals find agile or teleworking can be quite lonely – there is a psychological need to be around people. h

However, if we were to design to these criteria alone we could (and often do) end up with just another vanilla, corporate space that is functional but nobody loves, potentially fostering the much discussed disengagement of the workforce. Worse still, one could simply transpose a ‘look and feel’ seen in a workplace design coffee table book. Whilst Google’s spaces work for Google, that doesn’t mean they will be right for every other organisation.

Many organisations spend a great deal of time and resources fine-tuning the external perception of their brand but give little or no consideration to how those values translate to the workplace they provide. It is not enough to impose a dogmatic culture on a workforce these days. If we are to be engaged in anything, we need to have a sense of ownership and belonging. We need to love what we do.

Like any complex issue, there is no easy solution. A really successful office is a place

that serves the need of human beings and business needs at the same time.

And there the challenge – or design opportunity – for the workplace provider lies; in propagating an organically grown culture made up from the diverse nature of the workforce and types of work done, which is also harmonious with the external brand.

The design challenge is to create workplaces that engage employees, allowing for cultures to be created and at the same time allowing users to define the best way for them to achieve their work goals for a company they believe in. These allow for the natural flow of ideas and thoughts, which are what make an organisation grow.

You need to: • Define the activities that people actually do and support this with the right spaces and technology, including the physical and psychological needs of the wider working population.

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•

Brand culture in workspace - BMW offices in Munich

Understand and define how the external values of the brand translate into workplace so that employees are engaged emotionally with the values of the organisation.

• Design spaces so that inhabitants can make them their own. To feel at home, with artefacts that define them and their group.

When designing workspace, focusing on any one of these challenges without the others would be dangerous. It’s a cliché, but a three-pronged strategy is needed. So to build a really effective culture in the workplace, which engages people in the work they do and the organisation they’re part of, a strategic approach is needed. As Peter Drucker may have said, ‘Culture eats strategy for breakfast’ – and this is no doubt true. However, a strategic approach to creating spaces to work, to allow culture to evolve, is what makes designing ‘offices’ an interesting place to be these days!

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Spotlight - Wellbeing

N°8

Wellbeing Through Pure Materials The contribution that furniture makes to wellbeing is typically considered to be through its ergonomic benefits. A flexible, adjustable chair and desk will help make you feel better while you work. But Johanna Ljunggren, Sustainability Manager at Kinnarps in Sweden, tells us about a far more holistic view.

More and more people want to make sustainable choices, so we have to make it easier to choose. People want transparency.

They are concerned about their own wellbeing – how furniture will positively contribute to their workspace – and also about the effect on the wider environment that the sourcing of materials, production and delivery of products has. Their own wellbeing is intrinsically linked to their personal feeling of ‘how good their office is’ from a wide perspective. The physical performance of the furniture and its provenance are important.

What surprises people is the question of what the furniture is doing to the atmosphere in which you’re working. Is it a silent danger?

Many materials in furniture products contain substances that affect the environment and people’s health. These substances may be present in the raw material from the start, or may be added in the production process. They may have an effect either through direct contact or through dispersal in the air. An investigation undertaken by Kinnarps in Sweden showed that 90% of Swedes are concerned about chemicals in various products, but only half of them are aware that furniture may contain or emit substances that are hazardous to health.

Past studies have shown that traces of chemicals used in flame-retardants have appeared in women’s breast milk. Some glues used in chipboard contain Formaldehyde, a toxic organic compound. Solvents known

as VOCs (volatile organic compounds) are particularly common in the furniture industry.

VOCs are present in various types of glue and lacquer, and are dispersed in the air we breathe, which can cause headaches and concentration difficulties.

The industry has been working hard to eliminate or reduce its use of potentially harmful chemicals. In the Kinnarps Group, we have reduced use of VOCs by 47% since 2012. Our products do not contain any of the hazardous substances on the REACH candidate list, which is a list of particularly dangerous substances. The padding for many of our chairs is moulded in plastic. We have eliminated the hazardous isocyanate TDI and now use the ‘kinder’ MDI. All fabrics in Kinnarps Colour Studio are free from flame-retardants and azo dyes. Instead, we use wool, which is naturally flame-retardant, or polyester fabrics with a flame-retardant fibre construction. All our chipboard fulfils E1 requirements, which means a very low emission of formaldehyde. We do not use hexavalent chrome, which is allergenic and carcinogenic, and our electronics suppliers have to follow the RoHS directive, which restricts or prohibits the use of certain heavy metals and flame-retardants in electronics.

The decision-makers of the future won’t be satisfied with buying a label. The trend is clear all over the world. People want to see what difference they are actually making. They don’t care about the symbol itself – they want to know how the company earned the label.

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h Kinnarps were so confident of the purity of their wood they made bread from sawdust flour, to serve sandwiches to customers

h Action from the cutting bench at Materia (leading global network in the field of innovative materials)

Spotlight - Wellbeing

N°9

Designing for Wellness Wendy James and Tyler Ashworth from HKS share their experiences after designing their own new Central London office – with wellbeing at its heart.

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HKS office exterior, Central London

Health and wellbeing design is an important emerging market trend and one already integral to our projects at HKS Architects.

Emergence of the WELL Building Standard has helped bring wellbeing to the forefront of clients’ minds, and our abundance of WELL AP accredited staff allows HKS to showcase our leadership in this area to both the industry and our clients.

When planning our new HKS London studio we embraced the challenge of merging wellness with high quality design. The studio will be a hallmark interior and showcase space for both our clients and the community alike.

Highlights of our new studio’s wellbeing design strategies include:

Air Quality

Furnishings

Reducing VOCs meant paying close attention to specified products. This meant the selection process took a bit longer due to confirmation of compliance, but by no means meant we had to skimp on quality.

We wanted a space that encouraged staff to choose their working environment. Be it standing at a desk, sitting in privacy or collaborating on a charrette, comfort and flexibility were essential. Furniture was chosen to define the various spaces and allow staff and clients freedom to customise their personal environment and enhance creativity.

‘As we move into a larger design studio in Central London and plan for the next 5 -10 years, we are intentionally building our practice around quality in all we do,’ says MD Francis Gallagher. ‘Achieving WELL Certification is important as we need to retain and attract the very best and place them in a truly considered studio environment so we can continue to grow and operate to the highest level.’

Lighting Located on the ground and lower ground floors of an old garment factory, large store front windows deliver generous amounts of eastern daylight to the new studio. Natural light benefits Circadian rhythm, so to maximise it throughout we introduced roof-lights above the lower ground workstations and a central double-height space, directing natural light deep within the floorplate. An interior lighting scheme supplements natural daylight to ensure the interiors achieve proper equivalent melanopic lux (EML) levels (a lighting metric tied to Circadian rhythm) regardless of weather.

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Clerkenwell Rug Studio founder Rachael Connolly 'We are delighted to collaborate with Gensler on Adobe’s new flagship office in London’s fashionable Shoreditch – The White Collar Factory.'

Clerkenwell Rug Studio is a British company specialising in rugs for commercial and residential projects.

We are passionate about providing a dynamic, highly motivated, creative and high level of service for architects and designers.

We guide designers through the simple design process, create hand trials and artwork for designers plus help with specification advice.

We recently worked with Gensler on Adobe’s new flagship office – The White Collar Factory – in London’s fashionable Shoreditch.

The use of natural light and cosy areas work to create Wellbeing – the state of

Photo credit: SIOBHÁN DORAN

being comfortable, healthy and happy.

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Spotlight - Wellbeing

N°10

Well Done When we ‘took to the streets’ and told people we were putting together a major feature on Wellbeing and the WELL Building Standard, one name kept popping up in conversation – Cundall. The leading consultancy’s Principal, Kavita Kumari, can tell us more.

Cundall meeting rooms: the ‘Acoustic Lab’ featuring Cundall’s award winning Virtual Acoustic Reality (VAR) - Oculus Rift technology and ‘Green Lab’ for continued research into biophilia and indoor air quality testing Photography credit: © Dirk Lindner 66

There’s a very good reason for this. Cundall is a business that is at the very forefront of this revolution. Established in the UK over 40 years ago, Cundall is an international multidisciplinary consultancy operating from over 20 locations across the globe.

Cundall’s own office fit-out at One Carter Lane in London was the very first WELL Certified project in Europe, achieving Gold Standard (and has also achieved SKA Gold and BREEAM Excellent Ratings). Therefore, Cundall is the perfect business for us to talk to and feature in this Spotlight.

Cundall not only lives and breathes this stuff, it also delivers on its commitment to occupant wellbeing by providing services that include the WELL Building Standard™ (WELL) – a performance-based system for measuring, certifying and monitoring features of the built environment that impact on human health and wellbeing, through air, water, nourishment, light, fitness, comfort and mind.

We’re fortunate enough to meet up with Kavita, who can give us a refreshingly honest insight into integrating not just the standard itself but all the things that go with it – both good and not so good.

We start by asking Kavita about whether Cundall, as a business, has seen a genuine pick-up in wellbeing and the WELL Building Standard™ from its clients since embarking on its own journey? ‘There’s certainly a lot of interest – but I think the main issue that the WELL Building Institute is having when it comes to uptake at the moment is the cost,’ she considers. ‘Globally, a lot of people are saying it is very expensive. Unlike BREEAM, where you pay between £2,000-3,000 for certification, WELL works on a sliding scale, depending on the floor area, and could go up to as high as $50,000.

‘This is all an education process for everyone. A lot of people are still nervous about it because it is a relatively new standard. What the WELL Building Institute is now trying to do is to find equivalent local standards globally – and is starting to work with them. I think this is a very good thing.

They are certainly becoming more aware of those local standards and are open to talking about this.

‘People are certainly very interested in wellbeing and I am pushing for health and wellbeing all the time now. Little things can make a significant impact on your space, be that your home, work, school or any other. You don’t have to go for full accreditation and go through the whole process from start to finish – you can do little things that don’t cost much whilst contributing to the circular economy.

You can apply the concept of biophilia – u

D AVISON H IGHLEY

WUND ERWALL

LOOP

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Davison Highley London, Lower Ground Floor, The Old Brewery, 16 Brewhouse Yard, Clerkenwell, London, EC1V 4LJ

www.davisonhighley.co.uk +44 ( 0 ) 207 871 1089

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humankind’s innate and beneficial affinity with nature – by bringing plants into your space.

We’ve added a number of recycled timber panels – which were quite inexpensive – and then dressed them with plants and moss.

Not only do the panels bring that wellbeing into our space, but they also have excellent acoustic properties.’

‘The WELL Building Standard™ can be broken down into little pieces – for example, you can break temperature or acoustics or thermal comfort or lighting down into bite-size

It’s always much easier to understand when you can see things and touch things – and see how much they are going to cost

pieces so people can understand them. It’s always much easier to understand when you can see things and touch things – and see how much they are going to cost.

‘When we first looked at WELL I think it was a bit of a shock for some people – this is a new standard that doesn’t have an equivalent in the UK! Once we started to break things down – to go out and find some of these simple, cost-effective elements or realise they were already in the design and we’d started to live with them, we realised that all this is available and doesn’t have to cost a lot of money.

‘It’s about learning. You have to point people in a certain direction. What we have found is that a lot of contractors tend to be comfortable with what they are used to – because it works. They can guarantee the end results. Also, due to programme limitations, they don’t have the flexibility to try new things.

‘At Cundall we did have that luxury – we were the client and I had three different options for everything! I was able to play with these options, which was great – but in the end, I did have to deliver. I had to present a u

h WELL stipulates providing communal seating for at least 30% of staff; all materials and finishes were specified to have low or zero TVOC, formaldehyde and toxic contents including low VOC chipboard, recycled zero phthalate floor finishes, and natural timber structures

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Kitchen area: Filters were added to incoming mains water ensuring fresh clean drinking water is available to all building occupants

Kitchen area: Bespoke locally sourced desks selected for low or zero TVOC, formaldehyde and toxic content

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Imagine • Design • Create www.karndean.com 70

Spotlight - Wellbeing

business case and it was agreed that we would go for the lower standard – Silver – but we managed to get Gold!

‘I think once someone like us has achieved this challenge, it becomes easier for others to have a go. It’s about sharing this knowledge – about having ongoing discussions and encouraging people to go beyond what they are used to. Whenever there is anything new, there will always be a knowledge gap.

‘We now get a lot of people ringing us ad-hoc to discover what things they can consider. I attend a lot of industry events and talk to interior designers who ask me what I think about the things they are doing in terms of wellbeing. I tell them to always keep to the most natural products – this is the easiest way forward. The thing about WELL and wellbeing is that it is all about transparency. You know exactly what is in your food – and you should also know exactly what is in your products.

‘We made a decision to not only reach that certain standard – but to go a little bit beyond it. For example, we encourage cycling to work and we have said that if you buy a bicycle, the company will contribute so much towards it. We don’t want these initiatives to be a box ticking exercise – we want them to be fully embraced within the business. We are investing in these initiatives for a reason.

We give people a choice when it comes to food, for example, and they are happy! We are giving people an alternative to help them live more healthily – and they are fully embracing it. People were cynical when we started introducing soya milk here. Now, the soya milk always runs out!’ l

Kavita is a Principal at Cundall and a WELL AP, belonging to the WELL Faculty programme. She led and delivered the first WELL certified building in Europe.

Kavita is also a Chartered Environmentalist and Chartered Engineer and has knowledge of both local and International green building standards; she is a RESET AP, a CIBSE and BRE Fellow, a Fitwel Ambassador, and a registered Low Carbon Consultant. She is part of the BRE Strategic Ecology Framework working group, which dictates the ecology criteria for BREEAM. Her extensive research into green and healthy materials, natural and human centric lighting, indoor air and water quality, occupant comfort, smart technology and biophilia has given her an insight into understanding health and wellbeing drivers and supports her sustainability advice, enabling projects to commence with a solid foundation for successful delivery.

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One Carter Lane achieved BREEAM ‘Excellent’ and SKA ‘Gold’ as well as WELL Building Standard™ ‘Gold’ certification

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Reception area: Plants are prevalent throughout the office, to increase occupant awareness

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SERVICE – THE REAL USP

ANTHONY BROWN, BW: WORKPLACE EXPERTS After 17 years spent developing the brand of major corporate fit-out companies, Anthony joined a former colleague at BW: Workplace Experts, with a drive to challenge industry conventions and build the best rather than the biggest fit-out company. He is a genuine workplace geek, with curiosity and fascination for the interaction of technology, places and people.

STUART OLDRIDGE , TTSP Stuart studied industrial design before gaining over 20 years design knowledge across a wide range of project disciplines; covering workplace, refurbishment, retail and exhibition design. He has

JERRY WOODCOCK, WOODALLS DESIGN Jerry is a Director at Woodalls Design, an award-winning Design & Build firm. He has been involved in a huge variety of projects for many different types of organisation and is passionate about the difference design makes to the way people experience spaces. He believes in the need to create strong stories in spaces and knows that this only comes from listening closely to what clients need.

NATHAN LONSDALE, SPACELAB Nathan is the founder and JointMD at Spacelab and believes that not many architects leave the building until last. They do.

The Spacelab team have an integrated and progressive approach to workplace consultancy, interior design and architecture, using evidencebased process to inform design solutions and tailor them to the varying, long-term needs of people and businesses.

Ultimately, whether the space is to live, work, meet or visit, they create spaces for people to feel good and be great.

worked with both established and boutique design practices, including his own venture, before joining ttsp as Projects Director.

Away from defining and creating the contemporary workplace, Stuart is perfecting the art of outdoor cooking off the back of a bike.

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ANDREW BARTLETT, HARMSEN TILNEY SHANE Andrew has worked in the workplace design sector for over 30 years. He is a Director at Harmsen Tilney Shane, the commercial interior design and workplace consultants whose collaborative, consultative

TONY TAYLOR, BRITISH CERAMIC TILE With industry experience spanning over 30 years, Tony is the Chief Executive at British Ceramic Tile and, by focusing on design and creativity, has led the Devon-based business to become the largest ceramic and glass tile

approach puts people at the heart of the process, using effective research and evidence-based design to create inspiring environments for organisations that see the workplace as a key investment in their business, people, culture and brand.

manufacturer in the UK, with annual sales in excess of £50m and over 400 employees.

CATHERINE VAN DER HEIDE, HASSELL Catherine is an Associate Interior Design at HASSELL. As an interior designer at HASSELL, Catherine has worked on a diverse range of corporate projects in the London, Brisbane and Bangkok studios, throughout all stages for both small and large projects.

International clients have included Sky, JLL, Fora, dtac, PTTEP and Ashurst Australia.

Catherine brings an inquisitive and user driven approach to each presentation and project she is involved in.

MARK ASHFORD, COMO Mark recently joined Como from ISG, where for the past seven years he’d led the successful delivery of high profile projects in London, including 5 Broadgate, a 1m sq ft fit-out project, and the world leading British Airways Flight Training and Simulator Centre. Prior to ISG, Mark spent several years client side at Morgan Stanley and before that owned his own D&B business for 12 years, which he and his partners sold in 2001.

Also part of our discussion was Thom Brown, British Ceramic Tile

There are few companies who have such a dominant market position that good customer service doesn’t matter. Most would agree that, even then, no organisation with any sense in this day and age would put good customer service low on their list of priorities. Historically, some organisations have had a very high level of service as part of their DNA, but most haven’t. Until two things radically changed the business context – the fiscal crisis, which created a whole new focus on the key business success factors, and the advent of disruptive technology, allowing these newer companies to take on once dominant players in a nimble and customer focused manner. Here’s a summary of the long and considered discussion which took place around the table.

We all know, in the world of interior design, that great customer service should be the norm. We also know, however, that it is often not.

Our latest roundtable shines the light on the levels of service clients are expecting.

We start by suggesting that businesses – and their expectations –have changed significantly since the economic downturn in 2008.

NATHAN: Certainly everyone wants more ‘bang for their buck’. Client expectations are higher than ever. I do think that, since the recession, the world has got faster and technology has overtaken our process. I think the construction process is actually quite archaic. It has to change – but the question is how do we do that?

CATHERINE: I think value is something that all clients are after – they’re under interrogation as well!

MARK: Aren’t we now also in a culture where people are a lot quicker to criticise and a lot slower to praise? You can do 20 things right and then the 21st thing you get wrong and – ‘bang’.

TONY: You are also making those mistakes in public nowadays – with social media etc. You make a mistake and it’s ‘out there’.

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

THOM: There are certainly now more platforms to be able to put forward whether you are happy or unhappy with service. u

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Like Tony said, social media has made it easier to publicly announce whether you are unhappy with someone’s level of service.

It’s almost become a new battleground for brands – it’s not just about the price or product any more – it’s about delivery of service. I think the recession was a driver for people to start demanding more.

ANTHONY: I think that the economy really just capitalised on something that was already happening on a much wider scale.

The Internet created a situation where the community that you’re in is so much wider than it was in the days when you shared your experiences with friends and colleagues. Now we’re aware of experience on such a grand scale – and I think that has probably had more of an affect on people’s expectation levels of service than economic drivers.

MARK: Also, because there wasn’t as much business around, people were getting offered more for the same money at that point. That level of expectation has receded.

NATHAN: People do want more for their money – they demand more for their money.

TONY: Big, big businesses started to pick up adjacent business – they basically started to consolidate markets.

ANTHONY: The other thing was the rise of the procurement department. Whereas they did have a much smaller role pre-2008, they were suddenly the people making all the decisions on every major project.

MARK: There are so many new businesses and start-ups. When I came into this industry most of the companies in London were very old and established. Now, a lot of new businesses, who weren’t around 30 years ago, have become incredibly successful – and they have brought their own rules and new methods. These are now being adopted by more traditional businesses. There’s certainly greater transparency – just look at HMRC. It’s a really open process and everyone knows what’s going on. That’s

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It’s almost become a new battleground for brands – it’s not just about the price or product any more – it’s about delivery of service

changed a lot and I think a lot of that has come from these new businesses.

ANDREW: The way that we do the job has changed as well. One of the real impacts of the recession is that the pressure has come not just on us but everyone else involved as well. As designers, we don’t just have an ultimate person to satisfy – there is a whole team of project managers, who have an equal burden of work, and they are keen to offload as much of that as they can on designers. As a consequence, we are absorbing more and more of that as well.

NATHAN: And we just don’t have the time to do these things. Our time is getting squeezed because people are producing things faster and faster. As soon as you start to squeeze the time, there can be major issues and impact on money, on quality, on how the client is serviced.

CATHERINE: I worked in Singapore – and things happen fast there and there is a high level of expectation. They do have bigger teams and a different labour market. I think the people factor there is quite interesting. u

As soon as you start to squeeze the time, there can be major issues and impact on money, on quality, on how the client is serviced

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

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The recession made knowledge workers become knowledge leaders – brought them to the forefront. The impact was that clients then wanted to attract these people. I do think that design and value can go together.

STUART: It is going to be interesting to see what happens. A lot of our clients are talking about the ‘war on talent’ – how do they attract the right people into their business and then how do they make sure they keep those people? Our response is to talk about the quality of space – what we are providing for them? It will be interesting to see if those clients extend that warm embrace to the consultant teams. It will be interesting to see whether they ask if we’d like more time to think about what we are providing, what we are creating for them – rather than just saying ‘Can’t you just press a button?’ and expecting something to come out at the other end!

NATHAN: Shouldn’t we be thinking about changing our process? Everything we produce now is actually for a contractor or a consultant, not the client – 2D drawings purely for a contractor to deliver. We need to get more up-to-date. We need to use technology more – to deliver a process rather than this archaic system. Client first, contractor second – the experience should drive it, not the process.

MARK: I honestly don’t believe there is any industry that, as a whole industry, has a high level of customer service any more. I think a lot of this is to do with the culture we now have and the speed at which everyone wants things done. Value often overrides quality – and it must be quicker.

A lot of our clients are talking about the ‘war on talent’ – how do they attract the right people into their business and then how do they make sure they keep those people?

ANTHONY: It should all be about the experience.

NATHAN: It should be about feeling – people are much more connected with their emotions. More than they’ve ever been. It’s important that people are more aware of themselves – and therefore they should be looking for far more than just being on time and on budget.

MARK: Someone once said to me that people will not necessarily always remember what you did, they might not remember what you said, but they’ll always remember how you

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made them feel – that really resonated with me.

TONY: It’s an absolute slam-dunk for us if we can get people to come to the factory.

They come down to Devon – and they get it.

It’s a great, immersive experience.

ANDREW: A great experience can definitely change a client’s mind.

CATHERINE: I also think there’s nothing wrong with us enjoying the process as much as our clients. It should be about collaboration and relationships.

JERRY: We should take the time to develop and build those relationships. That’s how you understand who you’re working with.

It’s sometimes not that easy to get the time out of your client – but I think you do need to show them how important it is that they do put that time in.

We should take the time to develop and build those relationships. That’s how you understand who you’re working with

CONCLUSION Time is definitely not on our side when it comes to creating a great customer experience. Either we are too busy reacting to the demands of clients, or the clients themselves do not grant us the time we wish we could have with them. Smart businesses are finding ways around this however, developing personalised, intelligent customer experiences by tapping into the emotional side of their business and focusing on developing strong client relationships. l

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

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Case Study - Bird & Bird

Law of Attraction If, just a couple of years ago, we had asked the majority of industry ‘experts’ what the ideal project reviews for an issue focusing upon wellbeing would be, we doubt many (if any) would have suggested the legal sector.

Yet, here we are, walking through the incredibly forward-thinking new London home of leading law firm Bird & Bird. The internationally renowned law firm boasts more than 1,200 lawyers in 28 offices across Europe, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific, as well as close ties with firms in other parts of the world.

Our guides for the tour of the space are Bird & Bird’s UK Finance Director and COO, Chris Billington, and Kevin Britchfield from MCM, the firm responsible for the impressive interiors here. MCM, we’re told, first began working with Bird & Bird back in 2012,

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when they started to develop a forwardlooking property strategy for its London accommodation. Split across three buildings, Bird & Bird wanted to consolidate into one London base and appointed MCM to undertake due-diligence to help with the building selection process.

Following this initial due-diligence, Bird & Bird decided to take the whole of 12 New Fetter Lane, a 140,000 sq ft building over ground and 12 floors. ‘They took a pre-let of the entire building,’ Kevin confirms, ‘with a view to initially sub-let some of the floors – but in fact they haven’t sub-let those u

KARIM RASHID HAS DESIGNED 3 PRODUCTS FOR:

See them at 100% Design

Bird & Bird’s history dates back to the 1830’s, with the firm formally established in 1846.

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In Short

Bright and brilliant breakout and meeting space

or www.kinnarps.co.uk/rashid

Today the firm has 28 offices across Europe, the Middle East and Asia, with clients based in 118 countries worldwide.

Bird & Bird prides itself on deep industry knowledge, excellence in client service and international reach.

Karim Rashid

In the past four years the multiple-awardwinning firm has been regarded as a top-tier law firm across 34 different disciplines.

www.kinnarps.co.uk 69 Turnmill Street, London, EC1M 5RR

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ENGINEERING TRUE CREATIVITY SINCE 1946 Helping you work better anywhere

www.bisley.com 80

Case Study - Bird & Bird

Essentials Client Bird & Bird Interior Architect MCM Architecture Project Manager / QS Wheelers Main Contractor StructureTone M&E Engineer ChapmanBDSP Structural Engineer WSP Staircase EeStairs IT/AV Consultant Cordless Consultants

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EeStairs’ impressive staircase links the ground and 1st floors

The big, big shift for Bird & Bird is that they have moved from cellular offices to a much more open and flexible environment

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Staff are encouraged to work throughout the building

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floors, they’ve taken the lot to allow for the future growth of the firm.

‘The building was delivered towards the end of 2016, so works started early that year.

It was handed over as shell and core on the ground floor, the 1st floor and the 11th and 12th floors, and Cat A on the other floors.

MCM has been working with Bird & Bird since 2014 with regards to first the consultancy and then the interior design. It was procured as a Design & Build contract on the basis of a Stage 3 Employer’s Requirement.’

MCM worked closely with Bird & Bird to establish a robust brief that would inform the design of the new workplace. Bird & Bird saw the move as the opportunity to work in a different way and to become far more open and collaborative, which they felt better reflected their ethos as a firm. The results are an agile-ready, flexible and much more open working environment that also contains a variety of work settings that support collaboration and concentrated work. The flexibility of space throughout the building has been integral to its design, with the intention to bring clients into the building to work more closely with lawyers, particularly on substantial matters or projects. Maintaining information security at a high level has also been incorporated into the layout.

MCM consulted widely with staff and the Bird & Bird steering group to communicate the designs at the outset to ensure there was buy-in across the organisation. It was important to help reassure staff that the new office would meet their needs in terms of the technology that allowed them to move around easily and in terms of appropriate quiet space for concentrative work.

The agreed layouts addressed these concerns successfully and the building provides Bird & Bird with all the amenities they require, including extensive client facilities with a seminar space and client business lounge on the 1st floor and a further client meeting suite on the 12th floor.

We’re getting a little ahead of ourselves, however. ‘One of the major structural interventions here is the staircase linking the ground and 1st floors,’ Kevin points out as we walk towards the fantastic new structure.

‘The base build contractor left a soft spot in the slab and we designed this staircase with EeStairs – the Dutch stair specialist – and it takes you straight up to the 1st floor, which is one of the client facing suites here.’

The feature staircase was installed in reception to bring large numbers of visitors easily up to the seminar space and client business lounge. It is very much a focal point as you enter the building and is finished in a u

Case Study - Bird & Bird

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liquid metal antique bronze, and features four landings and elliptical geometry.

The 1st floor client suite is divided into an elegant lounge area, complete with eye-catching soft seating, and a smart, professional formal meeting suite. The second suite, high above on the 12th floor, features biophilic greenery, astonishing views of the city and a contemporary, open aesthetic.

Chris tells us that the real heart of the building is the 11th floor, an amazing central hub for staff to grab a coffee or a bite to eat and where they can hold informal meetings throughout the day in a space specifically built to enhance collaboration. The lightness and brightness of the 11th floor and the tremendous views across London from the terrace help to make it a relaxed yet dynamic atmosphere for all staff. ‘This is always really busy,’ Chris enthuses. ‘It really has made a huge difference to the business. It’s been amazing. We didn’t really have a place where everyone could come and meet because we were in a number of different buildings. We wanted to have a space where people could hold informal meetings and catch up. People particularly like the booths and pods here – it really has been a tremendous success.’

Within the working floors, Bird & Bird have moved away from the traditional cellular approach to a more open environment. This has been a big change for the organisation, and the briefing and early consultation was integral for making the change a success.

‘The big, big shift for Bird & Bird is that they have moved from cellular offices to a much more open and flexible environment,’ Kevin u

The fantastic 11th floor staff hub - complete with a view of the wheel!

People can log in to any computer – if you go to a meeting room, for example, you can log in to your desktop there

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Great variety of work and meeting spaces

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Case Study - Bird & Bird

confirms. ‘There were partners here who were somewhat dubious about the merits of it, but I think it’s actually been really well received.

The furniture is very much ‘cubicalised’ – a la the United States – but already there is a desire to take down some of the partitions and panels. They are quite high and hopefully some of them will now start to come down.’

‘In our old buildings we did have robust offices with doors you could close, so noise levels were initially a concern here,’ Chris tells us. ‘People were originally concerned about being able to make phone calls and about basically getting things done, but we do have little breakout rooms people can go into if they do want to have a private conversation. Now people are in here, they are completely used to it – to the degree that some people now want those panels removed.’

‘In our experience, people do worry about this – about disruption and confidentiality – but in reality it’s never actually a major issue, as long as there are places you can go to if you do need to make confidential calls,’ Kevin continues. ‘The other issue that was flagged up at briefing stages was that people need access to their desktop wherever they are working – and these guys put quite a bit of investment into the IT to make sure that desktops are available everywhere.’

‘People can log in to any computer – if you go to a meeting room, for example, you can

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Open working environments

Elegant breakout space wth breathtaking views

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log in to your desktop there,’ Chris explains.

‘We’ve also changed from desk phones to headsets – and people can now walk around with those headsets on and take a call into another room if necessary. The technology has been a big part of the change.

‘Another highlight is that everyone has a sit/stand desk. Previously we only had a handful of sit/stand desks but there is a big emphasis on healthy living and lifestyle in this building – and people really are using them, which is great.’

In the office areas, MCM have taken advantage of the excellent natural light and views by placing desks around the perimeter of the building. Opting to move to a more open work environment also had an impact on fitout costs. These were substantially reduced as there were limited modifications to the base build air conditioning on the working floors and a greatly reduced number of partitions were required.

To ensure that the integrity of the design concept was maintained throughout the construction, MCM worked closely and successfully with the contractor, StructureTone, under the Design & Build contract. ‘The whole team worked seamlessly together – and the result is a testament of what a fully integrated team, including client, landlord team, design team and contractor, can achieve.’

Bird & Bird wanted the new space to reflect their openness to their clients, to provide additional services for their clients and to encourage collaboration and communication across all teams within the organisation. 12 New Fetter Lane has achieved that, with the new environment being embraced by clients and staff alike. l

Spotlight - Wellbeing

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Hats Off

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Each working floor features its own brilliant colour palette

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Case Study - Stockport Homes

In Short Part of the Stockport Homes Group

We are, of course, extremely used to being guided through projects, boroughs and streets by kind hosts, who know far more than we do about our new surroundings. Today, however, it is our own Editor who is giving us something of a tour of a town we – as Mix – have not visited before.

The Group extended its services in 2016 through new trading company, Three Sixty, and development company, Viaduct Formed in 2005 Chief Executive is Helen McHale Remnants of an old windmill were discovered buried under the site during excavation

Which is something of a curiosity when you consider that our destination, Stockport, is just seven miles to the south-east of Manchester city centre and one stop shy of Piccadilly railway station.

Our Ed is clearly excited at the prospect of revisiting the town and, as we alight the train, tells us that the area surrounding Stockport railway station is virtually unrecognisable from the area he remembers as a young boy – his father and paternal grandparents originally hailing from the town.

By the time we’ve arrived at the new home of Stockport Homes (this isn’t just a trip down memory lane, after all) our Ed has informed us that the town was once at the centre of the country’s hatting industry, which by 1884 was exporting more than six million hats a year – hence the local football club, Stockport County, being nicknamed ‘The Hatters’. He also tells us that, if we were to continue south on the A6 (just off which the new Stockport Homes facility stands) we’d pass his late Nan’s former home and pub (‘She was a publican, by the way!’).

Walking into the brand new building, the last thing you think of is traditional public sector office. The impressive exterior is matched by the open ground floor’s clean, contemporary feel. It is here that we meet with Linda Camblin, Corporate Support Manager for Stockport Homes, and Mark Pearson from Heatons Office Solutions.

As we walk through the ground floor facility, we ask Linda to tell us about the organisation. u

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priority collab BW Workplace Experts Deloitte Cambridge See more Priority Collaborations at www.sjg.co.uk.

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Case Study - Stockport Homes

‘We’re an ALMO and work in partnership with Stockport Council,’ she begins. ‘We manage the housing stock on the Council’s behalf, so anything from managing the waiting lists, letting the properties, doing the repairs and maintenance, dealing with anti-social behaviour, through to any problems or issues that customers might have in terms of maintaining their properties or their tenancy.

‘There are around 550 staff in total across the organisation, currently across four sites, including our stores, which is our maintenance operation.

‘Whilst the majority of teams will be coming together here at Cornerstone, it is impractical to have all the vans and traffic coming into Cornerstone, with this being in the city centre, but we will, of course, be encouraging those teams to use the space as their office whenever possible. We don’t want anyone u

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The ground floor space features a variety of settings

boration Essentials

We don’t want anyone to feel excluded – we want everyone to come together, to be one team

Client Stockport Homes Architect AEW Architects Interior Design SpaceInvader Furniture Supply Heatons Office Solutions

Furniture Nomique, Verco, Elite, Office Electrics, Connection, Era, Actiu, Dams, KI, Sixteen3, Hay, MS Storage, SR Furniture, Air Seating Flooring Milliken

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The Windmill Cafe is at the heart of the ground floor space

Case Study - Stockport Homes

to feel excluded – we want everyone to come together, to be one team.

‘You’ll see in the signage around the building that this is about transforming lives – not just for the staff but for the community as a whole.

‘The ground floor space will be open to customers, staff and the general public – so essentially anyone who wants to use it is welcome to do so. The ground floor area is what we’re calling the Customer and Community space. We very much want this to not be seen as just an office – this is somewhere for the whole community to use.

‘This area includes the Windmill Coffee Shop – and hopefully staff will come down here for lunch and informal meetings. They don’t have to just use the office space. This is also a great space for us to interact with customers, visitors and people who come in from the borough.’

We ask Linda about the organisation’s former main central hub. ‘We were just five or six minutes’ walk from here,’ Linda tells us. ‘It’s important that we’re in the heart of Stockport. The current leases were up for renewal and we’d outgrown all the office space we had. We’d been in our head office for just over 10 years. We decided to renew the lease for another year while we considered our long term options. The buildings we had didn’t really facilitate how we wanted to go forward as an organisation – they didn’t allow staff to come together – so we decided that building our own office was the best option for us and the aspirations for the organisation going forward.

‘We looked at a number of different sites and options and decided this was the best location for us. This used to be a Lamborghini garage – and we’ve developed a heritage board which will be displayed in the customer reception . Also, when they were digging

out the foundations for the car park, they discovered remnants of an old windmill – and so the coffee shop is now called the Windmill Coffee Shop.’

AEW Architects were appointed to design and deliver the HQ building for Stockport Homes. The brief was to provide flexible private office space for staff, public space for a customer service centre and semi-public ‘invited’ meeting spaces, maintaining security whilst creating a sense of openness and transparency.

The building totals 51,000 sq ft, including basement parking and spans four floors, with customer/public facilities located on the ground level, supported by three stories of office space, including meeting rooms and forward-thinking collaboration spaces.

The scheme is designed to Grade A office standards and the building is designed to BREEAM ‘Very Good’ rating. The overall design and material and furniture selection sensitively responds to the conservation areas in which it is located.

We ask Mark to tell us more about that complex furniture selection process.

‘We were invited to tender for the Stockport Homes project in June 2015 through SpaceInvader, who designed the interiors here,’ he tells us. ‘We knew we would be up against very stiff competition from the other furniture dealerships, who were also submitting a proposal. To that end, we used our in-house experience and expertise to produce a very high quality but value engineered alternative solution that we knew would appeal to the selection criteria of the client.

‘A shortlist of two dealerships then provided a ‘furniture showcase’ of the proposed solutions, of which we were pleased that the majority of solutions come from UK manufacturers. u

We very much want this to not be seen as just an office – this is somewhere for the whole community to use

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UK LEADING FURNITURE MANUFACTURER t +44 (0)1685 352222 sales@triumphfurniture.com www.triumphfurniture.com

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@triumph1946

Stockport Homes has embraced a variety of new working methods.

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High quality furniture and finishes have been used throughout.

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Case Study - Stockport Homes

‘This was followed by a formal interview process. We were delighted to learn of our successful appointment in January 2016.

‘For the rest of the year we worked directly with the client on fine-tuning their selections, offering guidance and advice, resulting in a final schedule for order in December 2016. We began the installation in July, with Stockport Homes taking occupancy later that month.’

Said design and materials and finishes would grace any major city centre commercial facility. From the bright, welcoming public facing ground floor – which cleverly takes elements of high-end coffee shop and airport lounge design – through to the flowing, open yet functional office floors above, this is a facility that might have been brought together with a very close eye on budgets – but don’t for one second think that the look and feel is ‘budget’. Far from it. h

Staff are encouraged to work away from desks

The clever use of joinery throughout (our semi-trained eyes tell us that the brilliant overhanging timber ‘roofs’ are something of a SpaceInvader trademark) delineates space, creating zones for teams and departments as well as breaking up the open plan nature of what are sizable floorplates here. The mainly British furniture selection has been carefully suited and provides a wide selection of settings, from informal bench-based meeting space and soft seating through to formal meeting rooms and individual focused work areas.

Wellbeing is very much at the heart of what the team here has created – and when we say wellbeing, we’re talking about looking after both the staff and visitors alike. ‘We’ve tried to make sure that, whatever we provide here, we’ve got the facilities for not only the staff but for visitors as well,’ Linda continues.

‘We want everyone to get the most from the facilities – and it is really important that our visitors feel comfortable and are looked after.

We’ve considered absolutely everything in here – even the lighting is designed to make the space feel bright, airy and welcoming. It’s just as important that this is a nice place to work.’

The new Stockport Homes facility really is incredibly impressive – but what is maybe even more impressive is the organisation’s willingness and desire to adopt new working practices and a vastly different working culture. This is Stockport – but not as our Editor remembers it. In a very good way. l

h Storage is cleverly incorporated into smart joinery elements

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Neo Customer Lounge

Northern Light

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When we first arrived in Manchester with our Mix hats on, we couldn’t help but notice, when looking up at the city’s rapidly growing building stock, that a huge number carried the Bruntwood logo.

That red branding is now a familiar sight in Manchester and becoming more familiar in Birmingham, Leeds and Liverpool too.

It feels like we’ve come a long, long way since those early pioneering days – a feeling that is only heightened as we arrive at York House to meet Ciara Keeling, Bruntwood’s Director of Asset Management.

Bruntwood is a leading property company in the North of England and Midlands and owns 117 properties across Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds and Birmingham, totalling more than 560,000 sq m of floorspace and worth more than £950m. In fact, Bruntwood owns onethird of the office space in Manchester city centre and, we should add, also donates 10% of all annual profits to arts, cultural and community charities through the Oglesby Charitable Trust.

Back in Bruntwood’s boardroom, Ciara confirms these impressive figures, before telling us about her own career with the business.

‘I’ve been here quite a while now – over 12 years – and I have to say that this is a great company to work for. I love the ethos of the company, the fact that it is family-run – and it really is family-run – and really does invest in its people.

‘That’s what keeps me here. I’ve had a number of roles over the years and I’ve really been able to grow with the company – which I don’t think is something that many businesses allow you to do.

‘Today, I predominantly look after our assets across Manchester. We’ve grown so much in the last 12 years, our boundaries are stretching further out of the city and u

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Profile - Ciara Keeling

In Short Business founded by Mike Oglesby.

Today Bruntwood has 117 properties across Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds and Birmingham, totalling more than 560,000 sq m of floorspace.

Portfolio worth more than ÂŁ950m.

10% of all annual profits go to arts, cultural and community charities through the Oglesby Charitable Trust.

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Spotlight - Wellbeing

OFFICE INSPIRATORS SINCE 1970 www.drisag.be

Wall Desk brought to you by 96

Profile - Ciara Keeling

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There is a really strong sense of purpose in how the Oglesby family want to help many of the UK’s city regions become greater

we’ve been widening our focus in line with our strategic ambition, expanding into the science and tech sector. In 2012, we became the majority shareholder in Manchester Science Partnerships and in 2014 we purchased Alderley Park in Cheshire – which is a fabulous site. It is probably one of the best invested science parks in the UK and we’ve developed an amazing masterplan for the site. I share everyone’s excitement here about seeing its future development. It is really specialised and that means we need a lot of really talented, knowledgeable people to help us deliver the vision.’

We ask Ciara to tell us a bit more about the philosophy behind the business. ‘There is a really strong sense of purpose in how the Oglesby family want to help many of the UK’s city regions become greater. There is an unwavering commitment to investing not only in this city, but also Leeds, Liverpool and Birmingham, with a great deal of focus on the local communities. There is a genuine belief that by investing in this way, by creating stronger communities, then businesses will thrive, the people within those businesses will thrive and the city will benefit. Manchester is proof of this – you get that right, then people will come to the city and stay.

‘Mike Oglesby (founder of Bruntwood) was light years ahead. We’ve been using the term ‘customer’ and not ‘tenant’ for more than 15 years here, because he identified that these

are not temporary relationships, but longterm customer relationships. My previous role before this asset management position was firmly in customer retention. My job was to retain our customers, to help them grow and support them to stay in the portfolio, moving into work space that suits their needs.

‘If you try to lock somebody into a fiveyear contract and it doesn’t work for them, they’ll leave in the end. We don’t do that. We say ‘We’ll look after you and your staff’. We have an entire team dedicated to looking after customers, identifying their needs and helping them to move when they need to – and have been doing so for moe than a decade. As far as I’m aware, this was unique.

‘As you might expect, we continue to push ourselves. We want to do interesting things and grow with our customers – not just provide shiny corporate buildings. That’s not what young, fledgling companies are after. Many don’t want to take on long-term contracts because they’ve no idea where they’re going to be in a few months’ time – especially in the tech sector. They start with two people and come back to us saying that they suddenly need space for 15.

‘That’s one of the greatest challenges for us – for me – right now. We need to work out where those next spaces are coming from and how we can plan for that type of growth. It’s like a jigsaw puzzle, but we’re able to make it work because we have a great range of buildings.

‘I’ve always had that type of role, it’s not always easy, but when you’re able to react to people’s changing needs, moves and evolution, it really does pay off. I have a customer u

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Social Chain space at 127 Portland Street

Profile - Ciara Keeling who has grown and grown and grown – and we’ve been able to help him move four times.

That’s where simple documentation also really helps. We cut out the jargon and make it as straightforward for our customers as possible.

There are always challenges, but it’s how you approach those challenges.’

We already know about Bruntwood’s presence in Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds and Birmingham, but what about cities beyond?

‘We are always on the lookout for new opportunities,’ Ciara says. ‘The expansion we have experienced in these four cities has been really, really fast. In Manchester, for example, the city centre’s growth has been incredible and shows no signs of stopping.

‘If you look at the old BBC site that we’re now developing – the new Circle Square neighbourhood – it’s a huge expansion right in the heart of the city. Again, it’s an exciting mixed-use site that will be a superb asset for Manchester and very much shows the evolution of Bruntwood as a business and where we’re heading.’

With our ears to the ground here in Manchester, one thing we have taken note of in the past few months is the massive rise in co-working spaces – a market that Ciara and Bruntwood know only too well. ‘As a business we’ve been in that serviced space/co-working market since it’s inception,’ Ciara continues.

‘And it’s becoming ever more popular.

Occupiers are moving and want flexibility and simplicity – they want to choose what they want. They don’t want a long five- or 10-year lease.

‘We also have customers who want flexibility and they want us to provide the furniture even though they might only want that space for six months. This is really where the concept for our flagship Manchester Neo project came from. It was a lot of hard work because the process for what we were trying to achieve was so different from anything we’ve done before. There are a lot of things we offer there – and forget about the physical space for a moment – that are really different, right down to the sales approach we’ve taken.

We undertook a lot of market research to understand what potential customers want for such a space. We put together a customer steering board and we asked them what they wanted us to spend the money on. This was a really different approach, very collaborative, involving a number of new and different initiatives.’

We were, of course, fortunate enough to be able to use Neo for our MixInspired event earlier this year. It really is a great space, with a different, fresh approach. If this is anything to go by, Manchester’s in very safe hands with Bruntwood. l

The expansion we have experienced in these four cities has been really, really fast. In Manchester, for example, the city centre’s growth has been incredible and shows no signs of stopping

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Nixor space at 111 Piccadilly

Spotlight - Wellbeing

in Concrete

Lintel Innovative modular desk system in lightweight concrete designed by Paul Crofts

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Spotlight - Wellbeing

FE AST YOURSELF ON D E S I G N , I N S P I R AT I O N A N D M O T I VAT I O N .

Take your seat at the interior design show for professionals. Visit Decorex.com 17-20 SEPTEMBER, SYON PARK, LONDON.

Freddy van Zevenbergen | Anna Burles | Joanna Wood | Marcin Rusak | Hassan Abdullah | Daniel Hopwood Victoria Meale | Luke Edward Hall | Sue Timney | Simon Hamilton | Francis Sultana | Sophie Ashby 100

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Are you going to London Design Festival? Perhaps it’s no surprise that, when asking this question, a number of the responses we’ve received have been along the lines of ‘too busy’ or indeed ‘too far’.

Others are coordinating their time with meetings and many are extremely keen to get out and about and view ‘what’s new’. But which and where? Here is our bit to help if you are looking to attend. designjunction

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Here’s something a little different, which we’re certainly hoping to pay a visit to. British interiors label Buster + Punch will host a week of events (18th–23rd September) at their London showroom. The name is inspired by the brand’s original story building motorbikes and will see the launch of FAT CANDLE with Michelin star chef Tom Sellers, a HARDWARE HACKS workshop, a GARAGE SALE pop - up shop and the BUSTER BULB / TUBE launch party, complete with DJs. They also have a late-night studio opening on Wednesday 20th September.

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LAVINA GROVE

Another part of the regular LDF fayre is 100%. Now in its 23rd year, the archetypal exhibition at Olympia is divided into five design

E OUTRAM PLAC

areas: Interiors, Emerging Brands, Design and Build, Kitchens and Bathrooms and Workplace.

We have been told to look out for product launches from Gufram, who will present Michael Young’s Roxanne seater, while Mullan Lighting will show bespoke hand crafted luminaires and interiors wholesale distributor Padhome will showcase new designs by concrete brand Lyon Beton. It’s also worth checking out the comprehensive talks programme – which will be sure to whet those creative appetites.

Friends of Mix showing their own wares at 100% include Kinnarps, Knightsbridge, Silverline, Century Office and Tangent.

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One of the true highlights of last year’s festival.

We loved designjunction’s new home at Kings Cross. The weather helped of course, but the King’s Cross development really breathed new life into an event we already rated highly. The team at designjunction have told us that King’s Cross will be their new temporary permanent home; they will create the event in the public areas, building the necessary exhibition areas each year.

Will Sorrell, Event Director of designjunction is (not surprisingly) extremely positive: ‘We’re thrilled that the celebration returns this September, bringing together visitors from all over the globe. With the plethora of inspiring design, architecture, culinary delights and retail hot spots that are on offer, it’s a great location to be, and even better that it’s all situated within just a onemile radius of King’s Cross.’

The two areas that will draw the Mix team are the two temporary locations (two-floor pavilions) in the public areas beside Dishoom and the Canopy, which will have 70 or so design stands, complete with café this year.

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LONDON DESIGN FAIR

London Design Fair (LDF) is the trade destination of the London Design Festival (LDF).

Confused? Don’t be. Head to the delightful Old Truman Brewery at the Spitalfields end of Brick Lane. Some of you may know it as Tent London or Superbrands – and it’s business as usual this year.

Located in Shoreditch, the London Design Fair is a four-day industry event that brings together 500 exhibitors from 28 countries and constitutes the single largest collection of international exhibitions, designers, brands, country pavilions, features and galleries throughout the festival, and includes independent designers, established brands, international country pavilions, features and exhibitions.

The Craft Pavilion will make a return to the fair after the success of ‘This is India’ in 2016, with the Guest Country spotlight in 2017 falling upon the USA in Sight Unseen’s curated gallery, ‘Assembly’. u

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Spotlight - Wellbeing

Drumback Task Chair Design: Martin Ballendat

Your Seating Companion.

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For more information contact us at 07769 88 33 35 or visit www.viasit.co.uk

Preview - London Design Festival

DARC ROOM

darc room is a lighting specification event.

New for us this year – but an event we’re looking forward to. We were invited by our good friends Enigma Lighting – and this is definitely in our diaries. A five minute walk from Holborn, it’s housed at B1 – a 22,000 sq m space in Victoria House, Bloomsbury Square. There promises to be lots of wonderful lighting and a number of fascinating talks, including artist Daan Roosegaarde; Felix Hallwachs, CEO of Studio Olafur Eliasson’s Little Sun solar light project (who will also have an interactive installation); Croatian lighting designer, Dean Skira; Daniel Stromborg, product designer at Gensler USA; and Kerem Asfuroglu, lighting designer at Speirs + Major.

DECOREX

Even if Decorex is seen by some as a consumer show, we cannot ignore the crossover of home and workplace. We feel it important to give Decorex its due place in our LDF preview and hope to pay a visit for a bit of cross-sector inspiration.

Billed as the only one of its kind in the UK for the luxury interiors market, it has endured and thrived for 40 years. With over 400 exhibitors, from leading names to emerging talents, Decorex

is set in the delightful Syon Park on the other side of the Thames from Kew Gardens.

SHOWROOMS

We mentioned the showrooms a little earlier, and we’ll be paying a visit to a number throughout the Festival. We’ll be popping along to the KI showroom, for starters. KI are keen supporters of Mixology, sponsoring the Student Award for a number of years. They have now teamed up with RCA/Imperial College and chosen projects from the final year of the Design Engineering double masters course.

Following last year’s successful exhibition, a selection of final projects will explore how innovation can transform our working and learning spaces in the future.

The winner of this year’s KI Award, Pratik Ghosh’s ‘Drop by Drop’, is a natural plant-based water filtration system, which will be on display alongside a number of other outstanding award entrants who displayed remarkable ingenuity, showing how design and engineering can improve our lives.

Milliken’s Clerkenwell showroom, meanwhile, will become a celebration of creativity in the city for this year’s London Design Festival. To accompany the launch of design journalist Katie

Treggiden’s book: Urban Potters – Makers in the City, Milliken will host an exhibition of work by London-based ceramicists. Matthew Raw will be ‘artist in residence’, delivering demonstrations and making-workshops throughout the week, and there will also be screenings of the Made in London short films.

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WHAT

DATE

London Design Fair

21st – 24th Sept

darc room

21st – 23rd Sept

designjunction

WHERE

Matt Raw Studio, Milliken

WHAT TO EXPECT

Old Truman Brewery.

Brick Lane Tube: Shoreditch High Street

500 exhibitors from 28 countries, including independent designers, established brands, international country pavilions, features and exhibitions.

B1 Victoria House, Bloomsbury Square Tube: Holborn

Curated, creative lighting exhibition in the heart of London for specifiers and designers. darc room will offer inspiration and solutions for anyone involved in lighting specification by featuring lighting suppliers and creative lighting installations.

21st – 24th Sept

Kings Cross Tube: King’s Cross

Located in five industrial spaces around Granary Square, this cutting-edge interior design show presents 200 of the world’s leading furniture, lighting and accessory brands alongside tempting pop-up shops and installations.

100% Design

20th – 23rd Sept

The archetypal exhibition of the festival with five design areas to explore and an impressive talks programme featuring Lee Broom and Ross Lovegrove.

Decorex

17th – 20th Sept

Olympia Tube: Kensington (Olympia) Syon Park Train: Syon Lane

Celebrating 40 years, Decorex is a resource for highend interior designers, architects, specifiers, retailers and property developers and a much-loved consumer event.

Garage Sessions

18th – 20th Sept

Buster + Punch – The Hop Exchange, Southwark Tube: London Bridge

Garage Sessions by Buster + Punch will feature a mix of inspirational talks by design entrepreneurs, new product launches and upcycling workshops for DIY novices, culminating in a late night studio opening on Wednesday 20th Sept.

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Spotlight - Wellbeing

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Review - NeoCon

Four Real Flake ÂŽ

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RELAXED WORKSPACES WITH FORBO’S NEW TESSERA IN-TOUCH

BOSS DESIGN SETS THE SCENE AT WATES HQ

By taking inspiration from natural craft textiles and artistic hand

The Wates Group embarked on the refurbishment of its head office and

weaves, Forbo Flooring Systems has launched a new softly striated

called upon Boss Design’s expertise in workplace design solutions. Boss

carpet tile collection; Tessera In-touch. Designed to help de-formalise

Design was the perfect choice and supported the refurbishment with

office interiors, the new range allows designers to create more relaxed,

an emphasis on quality, value, environmental sustainability and staff

calming working environments. Janet Lowe, Forbo’s Head of Marketing

wellbeing. Wates’ Site Surveyor, Cyrille Ragasa explains: ‘Boss Design

UK and Ireland, says the new collection ‘embraces the idea of a less-

was chosen for its sustainability credentials, values, history of good

structured, more calming aesthetic to produce a comfortable and tranquil

client relationships and excellent furniture options.’ www.bossdesign.com

atmosphere’. www.forbo-flooring.co.uk/tesseraintouch

BEHIND THE SCENES

TRAINING DAY

Mosa Scenes tiles are characterised by a

Partitioning experts Ocula Systems are

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gradual build-up of colours, hues and textures.

now offering RIBA approved CPD training

Lano has launched Avenue, a narrow-loom

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on ‘Specifying Performance Fully Glazed

woven axminster concept that is ideal for use

creating natural layered dimensions. Scenes

Partitioning Systems’. The training looks at

in commercial projects. Available in 10 striking

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the benefits of using glazed partitioning,

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For an intense colour perception and depth,

design capability and integration flexibility.

and hallway runners. Birger Karlsson, sales

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textures: grain, clay, sand, and grit. This

considered when specifying partitions, has

looking for a custom hall or stair carpet,

creates refined effects and a natural scene in

explanations on acoustic performance and

Avenue’s quality is second-to-none and with

floor or wall surfaces. www.mosa.com/en-gb/products/collection/ scenes

sound attenuation and importantly, fire testing

our bespoke service starting at just 32 linear

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metres, it really is incredibly accessible.’ www.lano.com/en

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The Engine Shed is Scotland’s new national building conservation centre,

NEW DESERT AIRMASTER OFFERS BEST OF BOTH WORLDS: ORGANIC BEAUTY AND IMPROVED INDOOR AIR QUALITY

initiated, designed and operated by Historic Environment Scotland (HES).

DESSO is extending its DESSO AirMaster collection, with the launch of

The project involved the complete restoration of a historic engine shed

Desert AirMaster. Bringing together the organic designs of the Desert

with new build extensions to either side. Heradesign Superfine is installed

collection, the health and wellbeing benefits of AirMaster plus EcoBase

in both new buildings to help meet acoustic challenges and satisfy

backing, Desert AirMaster creates dynamic flooring, while improving

environmental criteria. Reiach and Hall Architects worked alongside the

indoor air quality. Offering a broad range of colours, including

HES project team comprising architects and conservation experts in a

three grey shades, beige, brown and blue tones, Desert AirMaster

consultancy role on the project. www.knaufamf.com

can be used to create free-flowing patterns and achieve a calming

HERADESIGN SHEDS NEW LIGHT ON INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE

environment. www.desso.co.uk

QUADRANT REWORKS ITS CORE COLLECTION OF CARPET TILES

MAKING MORE FROM CORK Sustainable and fast-growing, cork is in a

MODULEO FEEDS APPETITE FOR GREENE KING RESTAURANT CONCEPT

Quadrant has transformed its in-stock Core

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The benefits of staying away...

BDG’s Andy Swann asks whether we can offer our employers more by not going to the office.

When we think about physical workplace design, more and more we’re starting to look at it as a location for belonging, a place to collaborate, congregate and get the full experience of being part of the team. It’s a subject I explored for my book The Human Workplace and when it comes to offices, it’s becoming an increasingly prevalent concern.

After all, with technology unleashing us from desks, do we really need to go to the workplace at all, or can we just work wherever we are?

If our workplaces now have to be designed to give people a real benefit from physically being there, does the same apply in reverse and could we actually offer ourselves and our employers more by not going to the office? With communication and cloud tech as it is, many roles can be untethered from a fixed location, providing there is a trusting, adult relationship in place between worker and organisation and that the parameters for work are set. If those things are in place, freedom to do the work in the best possible way can be given (or taken) and the potential to not only remain effective elsewhere, but increase productivity, effectiveness and personal wellbeing are increased.

I recently undertook an experiment where, over a few weeks, I worked away from the London office. Based in the USA, I set myself up on a five-hour time difference with the objective of not only seeing if I could remain effective in the day-to-day requirements of my own role, but also whether I could bring added benefits to BDG, as my employer, and investigate potential opportunities in a new market.

In short, I could. The experiment worked very well, but it took two things to really make it work. Discipline was essential on my part to account for the time difference and work in the best possible way, but most important was the two-way trust between worker and organisation.

Because we had a conversation about what this would be and how it would work, the parameters and expectations were set from the start and effective working was possible. I moved my UK calls and conversations to well-aligned times of the day and focused on productivity, task and local development during my daytime. Work flowed more as part of my life than a switch-on/ switch-off thing and I benefited personally as a result.

Working in a new place, exploring, gaining experiences and ideas, gave me more energy for work, more input to inject and more insight to contribute. It was a real success and when the parameters allow unleashing work from location, everyone can benefit – as long as that trusting relationship exists.

But that’s not the end of the story.

Great work happens when the right people are in the right places at the right times, doing the right things. Although I could function well, working fully remotely and at the extreme of distance from the nucleus of the company workplace, there is a sense of connection that is important too. After around three weeks, the distance was felt and, regardless of task requirements, it was great to be back with the team, sharing the experience and contributing to more than just ‘work’.

Great organisations are about camaraderie, contribution and belonging; each of these things is stronger at the centre – in the physical workplace.

It’s a case of balance. Remote working is not only possible, but beneficial to all involved, although the importance of remaining close to the team remains.

For my own work, I feel that a 3:1 ratio of remote to local works perfectly and offers the best for everyone, although that may flex and flow, depending on where I need to be to be my best. It’s the same for all of us.

Being where we need to be to do our best work and make our best contribution is essential.

After all, it’s why we exist as workers. The only way to make that possible is through open conversation between employer and employee.

The way it looks for each role or each individual is different, so remote working needs to come back on the agenda as an individual agreement, not a company-wide standardised decree.

It’s the essence of the agile, flexible modern workplace, where an organisation is able to respond to the demands of the world around it. Instead of starting with full control over people, dictating where they need to be and when, it’s time to focus on the work they do, contribution they can make and unleash them to do that within the necessary requirements of the company. It’s freedom, within parameters.

True remote working is an amazing thing for all involved, but are you ready to offer your people the trust and two-way conversation it takes to make it a reality?

Andy Swann is a Human, an Over-Excited Work Explorer and Change Maker at BDG architecture + design. Andy’s book The Human Workplace will be published by Kogan Page in October 2017. andyswann@bdg-a-d.com

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