Just as a retailer needs a flagship store to project its brand, so too does a developer with world-class aspirations require an HQ that is best in class. How else can you convince clients and staff of your development chops? Too many, sadly, fall short, with offices that are long on cost efficiency and short on vision.
In the past few weeks, another developer has joined the ranks of the relatively small number seeking to buck the trend.
British Land’s multi-million-pound overhaul of its York House offices near London’s Marble Arch, W1, aims to combine the comforts of home with the relaxed air of a Silicon Valley start-up.
After a year of turmoil – the property giant’s 250 staff stayed in situ – chief executive Chris Grigg believes the project has delivered on his ambition to create a space that would help staff retention and motivation and also impress clients.
Little has gone unaltered by designer Linda Morey-Burrows, principal director at interior design practice MoreySmith, who worked with Mace and Como for construction and with GVA Acuity for project management.
Breakout and informal meeting areas have been rethought. There is more natural light, with materials chosen to refract and reflect light, including white furniture and paintwork, and carpets made of light-reflective yarn. And there are now three times as many plants as people. Inspiration was drawn from offices around the world – from Silicon Valley to Sydney’s celebrated Macquarie Bank HQ.
But it is a new stairway at the heart of the office that is the biggest physical change. It is designed to encourage staff to get active and move around the office.
Space lost by taking out floor area for the staircase was recovered by removing some storage areas and a kitchenette, downsizing the server room, centralising the cloakrooms, lockers, and stationery cupboards and introducing unified modular desks across the firm.
The change has also created a space – known, of course, as the British Landing – for monthly all-staff events.
It was a project driven through by Grigg and chairman John Gildersleeve, a veteran of many a retailer’s boardroom.
“We were a little bit radical,” says Grigg, pointing out that six months of work followed six months of planning. “There were people here at the beginning who were not sure we’d get the response in terms of different behaviours. But all the early signs are that people are using the staircase a huge amount, breakout areas a huge amount. We’re getting lots of meetings with people bumping into one another on the staircase, sitting down on sofas around the coffee machine, so there is a great increase in dialogue.”
Morey-Burrows says the merging of work and home was a consideration. “People spend so much time in their offices that we draw on some of the projects we do in the residential sector as well,” she says. “People want to feel more comfortable and relaxed and almost like they’re at home. So the diversity of the meeting rooms, the softer finishes, the more comfort factor and human factor we have brought into the design here is important in the workplace.”
British Land has, of course, put an emphasis on sustainability, too. More than 900 items of office furniture have been reused and recycled. Every lightbulb in the office is energy-efficient and all new fridges have A++ energy-efficiency ratings.
Energy use at York House had already been cut by 43% in recent years, and the revamp should bring further savings. BL was also determined to buy British wherever possible – from linen, cotton and wool mixes to leather, stone and steel.
But not everything has changed. The art collection for which BL is well known is in evidence on every wall. And Grigg has kept the Roy Lichtenstein prints in his own office.
He is in no doubt that this domestic overhaul will make the propco better at delivering for clients, not least in minimising business disruption. “As ever with real estate, you know your mistakes will be there for some time,” he says. “We’ve learned things that will make us more sensitive.”
