Contemporary Workspace

In this fit out and refurbishment, the challenge was to make this low, vaulted ceiling in a 19th century former storage space in Edinburgh’s historic city centre, into a modern spacious office to house a variety of different work spaces. 

The international organisation has a large headquarters building in London with 500 staff and the Edinburgh office was to accommodate up to 60 staff.

These included a reception, large conference room, small meeting pods, quiet working spaces, open plan working, individual cellular work spaces, social eating spaces and kitchen, library and cycle storage.

Sketch: Concept plan of how the new space works

Before: The previous tenant was an IT company and had used lots of dark branding, which made the space feel small.

After: Light coloured office furniture was chosen, plus bright colours from the company's corporate palette which help make the space feel bright and modern.

Branding: For the open plan work spaces we used the corporate logo cut into the acoustic plywood panels giving the space a brand identity.

The client brief allowed us to open up the plan, and maximise the available windows and light into the plan.  We were able to use their corporate palette to bring colour and brightness into the space with green flooring and yellow columns, and within each of the small meeting rooms.

Timber: The plywood walls give a warm feel to the space.

Before: Unsused vaulted spaces

After: Former storage cellars were damp-proofed and turned into small spaces for focused working, meetings or telephone calls.

A small simple project with a modest budget, effectively used to make a fresh feeling contemporary work place.