FIVE were invited to create a new way of working for a well known construction company in London. Following the pandemic, the client wanted to bring their teams from two office locations into one safe working environment.

By adopting an agile working style with hotdesking and hot lockers, mixed with a variety of touch down spaces, FIVE managed to cater for the larger team in a space that would traditionally have been too small.

With a focus on reducing the use of solid partitioning, FIVE’s design team specified acoustic curtains and freestanding pods to create a practical scheme while maintaining an open plan environment.

The desks are all electronically adjustable, offering the user a choice in height from sitting to standing positions. Agile and meeting spaces also vary in heights and styles, with some utilising a room/area booking system.

Acoustics play an enormous role in the success of a workplace when bringing large teams together, especially when working in an agile environment. FIVE’s team overcame this through the clever use of acoustic products tailored to each area based on it’s proposed use. Where larger groups would gather, for example, the town hall zone with a large stitched screen display, feature suspended acoustic baffles were installed to trap the sound. Walls were lined with acoustic curtains near large clusters of desks, while breakout and collaborative zones were installed with baffles and high back acoustic booths. Cushion backed acoustic carpet was installed throughout the project, with colour and pattern delineating the different zones. Smaller acoustic pods were installed for Teams calls and private conversations, with larger booths for meetings and groups to collaborate without disturbing those nearby.

Lastly technology. With staff working between their homes and the office with laptops, they need to be able to ‘plug and play’ in any zone without the need to carry cables and connectors. Each zone had a variety of power connectivity with VC and AV capability, allowing staff to use the zones how they needed, offering a truly flexible and inspiring place to work.