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Fit out and furniture
Unlike firms which may now be scrambling to rethink their workspace environments following the pandemic, the only real changes Kingsley Napley made to its office plans due to COVID-19 was to upgrade some of the M&E to increase air circulation and add more touchless controls to the WCs. The base build was finished January 2021 and installation carried out from then to a soft launch in July 2021. The finished design offers users no less than 21 different workplace settings, offering occupants a huge choice of where and how to work, from traditional desks to various sized pods, team collaboration areas, video conference enabled quiet rooms and the staff dining and coffee bar.
Furniture solutions as provided by Rainbow comprise a selection of lockers for the shower
area and bike area, with particular attention being given to the fully accessible cycling, shower and changing facilities. In the meeting rooms, all of which come in a wide range of room and desk sizes that reflect the purpose of the space, some feature flip-top tables with bases finished in satin polished stainless steel.
The fit out was understandably impacted by the pandemic, but as Paul Butterworth, Associate Director and Senior Designer at KKS Savills commented: “The project for Kingsley Napley was managed and delivered under COVID restrictions. However, despite the complications that arose, Rainbow dealt with the situation in an exceptional manner and even brought a sense of fun to the difficult circumstances that we faced. It was also a pleasure to work with Rainbow whose diligence and enthusiasm meant that the project ran as smoothly as possible.”
There are a variety of seating solutions scattered throughout the building, ranging from chairs upholstered in Kvadrat Twill Weave 530 for the reception area to a mix of low and high seating in the restaurant that boost additional features such as under booth lighting. There are a variety of innovative ‘meet and work’ booths positioned around the offices to enable privacy without recourse to formal meeting rooms, a selection of low and high seating for informal gatherings and a generous selection of chairs, sofas, and coffee tables on all floors.
Although the firm has been able to cut back on formal workstations it hasn’t stinted on their quality with all workstations supplied by Ergonom, as Jesse explains: “good seating is a fundamental part of an individual’s experience within the space.”
Space saved by offering an agile working environment has freed up more room to install additional areas geared towards meeting physical and mental good health, including a treatment room, fitness studio and meditation space, furnished with soft, comfortable materials to encourage mental respite from the busy working day. Finally, biophilia is a key sustainability component of the finish, with copious planting installed throughout each floor.
Feedback
So far, reports Jesse, feedback has been excellent, exceeding all expectations.
He says: “Our people were just stunned and fortunately in terms of the budget we didn’t spend on partitioning (with my finance background, everything is about money), so durability and comfort has been achieved so we’ve stylistically been able to marry the concept, comfort along with environmentally and durability.
“We knew we were trying to fit
in a lot in a relatively tight floor space, but when we took a pulse survey in January 2022 we were pleased to find that people are using all of the spaces and the furniture installed to varying degrees, maybe so far, not so much in stand up working areas, but we always said we’d revisit all the design choices. Although it’s still quite early to judge occupancy rates, before Omicron we were reaching about 40 per cent occupancy and that is when we were not pushing our agile working policy too hard.”
In terms of a wholescale return to the office, Jesse is anticipating people will ease back in when they’re comfortable and from the beginning of March the firm aims to reintroduce its official agile working policy. He reflects that currently, quite a few of their people actually like working on a Friday, though as with most organisations the busiest days tend to be on a Tuesday or Thursday.
Given the positive example Kingsley Napley has set with its office overhaul, a lot of competitors are very interested in how the agile working model could work for them, and Jesse has rather courteously shown a number of legal contemporaries around the new workspace to demonstrate how it’s done.
So what advice would he give professional firms considering a move to agile working?
“Looking back, people often ask what we’d do differently, but I don’t think I would have changed anything. My advice would be to think about making changes like these as early as possible, begin the process as quickly as possible, and don’t do it on your own or you’ll fail. Get the right people involved, both those who’ll have a major stake in the outcome and the expert advisors who’ll help you ensure its success.”
(i) www.fmj.co.uk/lawful-change
(iii) www.kkssavills.com
Images by Timothy Soar
Interior Architect: KKS Savills
