Steve Vik contacted us to create a breakout space within their existing factory. The aim was to encourage better integration and relationships between the office and warehouse staff.
The existing kitchen and breakout space was un-inviting and positioned within some valuable office space. There was a large dead space area between the offices and warehouse side which was un-used but offered lots of potential. The HR/admin team was also in an office on the other side of the dead space segregating them from the rest of the office team.
The main plan was always to move the kitchen from the office area into the store area, and create a kitchen space there. This will increase the available space for the office area.
We drew the office using CAD software which enabled us to provide a few layout options.
A few options were explored in reconfiguring the existing demountable partitions to create some offices and rooms where the existing kitchen was situated. The final choice was to form a large 6-person administration office along with a smaller 2-person HR offices as well as a small 1-1 room for private HR conversations making much better use of the space. Moving these teams into the office area has helped to integrate the HR and admin teams and allow additional desk space for future growth.
The old HR office was situated over the other side of the “dead zone”, this room would now become a large training and secondary meeting room. The main benefit of having the room there was that the new breakout space would be right next to it, without needing to have staff go through other office areas to get to it.
We were given pretty much an open hand to come up with what we thought would look great in the space.
There were a few restrictions we had to keep in mind like an existing boiler which needed to remain in place, and a double door which opens out over the loading bay which the customer wanted to keep for occasional furniture deliveries etc.
The staff provided some images of breakout spaces they liked to give inspiration, and we knew from the previous social spaces project that this customer liked the bright colours and warmth of natural wood.
We came up with a couple of layouts and mood boards before settling on a final design.
The kitchen itself features:
- 2x integrated pull out double recycling / general waste bins to encourage recycling
- 2x integrated large full height fridges for lunches
- 1x integrated small fridge for milk / drinks
- 1x integrated freezer for ice creams in the summer
- 1x integrated dishwasher
- 2x instant boil taps to reduce waiting around in the mornings
- 1x tall larder unit which hides the boiler
- The main theme of the kitchen in terms of colours was a graphite kitchen, with concrete worktops and a lovely white marble metro tile splash back laid in a herringbone pattern.
The walls were painted a dark grey and the ceiling replaced for a black suspended ceiling.
The dark colours of the kitchen, ceiling and walls were contrasted by the warm oak effect non-slip vinyl flooring, with custom timber divider screens and planter. We also used oak slatwall panels up the walls and over the ceiling creating an archway which defines the dining area.
The planter and screens were filled with artificial plants along with the floor to ceiling artificial plant wall which hides the double door into the loading bay. A section of plant wall was fitted behind the TV in the dining area along with some small square frames of foliage to add interest above the meeting pods.
Interesting lighting was used throughout this project with “Halo” style square LED lights on the black ceiling, triple industrial style pendants above the breakfast bars, single pendants over the meeting pods and even some under cabinet lighting in the kitchen. The lighting is bright over the kitchen and more subdued over the dining area helping to define areas within the breakout space.
A range of 4-seater meeting pods, high level breakfast bars, a dining table and some lounge chairs are positioned throughout the breakout space to give flexibility and cater for everyone. The design included oak leg frames on all furniture. This tied in with the woodwork and selected vibrant fabric and laminate colours which match in with the 7 corporate colours found on their website for the 7 core services the client offers.
The first priority was to remove the existing kitchen and breakout space and create the new offices for the HR and admin teams so they could move out of the back room.
All plumbing and electrical services were disconnected, new partitioning and flooring installed along with some re-configuring of the lighting circuit to suit the new room layout.
The new HR office and 1-1 room had double skinned partition with insulation in the cavity and even acoustic barriers within the ceiling void fitted to give the best possible sound performance and privacy for the HR team.
The old HR office was then re-decorated and re-purposed as a meeting and training room.
The new suspended ceiling was installed first along with all new electrical supplies for the new kitchen and the LED lighting.
The room was painted dark grey and the new kitchen fitted with slight modifications to the unit hiding the boiler and some minor plumbing works for the new sink and instant boil taps.
Once the new kitchen was installed the decorative items like the tiled splash back, slatwall archway, the custom timber screens, the planter and the artificial plant wall was installed.
The flooring was one of the last things to go in to prevent any damage throughout the project along with the long pendant lights.
The furniture was all made to order with vibrant colour choices to match the 7 corporate colours.
The hidden double doors into the loading bay were very useful for getting the furniture up and the install team had everything assembled and positioned within a day.
The furniture really tied everything together, the vibrant colours and welcoming soft fabrics and versatile seating options. The meeting pods feature USB charging making them great for informal meeting or just a private place to sit and watch Netflix. Using Faux leather in the dining chairs and bar stools helped to encourage warehouse staff to use them without fear of marking or staining the new fabrics and all the staff seemed really excited to start using the new breakout space.
This particular project and client has been especially nice for us at Cre8tive Interiors to work on. The emphasis on a positive working environment and building relationships between teams is really rewarding to see in the workplace. A lot of what we do at Cre8tive Interiors is functional and problem solving therefor aesthetics and design can be pushed to the bottom of the priorities due to space or budget constraints.
Beyond just a breakout space, the client worked with us and with their staff to get input from everyone and took the time consider what the space needed to achieve even down to the additional fridge space for lunch boxes and the sound proofing of the HR office.
The feedback from staff has been very positive, the space is always in use and it has improved the relationships and working environment for the staff.
Please give us a call or go to the contact us page and we can help with any aspect of interior office fit out, along with space planning and design work.
01380 73 88 44
