Categories
Air Conditioning All Project Categories Mezzanine Floors Mezzanine Floors Office Refurbishments Partitioning Suspended Ceilings

Office Refurbishment in Milton Keynes

Client: Edwards International
Value: £187k

Office Refurbishment

We were  invited by this customer to have a look at their existing office space as it needed an office refurbishment in Milton Keynes and the customer did not know where to start. They found us on the internet and liked our website as it showed real photos of actual projects rather than nice photo shopped images.

Out of the few that they contact we were the only ones to respond to their enquiry within a day.

When we first visited the client it was very obvious that the while area needed stripping out and starting again. What was surprising, although in reality we are not surprised, was that the existing partitions and mezzanine floor were not fire rated. We recognised the system below the mezzanine as a 50mm wide demountable partition system which has no fire rating at all. None of the exit routes out of the building were 30 minute protected and the mezzanine floor had a suspended ceiling fitted but it was not fire rated. The staff were working in a death trap. If there was any problem in the building then there would be a lot of trouble. The customer specialises in fire detection equipment, so for them to be in a building that was a potential death trap as it was not properly fire protected was nonsense.

Building Regulations

There were three different mezzanine floors installed at various times at different heights, and no paperwork to show that they had been passed Building Regulations, so from a fairly straightforward requirement to refurbish the offices there was a need to look at the whole building, design and specify it properly and get Building Regulation Approval. In the design we had to consider:

  • Fire protection of the mezzanine floors using the correct grade of suspended ceiling tile and support  column encasement
  • Correct design of protected fire exit routes throughout the building, checking of escape distances and signage
  • Full electrical design to suit.
  • New fire rated partitions where needed to meet Building Regulations
  • Supplementary fresh air systems to enclosed offices
  • Changes to air condition systems
  • Heating were needed.

CDM

There was no doubt that we were going to be on site for more than a month, and have more than 5 people on site, the whole project was quite a bit of work and so the work comes under the Construction Design and Management Regulations. The purpose of the regulations is to protect the employee and employer in making sure that a construction project is run safely. If you do not notify the Health and Safety Executive that the project is being carried out and there is a problem then directors of the company where the work is being done can go to jail.

Where do we start?

The first step is to measure everything and take lots of photos to see exactly what has been fitted. The next was to understand from the customer how they wanted to work in the space, so this included some basic functional block drawings identifying where they wanted Sales, Accounts and Technical. Once the broad locations were identified then the detail layouts were carried out identifying voice and data positions, partitioning and ceiling layouts and the work that had to be done on the mezzanine floor. Once the layouts were agreed we had to submit the plans to Building Control and get their approval which we did.

We produced many many drawings. All showing everything that was needed for each trade. Some shown below. The important document was the Building Regulations Approval document that is a legal requirement.

Existing Photographs

The first two photographs below show the immediate and obvious problem. The partitions are 50mm wide demountable and are not fire rated at all. The third photo shows the the vast storage area out the back. The rest just show the general bland and dated look of everywhere needed some tlc.

Stripping out and Construction work

We produced a plan and submitted all of the documents to the local Building Control people who assessed the drawings and arranged for some visits throughout the work. We also employed a Health and Safety Consultant who oversaw the work and kept all of the sub contractors on their toes, and they submitted the F10 to the Health and Safety Executive.

Refurbishment Projects

Categories
All Project Categories Office Furniture Office Refurbishments Partitioning

Office Refurbishment in Swindon

Client: Stibo Reprographics
Value: £67k

The brief was for an office refurbishment in Swindon of the open plan office space. The work included to redecorate the main office, replace the old damaged blinds, new carpet and a small amount of partitioning. We have been working with this customer for several years and were happy they contacted us again for this job.

The open plan office area is very large, about 550sqm, and has several departments and teams mingled in together. The office was also dominated by 2m tall floor screens around each person’s desk, the whole atmosphere was very closed off and disorganised.

Initially we decided removing the screens would open up the office dramatically. We then looked at how the space is used. AutoCAD plans were drawn up to see how the space could be put to best use. The last job we did for the customer was to redesign the conference room with colours chosen from the companies’ logo. A similar colour scheme was chosen for the main office too, with the carpet, desk high floor screens and seating all tied into the colour scheme.

A new manager’s office was built from demountable partitioning and a solid wall closing off the reception was taken down replaced by a new glazed wall, to further help open the office up. The existing blinds were matched by our suppliers and we replaced only the damaged blinds, so making a saving for the customer.

The carpet was laid by our experienced fitters over the weekend and in evening to minimize the amount of time we disturbed the office. Finally some new meeting room furniture was supplied.

Why Demountable Partitions?

  1. Demountable partitions are tax efficient in that they are seen as movable items and so can be treated differently in writing down allowances in the accounts.
  2. We can also lease Demountable Partitions as they are movable, this spreads the costs of having the work done as Demountable Partitions always cost more than customers think.
  3. Leasing of demountable partitions is very tax efficient and Cre8tive can provide illustrations, please contact us for further information.
  4. Most landlords insist on demountable partitions being used for offices as it is much easier to take them out should the tenant renting the space leave for any reason. The benefit is that is saves making a huge amount of mess and destruction that would be need with a conventional stud and plasterboard constructed wall.

Questions about an office refurbishment?

If you are not sure about anything we love to talk about projects and sort out problems and issues with space, if your office needs reorganising or you need a general office refurbishment please give us a call on 01380 738844

Categories
All Project Categories Partitioning

Reconfiguration and New Office Partitioning in Salisbury

Client: Tabs Training
Value: £9k

New Office Partitioning

The customer needed some office partitioning reconfigured in Salisbury. They also had a sound problem with some of the walls, the existing 50mm wide office partition needed to be taken down and replaced with and a larger meeting / training room built out of 75mm wide system. The 50mm partition was re-used elsewhere. Although 50mm demountable partition systems are good, due to the thickness they are limited in respect to the sound performance that can be obtained. The 75mm wide demountable partition systems give much better performance not only in sound but it structurally more rigid, so doors with big vision panels can be fitted. In another part of the office two smaller offices were needed, also 75mm wide system.

The existing office partitioning was unsuitable because sound traveled between the walls of the offices, and this issue was an important factor in needing something to be done. 50mm systems are quite ineffective for good sound insulation, so a 75mm system was suggested, which reduces most sound up to 42db (people talking will just be heard).

Photographs.

Drawing work

As always, it is best to draw what it there, work out materials if any can be re-used, and draw the proposed layouts to be sure that the proposals are what the customer requires.

Demountable partitioning

Other factors we had to consider included DDA compliance of the downstairs office. The office door had to be suitable for wheelchair users, so it had to be wider than a standard door with a long vision panel.

To further help the sound qualities of the offices upstairs, we also fitted insulation over the suspended ceiling grid.

Why Demountable Partitions?

  1. Demountable partitions are tax efficient in that they are seen as movable items and so can be treated differently in writing down allowances in the accounts.
  2. We can also lease Demountable Partitions as they are movable, this spreads the costs of having the work done as Demountable Partitions always cost more than customers think.
  3. Leasing of demountable partitions is very tax efficient and Cre8tive can provide illustrations, please contact us for further information.
  4. Most landlords insist on demountable partitions being used for offices as it is much easier to take them out should the tenant renting the space leave for any reason. The benefit is that is saves making a huge amount of mess and destruction that would be need with a conventional stud and plasterboard constructed wall.

Questions on Demountable Partitions?

If you are not sure about anything we love to talk about projects and sort out problems and issues with space, please give us a call on 01380 738844

Categories
All Project Categories Partitioning

New Corner Office – Demountable Partitioning

Client: Mango Solutions
Value: £2.4k

Demountable Partitioning

Further on from the previous two office that we built for Mango solutions, we created a new corner office for the MD, a storage cupboard and meeting room. The new partitioning was to be joined to some existing demountable partitioning that we had previously built for the customer.

We needed to take down the corner of the existing meeting room to build the new offices. Each of the two new rooms have a double glazed window with integral blinds. The beauty of demountable partitioning is just that, the frames are demountable and you can re-use the uprights frames and plasterboard.

Powder coated grey aluminium metalwork was used to match the existing, and insulation inside the cavity wall was used to help reduce the sound travelling between the rooms. The demountable partition is available in different widths, 50mm, 75mm and 100mm and choice depends very much on what performance you want to achieve with the system. The narrow systems we can make look good, but do not perform as well as the wider systems which we installed for Mango. If you are unsure about anything or need more information please do not hesitate to give us a call.

Why Demountable Partitioning?

  1. Demountable partitioning is tax efficient, in that they are seen as movable items and so can be treated differently in writing down allowances in the accounts.
  2. We can also lease Demountable Partitioning systems as they are movable, this spreads the costs of having the work done as demountable partitioning materials always cost more than customers think.
  3. Leasing of demountable partitions is very tax efficient and Cre8tive can provide illustrations, please contact us for further information.
  4. Most landlords insist on demountable partitioning being used for offices as it is much easier to take them out should the tenant renting the space leave for any reason. The benefit is that is saves making a huge amount of mess and destruction that would be need with a conventional stud and plasterboard constructed wall.
Categories
Air Conditioning All Project Categories Mezzanine Floors Office Refurbishments Partitioning Suspended Ceilings Toilet Refurbishment

Office Refurbishment with a Mezzanine Floor in Gloucester

Client: Scott Law
Value: £160k

Mezzanine Floor installation

Cre8tive Interiors completed an office refurbishment fit out project in Gloucester. The original building consisted of an occupied warehouse with a split level floor and block walls which needed to be converted to offices. We are calling this project a refurbishment project, it involved taking an industrial unit and changing it (refurbishing it?), and then fitting out the inside to provide a complete office space by fitting a mezzanine floor inside. So it is probably a mixture between a refurbishment project and a fit out project.

The offices had to include toilets, reception area, new staircase, kitchen, boardroom and further offices as well as full integration of electrics, data and air conditioning. The project was also run under the Construction Design and Management regulations, so adherence to Health and Safety was paramount. All activities had to have risk assessments carried out as well as method statements for the type of work. Cre8tive was also Principle Contractor for the work, and this meant that there were some things that the client wanted to do within the time frame on site which we managed to do.

Pre-construction Photographs

All of the internal walls, ceilings, toilets and electrics would have to be stripped out including the spiral staircase and small room above it. The two units had a gap inside joining them which would need to be blocked up. The block walls inside would have to be modified. In the end it was easiest just to rip it all out and start again.

Construction Work

The following photographs show the stripping out as well as the construction and finished photographs. The photographs show the sequence of events and all of the work that goes into creating offices over a mezzanine floor. Complete network cabling, power and data, heating and cooling with air conditioning, flooring, external windows, there are many things to manage and get to work properly which is what we do at Cre8tive.

We used demountable partitioning for the offices upstairs and downstairs for a few reasons, the first is that is is easy to reconfigure if you want to change it, and one of the other main benefits is that it can be leased and treated as a ‘moveable item’ as well as the mezzanine floor. The mezzanine floor itself is fully self supporting and not fixed to the fabric of the building so is also ‘demountable’. It could be unbolted and then re bolted in the car park outside if needed.

Why Demountable Partitioning?

  1. Demountable partitioning is tax efficient in that they are seen as movable items and so can be treated differently in writing down allowances in the accounts.
  2. We can also lease Demountable Partitioning as they are movable, this spreads the costs of having the work done as Demountable Partitions always cost more than customers think.
  3. Leasing of demountable partitioning is very tax efficient and Cre8tive can provide illustrations, please contact us for further information.
  4. Most landlords insist on demountable partitions being used for offices as it is much easier to take them out should the tenant renting the space leave for any reason. The benefit is that is saves making a huge amount of mess and destruction that would be need with a conventional stud and plasterboard constructed wall.

Office Refurbishment

This particular project was more complicated that many that we do in that it involved the mezzanine floor. If you need any advice or are thinking of an office refurbishment project please give us a call, we would love to talk to you, on 01380 738844

Categories
Air Conditioning All Project Categories Design Office Furniture Office Refurbishments Partitioning Suspended Ceilings

Office Refurbishment in Bristol

Client: Smurfit Kappa
Value: £65k

Office Design and Refurbishment in Bristol

Our client wanted a complete redesign refurbishment of the existing office space. The first task was to come up with some ideas and some colour schemes, the director wanted an adventurous new scheme, so we focused upon creating a more spacious effect through introducing new concepts of Lighting, Suspended Ceiling, Partitioning, new Air Conditioning systems, Flooring and Furniture in order to create a more relaxed office environment that mixes bold contemporary colour and natural materials.

Design and Drawing work

In working out what needs to be done, we need to know what is there. A detailed drawing showing positions of electrics and the walls was produced. The new layout required a few designs, and in particular the Director wanted to have a meeting end on his new desk, so we had to design a desk and get it made particularly for him.

Colour scheme / Design

As this area was a completely separate area from the upstairs directors suite, we thought that the whole scheme could be different. The room was completely separate from the rest of the building, so when you walked in, there was a different feel which was modern, had a blend of the traditional timber partitions, along with some stripy carpet, and the middle solid carpet was a very high quality cut pile carpet which felt soft and luxurious underfoot. One of the main requirements was that the Managing Director wanted a meeting end on his desk and it was not possible to get one to fit from standard product ranges. We therefore had to get one made..

Existing space

As you can see from the photographs the whole area needed completely stripping out and replacing.

Stripping out and building photographs

I always like this phase as the office transforms, from a very dull space to something new. We do get an immense level of satisfaction in carrying out office refurbishment projects for this reason.

Final photographs

As you can see from the final photographs, Cre8tive were successful in carrying out a complete redesign and office refurbishment of the customers existing space.

Why Demountable Office Partitions?

  1. Demountable partitions are tax efficient in that they are seen as movable items and so can be treated differently in writing down allowances in the accounts, we can also lease elements of office refurbishments. Anything that can be moved.
  2. We mainly lease Demountable Partitions as they are movable, this spreads the costs of having the work done as Demountable Partitions always cost more than customers think.
  3. Leasing of movable items is very tax efficient and Cre8tive can provide illustrations, please contact us for further information.
  4. Most landlords insist on demountable partitions in an office as it is much easier to take them out should the tenant renting the space leave for any reason. The benefit is that is saves making a huge amount of mess and destruction that would be need with a conventional stud and plasterboard constructed wall.

.

Not sure what to do?

Please give us a call and we can help with any aspect of interior office fit out, along with space planning and design work.

01380 73 88 44

Categories
All Project Categories Consult Install Office Refurbishments Partitioning

Office Fit Out British Nuclear Group in Bridgewater

Client: British Nuclear Group
Value: £99k

Cre8tive were contacted by an Office Furniture company as they were not able to deal with the office fit out side of the project for British Nuclear Group. The customer had already employed an architect to specify what was required and so it was really a case of demonstrating that we knew what we were doing and that could cost the project to meet the clients budget. This project took place on the ground floor of Mallard Court.

The project was designed by Oxford Architects who specified the partition system.

The project was a 6 week duration project which had to run under the Construction Design and Management regulations. Cre8tive Interiors acted as Principle Contractor on the project. The office fit out  for British Nuclear Group consisted of Komfort Double Glazed Polar Demountable Partition System, as well as single glazed Polar screens and Komfort Komfire 100 partitions. The project also included supplying and fitting of a kitchen from Howdens, new carpets, fitting of fire barriers in the ceiling and floor voids, and complete decoration of the workspace.

Initial design and drawing work

Initial site photographs before work

Construction Photographs

Working for the British Nuclear Group had it’s challenges. As you would expect every aspect of the work was scrutinized, we also had to have a permanent person on site all of the time which sometimes on projects like this we do not always need to have fitters doing work whilst other work is being done by others. BNG contracted their own duct work people, so they had to carry out some works when we had to be off site.

Completed Photographs

Why Demountable Partitioning?

This particular project had what we call demountable partitioning in it. Landlords insist on this type as it can be easily relocated without doing much damage to the building.

  1. Demountable partitioning is tax efficient in that they are seen as movable items and so can be treated differently in writing down allowances in the accounts.
  2. We can also lease Demountable Partitioning as they are movable, this spreads the costs of having the work done as Demountable Partitions always cost more than customers think.
  3. Leasing of demountable partitioning is very tax efficient and Cre8tive can provide illustrations, please contact us for further information.
  4. Most landlords insist on demountable partitions being used for offices as it is much easier to take them out should the tenant renting the space leave for any reason. The benefit is that is saves making a huge amount of mess and destruction that would be need with a conventional stud and plasterboard constructed wall.

Need an Office Fitting out?

This particular project was driven by BNG with a design carried out by Oxford Architects. We were the contractor who completed the work. If you need any design work doing we can do this, as well as being the principle contractor for the work.

Any questions please do not hesitate to contact us on 01380 73 88 44 or email [email protected]

Categories
All Project Categories Partitioning

Building an Office Partition on a Reception Desk

Client: Malmesbury Primary School
Value: £5.6k

This was a difficult problem to solve and the only way we could think of doing this was to actually construct a glass partition onto the reception desk. The school had a specific issue with noise coming into the office area as the reception desk is in a main traffic area. Draught’s were also a problem as well as some of the electrical control equipment including the CCTV system was spread over a large area. A new cabinet was supplied under the desk with all the cables re-routed to suit. It was also important to keep the costs to minimum so various options were considered before work started.

In addition to the above, the school wanted some degree of sound insulation. Their initial thought was that the desk would have to be rebuilt with some form of new partition built and all of the computing equipment behind the desk would have to be moved. The CCTV and security systems would also have to be disconnected so a real nuisance. I did think that the desk that was there was pretty good and we could keep it in place, why get rid of it. The idea then was to build something on top of it. The complicated section was on the raised section, a normal partition system would have very chunky frames, so we chose a silicon jointed glass system that would be ready neat and tidy. The joins of the glass could then be angled and ground, then seal with a silicon seal without any vertical aluminum uprights that you would normally use on a conventional partition system.

A further requirement was that they wanted a sliding hatch arrangement so they could open and shut glass doors as needed and we could build this in a partition.

Construction photos

Timing was important as with a busy school and the reception desk being situated in the main thoroughfare, we had to build the partitions out of school hours for safety. The first section to build was the more conventional sliding frame hatch using a conventional partition system but using special ‘Chas mood’ sliding door gear within the partition frames. Once the sliding hatch was built, the glazed system was constructed across the desk. Once all of the frames were built the glaziers arrived to fit the glass.

Completed photos

We did use two different proprietary demountable partitioning systems to provide the finish result. There are several good reasons to use this type of system, the main one is that it can be taken down and removed quite easily. The words demountable partitioning are used quite often in our fit out and refurbishment projects.

Summary on Demountable Partitioning

  1. Using Demountable Partitioning is very tax efficient as they are seen as movable items and so can be treated differently in writing down allowances in the accounts. We have a better description on our News / Blog page on this site.
  2. We can also lease Demountable Partitioning as they are movable, this spreads the costs of having the work done as Demountable Partitions always cost more than customers think.
  3. Leasing of demountable partitioning is very tax efficient and Cre8tive can provide illustrations, please contact us for further information.
  4. Most landlords insist on Demountable Partitions being used for offices as it is much easier to take them out should the tenant renting the space leave for any reason. The benefit is that is saves making a huge amount of mess and destruction that would be need with a conventional stud and plasterboard constructed wall.

Questions on extending offices?

If you are not sure about anything as well as taking about all kinds of partitioning including Demountable we love to talk about projects and sort out problems and issues with space, please give us a call on 01380 738844

Categories
All Project Categories Partitioning Suspended Ceilings

Office Fitting in Melksham on a Mezzanine Floor

Client: Coombe Castle
Value: £62k

Cre8tive was asked to help carry out an office fitting project for Coombe Castle,who were moving from Corsham to Melksham. The work on this started 6 months ago, once the customer had in mind what they wanted to do, Cre8tive carried out a detailed plan of the building. This involved taking accurate measurements of all of the inside and outside space, in particular determining where all of the cabling went.

Cre8tive then designed the position of the new canteen and offices that were required on the existing mezzanine floor. The only problem was that the roof height was over 4 meters high, and Building Regulations says that you have to have 1 hour fire separation between offices and warehouse, so we devised a specification to meet this.

Other requirements for office fitting included spaces that need ventilation and heating, so Cre8tive had to extended the existing heating system, and fit a VAM  unit within the ceiling void to take air from the outside to the inside.

The office fitting project included data cabling the existing offices as well as the new, providing all electrical, flooring, kitchen, decorations and suspended ceiling for the space.

Drawing and specification work.

We produced many drawings for each of the areas that we had to work on. This included work to the front offices, so they needed power and data, lighting, repairs to the suspended ceiling and new carpet. Other areas included:

  1. Repairing some of the panels in the toilets.
  2. Stripping out the existing kitchen and canteen, converting into a new Sales office.
  3. Providing all of the plumbing requirements for the clean room area downstairs.
  4. Building new offices and canteen on top of the mezzanine floor which had to meet building regulations.
  5. New heating and ventilation.
  6. New comms rack.
  7. Painting much of the outside block walls white.
  8. Building a couple of offices on the shop floor, again these had to be 1 hour fire rated.

Existing building photos before work

Construction photos

Completion photographs

Project Management..

We have many ideas on how to make the best use of space, and we are seeing offices and talking to customers all of the time. Over the years we have seen many projects and often have to work to a budget. What we do is get the space working right first and then focus on the budget. In this case the budget was very tight so we ended up using a very cheap carpet which did not affect the design of the office, and just brought it into the manageable level for the customer. This project was leased over 3 years. Please contact us for further information about leasing and financing.

01380 73 88 44 or email us at [email protected]

Categories
All Project Categories Partitioning Projects Storage Walls

Storage Wall and Demountable Partitions

Client: Cole Easdon Consultants Swindon
Value: £10k

Storage wall with demountable partitions

Cole Easdon approached us with a couple of requirements for their new office in Swindon. The first was to construct a couple of office but they also had a major problem with storage. We realised that we could utilise the full height of the ceiling and use a product called storage wall, which is a full height cupboard constructed and fitted to the underside of the suspended ceiling which acts like a partition. We then built some demountable partitions off the storage wall to solve the problem.

Storage Wall Project photographs

Why Demountable Partitions in Office Refurbishments?

  1. Demountable partitions are tax efficient in that they are seen as movable items and so can be treated differently in writing down allowances in the accounts, we can also lease elements of office refurbishments. Anything that can be moved.
  2. We mainly lease Demountable Partitions as they are movable, this spreads the costs of having the work done as Demountable Partitions always cost more than customers think.
  3. Leasing of movable items is very tax efficient and Cre8tive can provide illustrations, please contact us for further information.
  4. Most landlords insist on demountable partitions in an office as it is much easier to take them out should the tenant renting the space leave for any reason. The benefit is that is saves making a huge amount of mess and destruction that would be need with a conventional stud and plasterboard constructed wall

Storage wall or Partitioning questions?

We have been supplying and fitting storage wall and demountable partitioning as part of our main refurbishment projects for over 15 years, if you are unsure about anything please give us a call.

Please give us a call on 01380 73 88 44.