Categories
Air Conditioning All Project Categories Design Office Furniture Office Refurbishments Partitioning Projects

Office Refurbishments in Bath

Client: Regency Laundry
Value: £28k

Cre8tive have carried out many office refurbishments over the years and all need to have some design and drawing work done initially and is the most important aspect of a project that needs to be  carried out in order to carry out a project properly. The existing office space had small narrow corridors, a dated partitions system and dark green colours making the space very dark.

We redesigned the office space and used beam system furniture to get computer cables off the floor. We also created a tea point in a cupboard and added some features in the carpet for some added interest in the design. All of the walls had to be redecorated. The refurbishment project consisted of Komfort Kameo 75mm demountable partition system, Gaskell carpet tiles, Armstrong suspended ceiling and Sebastien Indulgence furniture.

Included:

  • Design and drawing work
  • Stripping out of existing
  • Demountable Partitioning
  • Electrical work
  • Air conditioning
  • Flooring
  • Kitchen / tea point
  • Office Furniture

Drawing and Design Work

Working out what the customer wanted meant we had to drawer what they had and come up with several layouts to explore how the office would work for them.

Office Refurbishment Construction Images

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.

Not sure what to do?

  1. 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 Office Furniture Office Refurbishments Suspended Ceilings Visuals

Office Fitting out in Trowbridge

Client: Sea Terra Trowbridge
Value: £12.5k

Office Refurbishment

This project involved the office fitting out of an existing office space in order for the company to occupy. The existing office looked quite dated, but the position of the space and the structure suited the customer well. As the office was going to be busy with lots of noise on the phone a suspended ceiling was essential, as well as providing CAT 2 lighting which is needed when working on computers.

Space Planning and design work.

The space was quite small, there was also a requirement to fit a certain number of people inside the office and so a basic space plan was required.Moving on from a basic space plan we applied some colours to the layout as well so the customer had some idea what could be done by using different carpet colours. There is a difference between basic drawing work and space planning, please click on the link for more of an explanation.

Final photographs.

Luckily the office space was empty so it made fitting the suspended ceiling much easier. The original space was just an old shop with a plasterboard ceiling and old fissured (squiggle pattern) tiles which made the space look really dated. The lighting was surface mounted tubed light fittings which are not allowed under the Visual Display Regulations, so they had to be changed anyway to CAT2 at the very least as the customer was using computers.

The project included the installation of a new suspended ceiling, new CAT 2 lighting & electrics,  new flooring, decoration and furniture. The ceiling was slightly tricky as the existing space had arches located centrally within the space.

Suspended Ceiling

Suspended ceilings are almost always used when carrying out an office refurbishment as existing ones can look tired. We have a bit more information on suspended ceilings on the following link if you would like to have a look, please click this link. The choice of the suspended ceiling is almost always price versus performance. It is possible to have a plasterboard ceiling but the problem with this type is that it is very hard to get services over the ceiling with access problems, and the hard surface of the ceiling lets the sound bounce around. The mineral fibre tiles that are generally used offer good sound absorption properties, and can easily be taken out to get to any cabling that you may wish to run over the grid system.

We also install all our ceilings with a self leveling laser to so the ceiling is completely flat. Some builders try and put ceilings in and we do often have to put them right, it is important to get the supporting wires tensioned properly as well as centering the grid system properly so it looks evenly balanced in the space.

The furniture chosen was a beam system type of furniture which allows cables to be hidden in an integral beam that joins the leg frame uprights together.

Please give us a call on 01380 73 88 44 for more information about this project or any requirement you may have.

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

Reception Refurbishment

Client: Smurfit Kappa
Value: £49k

We have been working with the customer over a number of years and they wanted us to come up with some ideas on how to deal with the customer interface into the factory. The brief was to redesign carry out a reception refurbishment to represent a modern clean and welcoming customer entrance into the building.

The total open area was vast, dominated by an open egg crate ceiling, dull lighting, brick walls with a dark oppressive atmosphere, and a dated looking ceramic tiled floor with a mosaic of colours pinks and dark greens. The reception office was situated in a brick built room at the far end of the open foyer area.

What we did was to look at the area that was important and that is the meet and greet to potential customers and suppliers by the entrance doors, and guiding important visitors into the main boardroom upstairs, or the CEO’s offices which were situated just off the main entrance doors.

We therefore came up with the idea of bringing the whole reception area towards the main entrance doors and just focusing on this area. We would then leave the majority of the area behind a glass wall alone and focus on the main lobby. By doing this, it also meant that we could meet the customers budget. It would simply cost too much to deal with the whole area.

Existing customer experience into Reception

Reception Refurbishment construction photographs

CDM and Health and Safety

The duration of the project and the number of people on site, as well as the access issues meant that we had to employ a Heath and Safety consultant to carry out a risk assessment and discuss with the client safe fire exit routes and means of protection from the staff whilst we were doing the work.

Reception Refurbishment Projects

If you would like us to look at your reception area, or indeed any aspect of your offices, please give us a call just for an initial no obligation discussion about what we may be able to do. We love to talk about projects.

Please call us on 01380 73 88 44

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

Complete Office Design and Refurbishment

Client: Thales Optronics
Value: £55k

Cre8tive Interiors were ask to look at the complete office design and refurbishment for Thales Optronics in Taunton, to convert an existing factory area into a new reception area. Initial work required the removal of a metal skinned demountable system, ceilings and lighting, along with stripping out and replacing the entrance doors with new glass doors.

The lighting chosen was LG3 direct / indirect fittings which is the recommend lighting systems for modern offices. The partitions included silicon jointed glass called Komfort Polar, joining into Komfort Kameo 75mm system which offers a soft radius profile and joins neatly with the Polar silicon jointed system. The doors are disable access width to conform to the DDA regulations.

Existing Space

Thales did not use this building and wanted to create more of a main reception for the site. The building inside was very factory looking, in that it had metal partitions. Fine for a laboratory environment, not very nice for offices. The lighting was also pretty bad with old lino, the whole area needed replacing.

Drawing and Design work

Construction work

Final Photographs

Design and Refurbishment Work

Often with these projects the hard part is knowing where to start. The customer knows it is not right and may have seen other areas that they like. Translating that into a cost can be quite difficult, so what we do at Cre8tive is to listen and then try and interpret what the customer wants. We go through certain steps and doing the drawing work is one of them.

If you are struggling to come up with something, please do not hesitate to give us a call 01380 73 88 44 or email us on [email protected]

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

Complete Design and Refurbishment in Bristol

Client: Smufit Kappa
Value:£75k

Office Design and Refurbishment

A complete office design and refurbishment project was required, involving initial space planning and design, through to stripping out and refurbishing the office space.

The existing space had a problem with an existing pillar which could not be moved and it was in the middle of the space, so we made a feature of it. We constructed a curved wall around the pillar. The project included: plastering, decorations, air conditioning, flooring, lighting, new suspended ceiling, demountable partitioning, the design and build of a specially sized conference table with pop up modules in the desk to connect a laptop to for presentations. The project also included the supply and installation of office furniture fully co-ordinated with the colour scheme. We also produced some visuals which allowed the customer to appreciate the colour choices.

Design Work

Once we have looked at the current space and taken a brief from the customer, then we draw it. We use Autocad, and we first have to identify exactly what is in the current space which will include the existing lighting, electrical and air conditioning aspects, as well as the walls and other items in the space. In coming up with a new design we first look to see what the customer wants and then try to squeeze it in. In this case we had a pillar in the way, so we made a feature of the pillar in the design. We always draw technical drawings which allows our suppliers to cost items, but sometimes customers can’t visualise what something may look like. We therefore organise some visuals to be produced which help the whole process in getting the project approved.

Visuals

We appreciate that we still carry out visuals by hand and some may say that computer generated visuals are better. However we like to have another perspective on the design and so these are carried out by another company. The visuals are hand drawn and then painted or coloured in and it is a final check that we are happy with the design.

Existing Space Photographs

Stripping out Work

Finished Results

The most pleasing aspect of this project is that we identified a major issue with the layout and as we could not move it, created a feature of it. The pillar ended up being the focal point of the space where the directors could display some of their samples.

Do you have something similar and need help?

Often with these projects the hard part is knowing where to start. In particular with this project the space was really awkward. The directors knew that something had to be done as it was so dull but we are a loss on what to do.

Translating ideas into a cost can be quite difficult, so what we do at Cre8tive is to listen and then try and interpret what the customer wants. We go through certain steps and doing the drawing work is one of them.

If you are struggling to come up with something, please do not hesitate to give us a call 01380 73 88 44 or email us on [email protected]

Categories
Air Conditioning All Project Categories Office Refurbishments Suspended Ceilings

Complete Design and Refurbishment

Client: Kingsley Pike Estate Agents
Value: £13k

This Design and Refurbishment project including supplying and fitting two steel beams to support the three floors above the shop, and to remove a structural wall and so needed some design work in order to carry out the refurbishment of the space.

The effective use of space was very difficult to achieve due to the small space in the office, however we still had to produce drawings to satisfy Building Control and to determine exact positions of voice, data and lighting positions. The project included electrical work, decorations, air conditioning, construction of step, flooring, lighting design and carrying out the work in 7 days. We had to carry out a complete design and refurbishment of the existing space.1703 kingsley pike 11-10-05-Model

Design and Refurbishment work

We spent some time working out what was needed in the space and what we could get in. The beam was calculated, as the back wall to the shop needed to come out to widen the office space, the issue was that the wall held up the 3 floors above. One of the main problems was that the main beam was 6 meters long and it took 4 people to lift it into the shop from the main high street. The delivery vehicle had to leave the beams on the pavement whilst everything was prepared.

Construction Photographs

Completion photographs.

General Refurbishment and Fit out Work

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