Workplace design is not just about configuring the layout of desks, chairs and meeting rooms – it’s about strategic assets that need to be managed effectively, according to the CEO of one of the UK’s leading FF&E specialists.
And Andy Kendall-Jones, who heads the Southerns Group, an organisation made up of six businesses, knows all about the effective management of assets and the importance of workplace design.
“The tight correlations between personal interactions, performance, productivity and innovation are of primary interest to any business leader – or they should be,” he said. “It is difficult to overstate the importance of workplace design. It is a key part of facilities management (FM), on the basis of FM being responsible for coordinating all efforts related to planning, designing and managing buildings and their systems, furniture, fixtures and equipment, so as to enhance the organization’s ability to compete effectively. Employers are switching on to the benefits of enhanced office space. Whether it is ergonomic furniture, flexible working areas or even unique communal spaces, the boost to both employee wellbeing and productivity can be substantial”
Southerns itself is a fixtures, fittings and equipment specialist working across the health, education, corporate and retail sectors; within the Group is the renowned workplace design consultancy, SpaceInvader, the highly respected interiors consultants Ralph Capper and Broadstock, leaders in the field of learning environments and associated workspaces.
“Research and development drives the strategy of the Group,” Andy explained. “We are always looking at new ways of working, collaboratively engaging with end users and their employees, consulting with internal and external focus groups – pre and post-delivery – and discussing the best way to enhance our clients’ key working relationships.”
It’s through this genuine collaboration with clients, and the development of long term relationships that benefit both parties, that the firm has grown to one with projected revenues in 2016-17 of £45m, employing more than 200 employees across locations in Leeds, Manchester, Macclesfield, Bolton and London. The Group provides commercial workspace solutions, offering consultancy, design, project management, manufacture, supply and installation, together with ongoing lifecycle management of clients’ FF&E assets. Each company within the Group brings a very particular component to the table, working entirely independently but at the same time, offering services that complement one another. Ralph Capper, for example, will often be called upon to consult with a client in order to advise on and select key signature pieces for a workplace design scheme. Andy Kendall-Jones has created a unique think tank, combining general with specific expertise across multiple sectors. It’s a winning formula, with some of the world’s biggest blue chip companies coming to the Group for its unique proposition. Headline projects include Ralph Capper providing workspace design for the ground-breaking Central Square mixed use development in the heart of Leeds’ business district, and Broadstock working with Tata Technologies to design and supply furniture for all of the internal space at the conglomerate’s state-of-the-art, new European Headquarters in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, the first new contract achieved since the establishment of the firm’s Commercial Interiors Division.
“Workspace design can be tailored specifically to a client’s needs so that the design solution matches its business agenda,” said Gavin King, director of SpaceInvader, part of the Southerns Group, and an expert in strategic workplace consultancy. Gavin, who leads project teams on long-term briefs including AstraZeneca’s global property portfolio, said: “The key to successful workplace design is the linking of human behaviour to the organization’s overall vision. Your people are your greatest asset and you can draw a direct line from their success to that of the business.”
CASE STUDY
AstraZeneca, Middlewood Court, Macclesfield
SpaceInvader was appointed to create a world class workplace for up to 1000 AZ employees within Middlewood Court, on its Macclesfield campus. The project provided an exciting opportunity to re-purpose a fading building, originally built as a manufacturing and packing facility in the 1960s, and re-define the future of AstraZeneca’s workplace portfolio. It was clear that this would not be an isolated project, and additional consideration was required to fully understand the significance of the commission within the wider context of the campus.
The key priorities set out by the client were to instil a sense of pride back into the Macclesfield campus, to retain and enhance the company’s presence within the North West and relocate some of the core corporate departments alongside the manufacturing heart of the firm.
Championed by such a forward-thinking client, this project has delivered a workplace transformation and complete overhaul of a once conservative, insular internal culture and way of working. The design process and finished product has been so successful that it will now go on to inform a more progressive approach to workplace design across all AstraZeneca sites.
