Taylor Wimpey

Taylor Wimpey East Midlands were ready for a complete overhaul of their offices when we first met with them. Their offices had previously been refurbished 15 years prior and it was starting to show! The brief was to open up their offices as much as possible and loose the bookcase lined, dark corridors that had been created over the years. Taylor Wimpey were also after some more informal meeting areas whilst still retaining the corporate image throughout.

To meet with Taylor Wimpey’s requirements, we introduced some strategically placed curved walls, these not only added to the environment visually but also softened the look of the office and helped guide people throughout the building. Individual offices were erected for the Directors, we used full height glass partitions for these with coordinating glass doors, these helped the light flood into the office and surrounding areas.

Colours

We kept the colour scheme reasonably neutral throughout using two neutral paint colours on the walls, and a brick wallpaper in grey and off-white to create some interest on selected feature walls. Carpet tiles were used for the bulk of the open office areas with a black base and light brown/grey stripe going through. Taylor Wimpey were keen to keep a strong corporate theme so purple carpet tiles were specified for the director’s offices and boardroom.

Reception

The reception was a key area for our attention, the place that all visitors to Taylor Wimpey East Midlands would visit or walk through. Our first recommendation was to switch the reception desk to the opposite wall to where it was positioned currently, this enabled the receptionist to have a clear view of the carpark and she could therefore see clearly any visitors or deliveries approaching. The reception desk itself was a bespoke reception desk, made to fit the space we had available, we also had bands of colour added to the front in Taylor Wimpey’s corporate colours.

Storage

Office storage was an issue throughout this building, wanting to get rid of all of their existing mismatched bookcases, cupboards and filing cabinets we had to come up with a new solution. Our answer was to use HiStore built in storage wall in some areas – HiStore storage wall maximises office storage potential as it is designed to fit floor to ceiling and to whatever width is specified, it also creates a very neat, professional looking finish. We incorporated pigeon hole sections into some sections of the HiStore as well as coat rails and standard shelving. The Boardroom was also an ideal place to use HiStore as we housed the television within it. We used freestanding cupboards for more localised storage often in a white finish to contrast the walnut office desk tops.

The refurbishments for this particular project included

Interior design and new office layout
New office partitioning throughout (solid and glazed), where the new layout allowed we kept existing partitions to help with cost-saving
Manifestations applied to the glass partitions
Mezzanine floor erected above reception to extend the first floor kitchen and staff breakout area
Electrical alterations
New air conditioning system
Plumbing alterations
New insulation to the first floor
Replacement of all internal doors
Decoration throughout
Suspended ceiling (For the majority we kept the existing ceiling grid and just replaced the ceiling tiles – again cost saving)
New modular and spot lights throughout, we used LED bulbs for longevity
Both the kitchens and the WC’s were refurbished with new kitchen units and splashbacks. WC’s had all new sanitary ware and cubicles
Flooring was replaced throughout with a combination of carpet tiles and vinyl. Entrance matting was used at the reception doors
New furniture and seating throughout
New roller, blackout blinds to all of the windows

Taylor Wimpey East Midlands had to remain as a working office throughout this project, to accommodate this we phased the refurbishment work into six phases. By liaising carefully with our contact we moved departments around and relocated staff into temporary locations whilst various areas were being refurbished. Particularly noisy or intrusive works were completed out-of-hours to keep disruption to an absolute minimum.

We are very proud of this project and we hear Taylor Wimpey are too! Please take a look at the pictures to see a glimpse of the finished project.

Stirling Interiors have gone above and beyond to ensure that this project has been completed to a high standard and with as little disruption as possible. We are just lining up the next project for them!

Steven Clarke - Technical Manager TWEM

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