Following its relocation to The Buckley Building, a trendy, refurbished warehouse in London, Deloitte Digital tasked Pringle Brandon Perkins+Will (PBP+W) with designing a “non-corporate" workspace that would enable its digital team to work more collaboratively and inspire employees, clients and visitors.
The design needed to reflect a new type of workplace, creating a “free-spirited and open-minded” working culture, whilst supporting the various work styles of the business without segregation. The space is now adaptable to all styles of working, including multi-disciplinary collaboration, coding, prototyping and visualisation, with areas specially designed for creative, collaborative and client-friendly purposes.
As a business, Deloitte Digital embraces innovation, creativity and new technology, but also other low-key work methods. PBP+W incorporated this into the office design, using writeable surfaces that the team could use for work planning and brainstorming, which was an interesting juxtaposition between the more high-tech tools at the staff’s disposal, yet allowed for more informal interaction.
A mix of colours, styles and finishes have been used throughout the space, with soft seating in a range of shapes and textures, exposed lightbulbs and light-coloured office chairs. The furniture has been designed so it can be moved and used to create different spaces. To complement this, PBP+W designed a number of moveable elements within the office; some furnishings are fixed, but in most areas can be arranged to accommodate different uses. Spaces can switch easily from formal to informal, and arranged as the team want it to be.
Linzi Cassels, Principle at PBP+W, explains: “The whole office is reminiscent of an art studio, where everything is usable and has a purpose. The concept challenges the preconception of what a ‘traditional office’ is and signals a change for the future of the workplace. The reception has been replaced by a ‘welcoming café’ and there is complete transparency between client and staff spaces, with cleverly designed ‘shop front windows’ which showcase the staff and their surroundings so visitors are emerged in the Deloitte Digital culture. The traditional meeting suite has also been replaced with unique workspaces, including a ‘garage’ which is a workshop, an ‘analytics lab’ for high-tech work, and a lounge room for relaxed and informal working. The client’s meeting and co-working space now enables staff and clients to engage in a way that wasn’t possible before; allowing a new way of working by removing formality so people feel at ease to express their ideas and collaborate more freely.”
Key areas in the building include an ‘apartment’ concept which has defined personalised team spaces within a more open and fluid space; a ‘bring your own device’ platform whereby the space can adapt to innovations in technology and employees have autonomy to be creative; as well as purposefully unfinished areas so the office can develop more organically.
Linzi adds: “The team is already bringing in their own props and office toys to personalise the space and make it their own. The end result represents a physical manifestation of the brand, showcasing Deloitte Digital’s ability to work in a new digital way, and with it attracting and retaining the best talent and clientele.”