HB Reavis London Ured

Press Kit

Unique Properties

HB Reavis is an international workspace provider. Taking the opportunity to set up their own office as a showcase space, this project is creating a future-proof work environment, which could be recognized to be leading by example. Designed according to the International WELL Building Standard guidelines, as well as a user-centred design approach, the new HB Reavis UK HQ is a state-of-the-art office fit-out focusing on the wellbeing and motivation of its employees.

Dimensions & Packaging

The floor area of the office space is 1088 square meters.

Tags

HB Reavis, London, City of London, user-centred workplace, office

Production Technology

Good light levels, daylight harvesting, and clean air monitoring ensure the quality of the work environment. The office building incorporates a number of sensory technologies to assess – in real time – whether the spaces are operating as they should.

Integration of technologies is implemented to measure CO2, noise, luminance, temperature and air quality. Users are also empowered to adjust meeting room lighting and shade to fit the meeting or task at hand.

To do this, the UK team wears a low-energy Bluetooth tag, which working together with Quuppa locators in the ceiling, takes positional readings of people within the building, accurate to 15-40cm. Combined with data from point and grab thermal cameras, this provides a detailed view of how spaces are being used and enables the FM team to adjust the workspace whenever and however needed.

Design Challenge

Aiming to be ahead of the curve, not only in developing smart building technologies, but also in progressive and new ways of working, HB Reavis want to set an example for a workplace that puts the people at heart of all operations. Part of this is in measuring the internal environment of the building, including factors like CO2, but beyond this it’s also about understanding the culture behind meetings, work styles and different departments, by seeing how people interact with their workspace.

Research

As part of the design process and brief development close interaction with the users during the entire project duration provided valuable insight into the daily workings across projects and departments leading to a finely balanced spatial design that enables employees to be more productive in their daily work challenges. It also changed the work setting from a department based to a project based approach. All qualitative research was always backed up with quantitative research, confirming the findings of the user workshops.

Inspiration

The HB Reavis UK office has been designed in accordance with the IWBI's WELL Building Standard, putting the wellbeing and health of the users at the forefront. The workplace design is aimed to address the health issues associated with modern offices, such as lack of mobility, bad lighting, poor air quality, limited food choices, and stress. Empowering people by enabling them to choose the most suitable work setting for the task at hand is the most effective way to reduce stress levels.

Project Duration

The project started in November 2016 in London and was completed in February 2019.

Operation Flow

The workspace concept is aimed at promoting a project-based approach, which encourages the break down of departmental silos and makes working across different teams simpler and more accessible. In practice, this is achieved by combining activity-based work with hot-desking. Instead of having assigned individual workstations, there are flexible team areas fitted with shared sit/stand desks, as well as meeting rooms, collaboration spaces, creative rooms and spaces for individual work.

Patents

Copyrights belong to Evolution Design, 2019

Image Credits

Image #1: Photographer Peter Wuermli, 2019. Image #2: Photographer Peter Wuermli, 2019. Image #3: Photographer Peter Wuermli, 2019. Image #4: Photographer Peter Wuermli, 2019. Image #5: Photographer Peter Wuermli, 2019.