Robert Walters Covent Garden

An Office fit out for a new HQ in Covent Garden, London, acquired during construction. A mix of high density office space with impressive facilities for candidates, corporate visitors and events. The office design needed to be flexible as there is a very high churn level on the open plan floors. As an HQ the office fit out needed to work for the PLC role, and as the largest recruitment office in the Group it also has to function for a large number of teams that churn frequently in response to market factors.

450 staff in an occupied space of 34000 square feet + a sub-let floor of 10000 sq ft meant a major re-design of the M&E. The space was pre-let during the development stage, and some design changes were made to the appearance and base build finishes, but the M&E could only be re-designed after CAT A completion.

The 6th floor AC was capped and supplied via a new standalone VRV system, releasing enough duty for the upgrade of the other floors. By far the biggest challenge was supplying adequate fresh air to the floors, but careful re-design of the system has proved to be effective as well as compliant with Building Regs.

For the office occupation layout, the 5th floor was selected to accommodate the Exec suite and space for 30 candidate interview rooms with its own 5-person reception desk. Two large open plan floors are designed to accept up to 205 people each, used as Consultant floors, achieving a density of 50 square feet per person. The London office fit-out cleverly uses tall storage to mask the high density space, giving a first impression of order and calm, so that even at 50 sq ft per person the floors don’t feel crammed.

OFFICE FIT OUT RATIOS

The overall occupation ratio for the entire building is 71 square foot per person (6.6 square metres per person). Office fit out costs per square foot was £57 (£610 per square metre) including furniture, or £48 per square foot excluding furniture (£510 psm).

The successful sliding whiteboard system was deployed throughout the building, giving unrivalled dry-wipe whiteboard capacity, flexibility and convenience. Sliding Whiteboards are integral to the day-to-day operations at Robert Walters. Using the innovative sliding whiteboard system gives staff close proximity to writeable panels even along the glazed facade of the building. The panels have proven to be a good solution when moving teams, as panels are easily moved with the staff.

A future-proofed Comms Room with two Stulz down flow cooling systems, gives the client a secure and resilient data/system capability.

The project was a fast-paced office fit-out in London, delivered to a deadline. Contracts included a performance bonus addressing both completion and quality, both of which were achieved. Occupation went smoothly, and the office design has proved to be adaptable and quick to change for the needs of the staff and the business.