Each Boutique Workplace Co building is unique – whether it’s an 18th-century warehouse with wide open spaces or a Grade Two listed Georgian townhouse packed to the (exposed) rafters with quirky corners and subterranean spaces. So how do we get that Boutique feel when every building is a one-off? Ammisha Shepherd, Head of Workplace Delivery, shares a few secrets…
Is there such a thing as a Boutique design philosophy?
Well, every one of our buildings is completely different, so our ethos is to approach them all individually. That’s really noticeable with our period buildings, a number of which are Grade Two listed Georgian and Victorian townhouses. We make sure we work around original features such as old fireplaces or cornices, enhancing them wherever we can. Connolly Works, for example, used to be home to Connolly Leather which supplied car manufacturers like Rolls Royce and Ferrari. When we converted it, we left some of the exposed brick and original features of the warehouse to show off its fantastic history.
So how do you approach a new building to make it perfect as a modern workspace?
First, we’ll brief our design team to come up with a space plan that allows us to work out the perfect number of offices and desks for that particular building and decide on the ideal place for amenities like kitchen areas and breakout lounges. The design team might put in a certain number of private phone booths, for example, and we might go back and add more, or we might move the location of a meeting room. Once everything has been agreed, the team will then develop initial concepts for the interior design elements – what sort of furniture suits each space, the colour schemes and the lighting. Sometimes we might ask to see several completely different concepts or colour palettes to begin with – nothing we do is formulaic.
Is that to keep things fresh and interesting?
Exactly. We try not to repeat what we’ve done in other buildings. Each design is dependent on the actual space and the type of businesses the building might attract, but overall I would say our style is modern with a quirky edge. Take our building on Lime Street just down the road from the Gherkin in central London, for example. We didn’t want to be like our competitors – all very corporate with grey walls – so to stand out, we did something completely different and made it very colourful. It’s gone down well! That said, we never lose sight of the fact that we have a broad range of clients who might want and need certain things.
What is the most important thing you consider when it comes to design?
The amenities. I’ve worked in the industry for 15 years, and it’s changed so much. We think carefully about how a client might use all the spaces in a building. There have to be power points wherever people might use their laptops – in the work pods or private phone booths, for example. It’s important to have soft seating for informal catch ups, people want breakout spaces where they can have quick team chats without having to book a room, but meeting rooms are still essential for formal conversations. Private phone booths are really important; people want good coffee and we have gyms and showers with a complimentary towel service in a number of our buildings… It’s all about having different areas for different uses.
Tell us about the reception areas…
First impressions count for everything, so we spend a lot of time designing the reception and lounge areas. In Soho Square, for example, the reception area is quite funky – even though it is a period building, little touches like the quirky sofa there really bring its location inside the workspace. Those little touches are really important – like our reception desks all being different or the fact that we’ve started putting doormats outside our front doors; it feels like something you’d experience in a boutique hotel.
What other little touches can clients expect from a Boutique workspace?
We are increasing the number of plants in our communal spaces to bring the outside inside and provide a relaxed, comforting feel. We pay close attention to the feature lights in the breakout spaces and meeting rooms, so they can easily be dimmed for presentations, for example, and we’ve recently started to change the taps in the kitchens so they provide filtered water. We’re constantly changing things to exceed our clients’ expectations.
And what about a client’s own office? Are there many restrictions on what people can do to them?
We’re not strict about what can or can’t be done. Clients often want to change the flooring, decorate the walls in different colours, personalise their space with logos, and put LED lights on the wall. Some clients want to subdivide their offices and build internal meeting rooms. Plus, the businesses are so varied, and many don’t want desks. We’ve got clients who own Pilates studios, physiotherapy clinics and beauty salons. Some have asked us to take out all the furniture, pull up the carpets and put down a floor with a wood effect, fit sinks and plumb in running water… Pretty much anything is possible.
For Ammisha, that’s ultimately what makes a Boutique workspace feel different: it’s about paying attention to the details and never assuming that one solution will work for every building, business or client. “We’re constantly changing things to exceed our clients’ expectations,” she says – and that mindset runs through everything, from celebrating a building’s original character to creating spaces that support the many different ways people work today. The result is a workspace that feels personal, practical and a little bit unexpected.
Ready to find your own Boutique workspace? Browse our buildings and check live availability to see which offices are available now.
