Penningtons Manches - Guildford
Penningtons Manches - Guildford
Size of Company
Penningtons Manches have six locations in the UK. The relocation to Guildford involved 95 staff.
Location of Company
31 Chertsey St, Guildford, GU1 4HD.
Type of Company
Penningtons Manches is a leading UK law firm with six regional locations and a US office. Cityspace has completed design and construction projects at five of the six locations.
Client Brief
Cityspace was appointed to fit-out Penningtons’ new workspace. Our client desired to create a meeting room suite with a small refreshment point on the ground floor - for client use and formal internal meetings. Activity based working was introduced as a workplace strategy (to reshape the open plan workspace area on the first floor) as well as provide a transformational business strategy (aligning work practices to the physical, operational and technological culture of the business).
Design Challenges & Considerations
One of the design challenges Cityspace overcame, was ensuring the first floor did not have a call centre appearance; despite the numerous desks. Our designer achieved this with a selection of two and six person pods, carefully located to create alternate work points and meeting zones. The pod exteriors were a soft monochrome finish to compliment the flooring; however, the interiors were bright primary colours. This enabled the break out areas to stand out visually. High benches with pendant lighting, high back sofas and coffee tables were also used to create optional workspaces.
The office facilities (toilets, lifts and stairs) were located in the building’s central core; which divided staff departments. Cityspace was tasked to solve the separation of teams despite the building’s infrastructure. Our designer created a ‘breakout hub’ in the central core which introduced a collaborative hub; effortlessly bringing departments together in a collaborative space.
Key Project Achievements
Cityspace was appointed to deliver high quality design concepts, consistent with the Pennington’s City office relocation but within a lower budget. We achieved this by keeping the same quality finishes using cost effective furniture solutions.
“We have worked with Cityspace for a number of years, covering small to high level projects, often with very limited timescales. The process which is adopted is completely collaborative. Good sense, with an overriding wealth of experience gives the client a holistic solution. From project management to design, the team at Cityspace are dedicated, hardworking and there for you as a client.”
