Eye on Design
The team at Innov8
H
ow far has workplace design really progressed in the last 20 years? Stephen Cairns and the team at Belfast-based Innov8 Office Interiors are continuing to lead the way in change. “Office work has undergone a revolution; with the office worker now having multiple responsibilities and rarely needing to spend all day sitting at their desk. Indeed the development of smart technology enables us to communicate globally and work more effectively without going anywhere near our desk”
The challenge of implementing change in the commercial environment, while remaining ahead of the trends, is met daily by the Innov8 team. Innov8’s Design Team, lead by Steve Cairns, are the ones responsible for creating these unique solutions, bringing innovation in design, product, and technology all under one roof. “We are so passionate about leading the way in office design, rather than traditional layouts showing rows and rows of desks. We introduce Flexible Space (a new buzz word), creating
Photo credits - Jake Samuels
collaboration areas, quiet zones, write up space , thinking space, flexible meeting pods and introducing a wide range of attractive acoustic products. All to create an environment which suits, meets and indeed exceeds the needs of a today’s modern way of working in turn creating a more comfortable productive working environment thus helping with staff retention and attraction of quality recruits”. One can only be impressed when you see the amount of effort the Innov8 team go to producing full colour design concepts which has recently been described by one of Innov8’s global clients as “World Class”. The 7500 sq foot state of the art showroom facility at the entrance of Boucher Road, Belfast looks over the Belfast Rise Structure and gives Innov8 a highly visible site. Innov8 are a company who know what they are about, they are confident in who they are and what they do. The team oozes passion and creativity; it is obvious for all who meet them to see. Innov8’s manufacturing partners are carefully selected from all over the world, each bringing something special to the company’s portfolio of products “We partner with some of the
world’s leading manufacturers and work closely with them to continually bring new innovative products to the market. Just a few of these manufacturers include Forma 5, Spain, Newform, Italy, Haworth, USA and Okamaura, Japan. We are able to bring products to market exclusively and as competitively as possible. With this true partnership we can deliver the latest in product technology and design. Our product offering is extensive, ranging from receptions, operative desking, soft seating, café furniture, right through to executive suites and boardrooms. As part of our growing interior fit out work we are able to supply products from the ground up including carpeting, ceilings and partitions and acoustic decorations. Whatever the budget our specification we believe we offer the optimal solution.” Business is definitely on the up for Innov8 “We’ve more than doubled our turnover in the past 12 months, and we’ve managed to break into export markets fitting out large corporate offices as far away as Bulgaria, Slovakia and more recently Portugal” A Dublin office has recently been opened and working with Invest NI, Innov8 are looking at other export markets, but they see Dublin very much their next challenge. “In April Innov8 sponsored the Smart Business Show in RDS Dublin, which was our launching pad into the ROI, and already we’ve seen good results, with at least two full office fit outs due to be completed this month. The design team are currently working a number of proposals which we aim to confirm and complete very shortly.” When asked what are the plans for Innov8 Office Interiors for the next twelve months? “We plan to continue to develop new business in Northern Ireland and to open a fully operational showroom in Dublin. To grow the ROI market just by continuing to do in Dublin what we do best in Belfast, building relationships with our clients, offer nothing but our best and bring something special to the market with our products and not least our design.”
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