Mix Interiors 214 - July 2021

Mix Interiors 214

July 2021

ST YLISH. ELEGANT. ICONIC.

DESIGNERS & MANUFACTURERS OF WORKSPACE FURNITURE WWW.GOF.CO.UK

Contents INSIGHT 12 UPFRONT

The latest highlights from the

world of commercial interior

design 18

SEVEN MYTHS ABOUT CARBON There are many misconceptions when it comes to carbon and our relationship with it. The team at Interface dispel some of the most common myths

20 PERSPECTIVE

We talk to leading architect

and Mixology North head judge,

Roger Stephenson OBE, about

his remarkable career 22

THE DARK ART OF THE OUTPUT SPECIFICATION This month, M Moser Associate’s Steve Gale celebrates the output specification and its mysterious misunderstood complexity

24

MATERIAL MATTERS Perkins&Will’s Erik Svensson offers a selection of his go-to material products

26

DESERT ISLAND DESKS Lisa Robertson, Associate Designer, DesignLSM

28 NEIL USHER

Paradoxically Speaking: Ideas

50 MIXOLOGY21 30

MIXOLOGY21 PROJECT FINALISTS Announcing the Mixology21 Awards finalists for the Project of the Year categories

PROPERTY 38

LONDON CALLING David Thame tells us that London’s post-COVID workplace market may not shrink by anything like as much as some fear – if new theories about peak capacity prove correct

WORK 44

MIX ROUNDTABLE IN PARTNERSHIP WITH SPECIALIST GROUP The value of craftsmanship in commercial interior design

50

CASE STUDY: VITRA AT ROLLING STOCK YARD We head out to King’s Cross to take a look around Vitra’s brilliant new flexible London workspace

38

58 MIX ROUNDTABLE

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH

EGE CARPETS

While the subject of waste

management (and the

wider sustainability issue)

remains a hot topic, despite a

mere global pandemic, is the

industry really doing enough?

64

CASE STUDY: ONE PORTSOKEN The UK’s largest design and build project is now complete and ready for occupation – all 233,000 sq ft of it!

Designers Oktra give us the tour

HOSPITALITY 72

CASE STUDY: PARK HYATT AUKLAND Conran and Partners take us a little further afield than usual for their latest hotel project, creating a sustainable design with references to Māori heritage and craft

80

THE FINAL WORD Mike Walley, Senior Director of Global Real Estate & Workplace Strategy at Criteo.

Mix 214 July 2021 | 1

WELCOME

A word from Mick

Get in touch

Pre-pandemic, I was often asked about how I was able to cope with what people saw as a strange, casual and loose way of working. That weird way of working now appears to be called ‘hybrid’.

How do you motivate yourself? I don’t need to – I actually like my job. And deadlines help.

Where do you work if you’re not at home/in the office? Anywhere I like. I’ve got this thing called a laptop. They’re good.

How do you focus in the workplace?

I use a thing called concentration – or make sure I’m somewhere relatively quiet and sedate. Oh, and I don’t sit on a giant floorplate, with 300+ colleagues all talking around me.

How do you split your week? I use common sense and a calendar.

When working remotely, don’t you miss the interaction and collaboration? No – I work remotely because it makes it easier for me to focus (and a 200 mile one-way commute isn’t practical). I also use things such as a mobile telephone when I need/ want to talk to colleagues.

I’ve been doing most of this for 20-something years. It’s not new. It’s not even clever. It started out of necessity and it’s something I’ve adapted to. Do I like it? Yes, I generally do. Am I, therefore, a hybrid worker? Very possibly – but it really doesn’t matter how I or anyone else labels it. What I do know is that it works for me.

And that, ultimately, is the only way to measure whether hybrid/agile/flex/insert new label here is really for you – or not.

EDITOR Mick Jordan mick@mixinteriors.com MANAGING DIRECTOR Marcie Incarico marcie@mixinteriors.com BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER Kate Borastero kate@mixinteriors.com

The cover

EDITORIAL EXECUTIVE Chloe Petersen Snell chloe@mixinteriors.com

THE LOGO Totems of gold are extruded from the turtle shell-effect porcelain tile. Like glistening jewels rising from the stone bed, the hallmark attests to their purity. Inspired by the Japanese philosophy, Wabi-Sabi, which focuses on appreciation of ‘imperfection’, we celebrate these flowing seams of gold within the static stone.

HEAD OF OPERATIONS Lisa Jackson lisa@mixinteriors.com

WWW.SQUIREANDPARTNERS.COM

THE COVER IMAGE Introducing Luxx, a new porcelain tile collection from Johnson Tiles that offers a contemporary take on classic marbles.

With available designs ranging from Pinto Marble to Carbon Quartz, and four animalinspired prints of Cheetah, Snake, Zebra, and Turtle (featured on this month’s cover), Luxx is striking and stylish. The ideal collection for adding opulence to interior design projects.

COURTESY OF JOHNSON TILES

FOUNDING PUBLISHER Henry Pugh CONTRIBUTORS Steve Gale, David Thame Mike Walley, Neil Usher ADDRESS Unit 2 Abito, 85 Greengate, Manchester M3 7NA TELEPHONE 0161 519 4850 EMAIL editorial@mixinteriors.com WEBSITE www.mixinteriors.com TWITTER @mixinteriors INSTAGRAM @mix.interiors LINKEDIN Mix Interiors

Printed by S&G Print ISSN 1757-2371

Get your own To ensure that a regular copy of Mix Interiors reaches you or to request back issues, call 0161 519 4850 or email lisa@mixinteriors.com ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION CHARGES UK single £45.50, Europe £135 (airmail), Outside Europe £165 (airmail)

2 | Mix 214 July 2021

DESIGNER Tammi Bell tamzin@tamzinrosedesigns.com

Get back to the roots of flooring Our Rudiments carpet tile collection now features the brand new Clay and Clay Create carpet planks in random lay styles. Inspired by the constrained form of historic hand-shaped clay tiles and the freedom of artistic expression, they bring a new meaning to flooring projects and allow endless creative possibilities. Made in Belgium and stocked in the UK.

Visit IVC Commercial at The Gallery Clerkenwell 21-22 Great Sutton Street, Clerkenwell, London, EC1V 0DY

ivc-commercial.com

UPFRONT

Mixology North21 – We’re back!

Diary date: 9 December 2021, Manchester

T

hanks to the vast vaccination programme here in the UK, together with all restrictions around large-scale events lifting in mid-July, we are delighted to confirm Mixology North21 is back and will take place on Thursday 9th December 2021 at the The Kimpton Clocktower Hotel Manchester (formally The Palace Hotel and venue of Mixology North for many years, as some of you will recall!).

The landmark hotel was recently acquired by IHG and has undergone a multi-million pound refurbishment, offering us the highest quality threshold in cleanliness, service and hospitality.

We will be open for entries for the Mixology North21 awards in early September – and remember that you will be able to enter products and projects from the past two years as the event did not take place last year.w Sign up to our weekly digital newsletter on www.mixinteriors. com and keep an eye out on our socials for regular updates.

For bookings and sponsorship enquiries contact Lisa@ mixinteriors.com or visit www.mixinteriors.com

Leather Leader

M

uirhead proudly tells us that it manufactures the lowest carbon intensity, high performance leather for the travel, furniture and luxury goods sectors – as independently verified by a Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) conducted on the entire manufacturing process.

The announcement comes as the parent company, Scottish Leather Group, publishes its 2021 Sustainability Report, detailing its progress towards the goal of zero impact leather manufacturing.

12 | Mix 214 July 2021

This long-term commitment to responsible and sustainable manufacturing has been driven by a series of significant, multi-million-pound investments implemented over the last 20 years, with forward-thinking initiatives, such as the Thermal Energy Plant (TEP) and Water Treatment & Recycling Plant (WTRP), enabling Muirhead and the group’s other businesses to manufacture the world’s lowest carbon intensity leather, measured at 1.1kg of CO2 per hide – a 90% reduction from 10.3kg two decades ago.

Through the adoption of circular manufacturing, the group, which also manufactures for the premium and luxury automotive sector, has positioned itself ahead of the curve, with more than 80% of waste already diverted from landfill. In addition, the manufacturer aims to have a 100% closed-loop process as it strives to become carbon neutral by 2025 – 20 years ahead of Scotland’s net-zero ambitions.

Within its TEP, a new partnership with luxury brand Mulberry will see Muirhead recover endof-life leather into fuel as part of a pioneering take-back scheme, ensuring that old leather contributes to the manufacture of new products.

This year, the implementation of Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) is a further step towards realising the company’s goals and delivering its future commitments. Life Cycle Analysis, conducted by independent consultants, enables the business to measure the long-term impact of its activities, verify its supply chains and identify opportunities to reduce its overall impact. Muirhead’s unique lowest carbon leather, as measured and validated

by LCA, directly supports its customers and their journey to net-zero carbon emissions across their entire supply chains. w

9 DECEMBER 2021 KIMPTON CLOCKTOWER HOTEL MANCHESTER NOW OPEN FOR BOOKINGS LIMITED AVAILABILITY

MIXINTERIORS.COM

THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS

UPFRONT

Patience will be needed when embarking on your future workplace strategy As we head towards the last step of Boris Johnson’s road map out of lockdown, many businesses are once again re-examining their offices to decide whether they are fit for purpose in a post-pandemic world, Colin Wood, Director at Colliers, tells us.

Osborne Clark at One London Wall

Institute of Physics

N

aturally, the last year has been a challenge for contractors who work in the London fit-out market. I regularly conduct an informal survey with firms and sub-contractors working within the market to establish what their pipelines are looking like, and what the pressure points are. What is emerging is that there’s a twotier system within the market.

Larger contractors (tier one), able to take on significant Grade A fit-outs generally have strong order books for the year – matching the activity in the leasing market, where we are beginning to see a flight to quality office space, as leasing levels reached the highest since the pandemic began in Q1. However, smaller firms (tier two) are not seeing the volume of projects coming forward that they need. For sub-contractors, secured work looked stronger, with M&E trades reporting order books at 80% on average for the year, and joinery reported an average of 70%. Both of these issues create real challenges for clients looking to secure the best teams.

While the economy is still only just waking up and taking its tentative first steps, some occupiers will still be carefully considering their expenditure and remain reluctant to embark on substantial office remodels, while others will be

14 | Mix 214 July 2021

working to accelerated timelines and will need firms to design and build within a short time frame.

Although respondents said that the outlook for tendering was looking more positive, there are still significant challenges for the market. The rising cost and reduced availability of materials during the first quarter of this year has been widely reported. Shipping and commodity prices have risen sharply as global demand recovers, with some raw material costs increasing by as much as 100%, which, combined with labour shortages, is creating upward pressure on costs.

Tier one larger contractors are now pricing in risk and becoming more selective in their bidding. They’re refusing to take the risk of commodity prices, meaning that fluctuation clauses may feature more prominently on projects. We anticipate that tender price inflation will be back on the rise in 2021, especially with a number of large projects coming to market in the latter half of the year. This will also impact on price inflation into next year.

While there is much to be positive about, there are also still risks that occupiers and contractors must be mindful of. Margins remain tight so, with rising input costs, this will place contractors

at a higher risk of insolvency. Procurement processes cannot skip the due diligence phase due to accelerated timelines, because many of the constraints that contractors are facing cannot be controlled by them, so the risk needs to be shared and factored into planning.

For a lot of occupiers, deferred decision making has meant that time is a luxury they do not have however. Over the years, I have seen how poor design impacts on staff welfare and productivity, so clients need to do their homework and seek advice in order to not pay over the odds for an inferior end product. If anything, patience is probably going to be the key at this time, particularly while businesses wait to see how working patterns settle down after lockdown.

Early planning and engagement with contractors, rather than last minute deals, is probably going to pay off in the long term, so that occupiers get the best outcomes, which ultimately impacts on their employees. It also provides contractors with the opportunity to plan their pipelines effectively, and not overstretch their budgets at the wrong time, so they can remain solvent as well.w To read more visit mixinteriors.com

DESSO Serene Colour

Keep Calm and Carry On

W

orking from home has not only laid bare just how much we miss interaction with colleagues, but also how the office could and should support employees to work and feel better, so that they will not only feel safe to return, but will actually want to return. Through Tarkett’s extensive research on office workers’ attitudes towards returning to the office, a successful workplace that supports employees to thrive needs to prioritise collaboration, flexibility and sustainability.

With this in mind, Tarkett has launched its versatile and innovative DESSO Serene and Serene Colour collection, to complement the fast-paced nature of workplaces and offer complete design flexibility. The launch of DESSO Serene and Serene Colour highlights Tarkett’s continued effort towards improving the indoor workplace environment for employees, while caring for the outdoor environment in its design and manufacture.

‘Now is the time to continue envisioning the workplace we want to return to – one that uses the latest in design to encourage collaboration, liveliness and activity, just as much as quiet contemplation and clarity of mind,’ says Becky Pole, Design Manager at Tarkett. ‘The DESSO Serene and DESSO Serene Colour collection offer the design flexibility to do just this, with a plethora of colours and gradients to brighten up interiors and create modular spaces.’

Designed specifically to apply a much-needed human touch to workplace interiors, the subtle patterns of DESSO Serene and Serene Colour work in harmony to ensure fluidity between individual interior spaces and more open spaces.

Available in a rich palette of nine neutral tones, DESSO Serene scales from cool, calming shades to warm and friendly hues.w

UPFRONT

Come Together

O

ur friends at MCM have been in touch to tell us about an exciting new worldwide initiative. The Creative Alliance Group is a global association of purpose-led architects, designers and creative organisations and individuals, with a shared purpose of working together, creating, and delivering projects for clients around the world.

The association has pledged to combine knowledge, resources and areas of expertise to proactively work together on innovative projects across the globe, covering more than 57 countries and 11 time zones of Europe, Middle East, Asia, Africa, North and South America.

The vision is simply: ‘Thousands of minds helping each other can imagine the unimaginable.’

The global founding group of approximately 22 organisations, have skills and expertise in architecture, design, strategy, engineering, technology, sustainability, wellness, branding and behavioural change management across many industry sectors, including commercial offices and workplace interiors, retail, branding, product design, leisure, hospitality, hotels, education, higher education, residential, industrial, airports, sports stadia and arenas.

The group is already working with global corporate organisations, creating new workplaces around the world.

These founding members include 3g Office, Artelier Axo, Atelier Kunc, Bluehaus Group, Arvo de Juan Arquitectura, Driv Arkitekter,

16 | Mix 214 July 2021

Green Design Society, Has+Koen Architects, JSK Architecture, McCauley Daye O’Connell Architects, Milner Architects, Proskene, SAY Studio, Scollard Doyle, SEHW Architekten, Source IBA, Space, SWBI Architects, The Brand Tailors, Virginia Azevedo, Ted Moudis Associates and, of course, MCM. Meanwhile, MCM is also a founding signatory of Interior Design Declares. As part of Construction Declares, this global petition movement aims to unite all strands of construction and the built environment. It is both a public declaration of our planet’s environmental crises and a commitment to take positive action in response to climate breakdown and biodiversity collapse.

The built environment is responsible for almost 40% of global CO2 emissions and half of all extracted materials are used in construction (Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction 2019).

‘Interior Design Declares is such an important initiative for our industry,’ MCM Senior Designer, Josie Lees, tells us. ‘It is intentionally open to both designers and suppliers in all sectors, uniting us with a common purpose to combat the climate and biodiversity emergency. Designers cannot specify responsibly if the products do not exist. Suppliers cannot create sustainable products if there is no demand.

‘There is only one planet Earth yet, by 2050, the world will be consuming as if there were

three. Everybody in the interior design industry has a shared responsibility to address the climate and biodiversity emergency. Together, our impact can be massive. Wherever your company is on its sustainability journey – whether you’re aiming for net-zero or you’re just getting started – I urge you to sign the declaration and use it as a framework for the way you work in future.’

‘As one of the founders of Interior Design Declares, we want to promote it to other commercial interior design firms to sign up and join,’ adds Ken Giannini, Director at MCM. ‘Be proactive to work together to make a change. This is not an exclusive club, and we want to encourage all of our friends in the industry to unite and work together.’

Interior Design practices need to be UKbased, with a live website. If you are a supplier, you should be a UK registered business (goods and services) with a live website that includes a sustainability/environmental statement/ policy. In both cases, the signatory needs to be a company director. w Go to www.interiordesigndeclares.com for further information – and look out for more on these initiatives in future issues of Mix Interiors.

To read more visit mixinteriors.com

Open Days

T

he new two day Clerkenwell Open showroom trail event, running on Thursday 9 & Friday 10 September, aims to provide a focus and a clear statement that Clerkenwell is well and truly back, and will provide a combined opportunity for architects, designers, specifiers, dealers and end users to network (in person) and exchange views.

The trail will take visitors on a journey through exciting new product launches and will also include a range of stimulating, thought-provoking and topical seminars. The participating venues will be limited to 40 to ensure that visitor traffic is concentrated in the prime central Clerkenwell showroom hub.

This new event is being facilitated and managed by the BCFA (British Contract Furnishing Association) and WOD (Women in Office Design).

‘After what has been a challenging year for our sector, we felt it was essential to organise this event to provide a boost to support the Clerkenwell showrooms so that they quickly regain their vibrancy and vital role within the contract sector,’ says Jeremy Stein, Managing Director of the BCFA. ‘The A&D community has missed out on networking and learning in the last year and, with Clerkenwell Open, we will endeavour to bring designers, specifiers and workplace experts together, to socialise and share ideas and knowledge through our seminars and workshops,’ adds Harsha Kotak, Founder of WOD.w

London Showroom 25 Bastwick Street, Clerkenwell, EC1V 3PS

sixteen3.co.uk

UPFRONT Seven

7

myths about carbon

According to Architecture 2030, the built environment is responsible for nearly 40% of all global carbon emissions, so there’s no disputing that our industry must become more carbon conscious if we’re to meet the UK’s 2050’s net zero emissions target. But there are many misconceptions when it comes to carbon and our relationship with it, so it can be tricky to know where to start. Here, the team at Interface dispel seven common myths about carbon.

1

2

3 references architecture2030.org theccc.org.uk buildingtransparency.org allbirds.com

18 | Mix 214 July 2021

Carbon offsetting isn’t good enough Carbon offsetting is a way of compensating for carbon dioxide emissions arising from products or services. There has been some criticism of brands who focus solely on using offsets to make carbon neutral claims. And this is understandable.

However, for a manufacturer, following efforts to reduce a product’s carbon footprint, carbon offsets can be a valid and effective way of addressing the remaining emissions that that are most difficult to reduce or remove. To offset responsibly, companies need to have an offset programme that is audited by a third party and select projects verified as gold standard or equivalent, while they consider future solutions to further reduce the carbon footprint.

Carbon emissions and the circular economy are unrelated conversations Working towards a circular economy and rethinking our relationship with carbon are often perceived as two separate ideas, but they should be part of the same conversation.

Tackling the climate emergency requires us to assess and reduce our carbon emissions in our workspaces. But it also requires us to be more thoughtful about reducing waste and to be more efficient when it comes to our use of resources.

We need to ensure products utilise high levels of recycled and biobased content, and that they are designed for reuse and future recycling.

Measuring carbon is difficult Measuring carbon is simpler than you might think.

Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) are established in the industry, providing transparency about a product’s carbon footprint across the entire life cycle. More recent innovations have seen the creation of carbon calculators, which enable designers to take measurement even further, and see the total carbon impact of their project. Examples include EC3 and the ICE database.

UPFRONT Seven

4

Carbon negative products are a futuristic concept There are products and materials available to architects and designers that not only reduce carbon emissions, but have a carbon negative footprint – keeping carbon locked in them and out of the atmosphere. For example, Interface’s new Embodied Beauty collection features our first carbon negative carpet tiles.

5

6 7 Interface Embodied Beauty

Reducing a product’s carbon footprint is just about more sustainable factories Of course, making energy efficiencies in the manufacturing process is a brilliant way to reduce a product’s impact on the environment – but it doesn’t stop there. The materials used to create a product can have an even bigger impact. By increasing the amount of biobased or recycled content and working with your supply chain, it’s possible to significantly reduce a product’s carbon footprint. For example, Adidas and Allbirds have collaborated to create a low carbon shoe that includes a variety of recycled and biobased materials. At 2.94kg CO2e per pair, the shoe has the lowest carbon footprint of any performance sneaker ever.

Re-using and recycling has a minimal impact on your carbon footprint Giving products a second life can have a substantial impact on your carbon footprint. So, when refurbishing spaces, it’s important to think about which items can be reused, such as furniture, IT equipment and flooring. There are plenty of schemes available to extend the life of products. That way, you can keep them out of landfill and, importantly, stop carbon from unnecessarily entering the atmosphere.

Carbon issues aren’t social issues Whether it is David Attenborough bringing the issue of carbon into our homes through documentaries, or Greta Thunberg inspiring a generation to campaign for climate action, carbon is increasingly becoming a social issue. Climate change is influencing where people choose to shop, study and work.

The young people attending environmental protests today are the employees of tomorrow. Companies will need to push their thinking on carbon, not just for their own environmental targets, but to attract and retain future talent.w

Mix 214 July 2021 | 19

PERSPECTIVE We sit down with acclaimed architect and friend of Mix, Roger Stephenson, OBE, Founding Partner of stephenson hamilton risley STUDIO.

20 | Mix 214 July 2021

photography: daniel hopkinson

PERSPECTIVE Roger Stephenson

T

ake a short stroll through the busy city centre of Manchester and you’ll be hard pressed to miss a building designed by Roger Stephenson and his eponymous studio.

The acclaimed studio has played a vital role in the reshaping and reconstruction of Manchester and has certainly left a distinctive mark on the city – including the award-winning Chetham’s School of Music and Hallé St Peters projects, as well as work for Urban Splash, Capital & Centric and Bruntwood, to name a few.

Establishing the practice in 1979, after moving through BDP and Michael Hyde & Associates, Roger has recently taken a step back (insisting he will never retire!) to allow two of its long-standing team members, Keith Hamilton and Justin Risley, to lead the firm into a new era, rebranding to stephenson hamilton risley STUDIO in 2021. Between them, Keith and Justin have played a major role in many of the practice’s recent hero projects, including the upcoming Leonardo Hotel Manchester and Birmingham’s Exchange Square.

Roger chairs our very own Mixology North judging panel each year, and has acted as a chairman for the RIBA Awards, and, in 2001, was awarded an OBE for services in architecture.

Tell us about how you started your career in the industry. What led you to start your studio?

My father came from a poor background in the East End of London and went to work when he was 13. Further education was not an option in his circumstances. He became a successful paper merchant, alongside which he had always been good with his hands – he learned to be a cabinet maker, was mechanically savvy and a talented artist. From an early age he encouraged me

to make things. I remember him telling me, around the age of 11, that if he had been able to have more education, he would have loved to be a draughtsman or architect. I was inspired from that moment on to take the most suitable subjects to study architecture at university.

I gained A’ levels in Art, French, Maths, Engineering Drawing and Woodwork, and received offers from Liverpool University and the Architectural Association in London. As my home was in London, I decided to go to Liverpool.

The date was 1964 and Liverpool was the place to be. Like a lot of architects, my first job and true grounding was at Building Design Partnership (BDP). It felt natural to want to start my own practice and, after a few years, I got the opportunity to do so with a couple of small projects in 1979.

The teaching at Liverpool School of Architecture was based on a meaningful combination of aesthetic eloquence and technical expertise. We were acutely aware of the opportunity to push the boundaries to the extreme in the ‘unreal world’ of learning, so different from the impending reality of a practicing architect. I observed that so many young architects appeared to ‘give up and give in’ to the pressures which confront them in the real world: the QS who tells them their scheme is too expensive, the building control officer who says, ‘you can’t do that’, the planner who says you are not complying with policy – and even the client who prefers to listen to everyone else other than you.

An architect’s job is to analyse all the problems contained in a design and find a solution that is the best fit. The danger is that this entity becomes more and more watered down, gnawed away, by all the inputs mentioned above.

Where do you see the future of the UK design industry?

The UK breeds great design thinking, we have presently some of the world’s greatest architects, busy throughout the globe and Apple would not be where it is now without Jony Ive, who trained at Northumbria University. I sense that both government and the development fraternity undervalue good design – and I hope that this will change.

What are the plans and ambition for the studio moving forward?

Our studio will continue to follow the approach that we have always taken, led by Keith Hamilton and Justin Risley who have worked with me for many years. In fact, all the members of the studio have been together for a long time and are like-minded. I am sure that the studio will go on producing outstanding design solutions and I look forward to remaining involved in that process.

Finally, if you weren’t a hugely successful architect, what would be your dream job?

If I were not an architect, I think I would want to be a painter or a furniture maker.w

What do you feel sets your studio apart from the rest – what’s the secret behind the longevity and continued industry recognition?

What our studio has done over the years is to safeguard the integrity of the solution. Not to ignore all the inputs, but to deal with them in a way that does not destroy the wholeness of the concept. Put another way, the approach is a mental process of problem solving rather than some sort of stylistic diktat.

What has been your favourite project to work on?

My favourite project has to be the new building for Chetham’s School of Music. There are great similarities between architecture and music, the clients were a delight to work with and the problem was a great challenge.

above Leonardo Hotel. image: our studio

Mix 214 July 2021 | 21

UPFRONT Steve Gale

The dark art of the output specification How do you describe what a client needs? Steve Gale asks the question.

T

Steve Gale is Head of Workplace Strategy at M Moser Associates.

SteveG@mmoser.com 22 | Mix 214 July 2021

here are two distinct types of specification; describing either inputs or outputs. I want to celebrate the output specification, and its mysterious misunderstood complexity.

When an architect issues a pack of detailed drawings and specifications for pricing or construction, the thinking has been done, and any competent contractor should be able to build from the prescribed inputs. At least that is the idea. It is easy to grasp the principle of inputs.

But before a project is nailed down as inputs, a lot of design work will have followed instructions in the form of a brief, written without knowing how things will turn out, and will mainly consist of outputs desired from the project – a much more difficult concept than inputs.

There have been plenty of anaemic project briefs that listed floor areas, room schedules, sharing ratios and headcounts. I saw them, and wrote them, until about 20 years ago, when I learnt about outputs.

Back then, at the beginning of a government project for a new office campus, the client asked our team to forget inputs, and focus only on describing output requirements.

These would be the tasks and performance they wanted to achieve in the future. In other words, we had to record what they wanted out of the project, without specifying how it should be done. ‘Ignore any built solutions, that will be a task for others, just describe the outputs.’ The new workspace was, at this stage, irrelevant. No building knowledge needed.

Our squad of seasoned architects, engineers and cost consultants were told to research and describe functional, aspirational and cultural attributes, so that a future consultant could design a scheme to support all these. And we were totally hopeless at it.

I suppose the government hired construction professionals because they wanted new office buildings, and they thought output specifications would be our bread and butter, but we were not ready for such a rethink. We were machines for defining inputs like space standards, rooms, floor layouts, air-conditioning, even desk allocations. A real output specification was nobody’s day job.

You could say we muddled through, but we were slow to acknowledge that clients are much better at describing their own business than discussing the space that supports it, and our job was to find out what they wanted to do in the future – as only they knew that.

Our design expertise is of limited use when speaking to clients about their organisation’s business, so it is our job to ask about things we know very little about, and our training does not prepare us for it. It’s a journey of discovery that demands an interest in defining a problem rather than trying to resolve one, and needs completely different skills to our professional staple of creativity and production.

I don’t know if designers are the best-qualified people to write an output specification. I do know that it needs curiosity, respect and humility to seek out what is knowable, and what is worth knowing. And it’s never easy to do it well.w

UPFRONT Material Matters

MATERIAL MATTERS Erik Svensson, Associate at Perkins&Will, picks this month’s fine selection of go-to finishes and materials.

Attiro Magnetic Timber floor attiro.co.uk As designers, we should always bear in mind that what we create will be the material library for future projects. We all love using timber floors, and magnetic timber flooring such as Attiro reduces not only installation time, but also gives true flexibility for the future. It’s important to think about what will happen to the material once the project reaches the end of its lifecycle.

Kvadrat Really kvadrat.dk Really is made from upcycled textiles and can be used for both acoustic panels and as joinery sheet material. It was created to cut down on waste and can be recycled at the end of a project’s life into new Really boards.

Designers are storytellers and using materials that aren’t just beautiful, but also help shift the design industry towards a circular future will always grab my attention, as I believe that’s the story we want to tell.

Graphenstone graphenstone.co.uk Honext Boards honextmaterial.com I recently came across Honext Boards – a construction and partition board made from cellulose waste. It’s free from toxic materials such as formaldehyde and can be recyclable at the end of its life into fabulous new boards. I really like the wonderful textured natural finish the boards have, giving them a simplistic and authentic look. I’ll be following the development of this product closely.

24 | Mix 214 July 2021

We recently specified Graphenstone Ecosphere – a natural paint made from limestone with no VOCs and no toxic chemicals. While the paint is drying, it actively captures and locks in CO2. As we spend the majority of our time indoors, I love the idea of using a material that makes our interiors healthier.w

UPFRONT Desert Island Desks

Desert Island Desks Lisa Robertson

Associate Designer DesignLSM

Swing chair Comfort and luxury combined.

Inspired by designer Patricia Urquiloa’s swing chair, which she produced as part of the ‘Objects Nomades’ collection for Louis Vuitton back in 2015, this functional and folding piece of furniture would be ideal for taking around the island with me.

L

isa has been working as an Associate Designer for renowned hospitality design studio, DesignLSM, for the last eight years.

She has been behind many of the studio’s Internationally acclaimed projects, working with clients such as D&D London, Hilton Hotels, Yoo Capital, Sumosan and Accor Hotels to create immersive and design-led experiences that tell a unique story.

Nominated as Hotel Design’s Interior Designer of the Year in 2019, Lisa is often praised for her diverse and distinctive design approach, driven by a long-standing passion for art, fashion and interiors, igniting a wealth of inspiration throughout her extensive folio of work.

During her downtime, Lisa has her own side hustle of curating bespoke art pieces within her Brighton-based home. She also enjoys playing for the local beach volleyball team and, at weekends, can be found seeking out new drinking and dining spots with friends.

Ready for some much-needed relaxation and escapism after the past year, Lisa has rounded up her top luxury items and soundtracks that she would take to our desert island…

Snorkel set Taking advantage of the crystal-clear sea, I would bring a snorkel set so I could get in some daily exercise and discover new marine life.

26 | Mix 214 July 2021

Sunshade I’ve had my eye on this bamboo parasol from East London Parasol Company for quite a while. It’s sun protection in the most stylish form!

UPFRONT Desert Island Desks

A good read I don’t usually get the chance to read as much as I would like so this would be the perfect opportunity to spend some time with my head in a great book!

Lounger A luxury lounger – like this one from B&B Italia – could also function as a bed and a place to spend the evening gazing up at the stars.

Offering leather solutions, plus antibacterial and antifungal faux leathers for seating

Multi-purpose stove A BBQ, pizza oven and fire pit combined is a genius design idea! So I would bring the Noori stove, enabling me to cook up a feast whilst keeping warm at night.

Tracks for the juxebox Roy Ayers – Everybody Loves The Sunshine Bobby Hebb – Sunny The Roots – You Got Me Kool & the Gang – Summer Madness Grace Jones – Pull Up To The Bumper Charlotte Day Wilson – After All

Automotive

Aviation

Healthcare

Hospitality

Marine

Residential

Workspace

Yarwood has you covered. www.yarwoodleather.com

+44 (0) 113 252 1014 sales@yarwoodleather.com

@yarwoodleather

OPINION

Paradoxically Speaking: Ideas

T

Whenever we think of recycling, our mind goes to bottles, cans, papers – the stuff of the weekend. But what of ideas? Neil Usher has his thinking cap on.

Neil Usher is Chief Workplace & Change Strategist at GosSpace AI, and Author of The Elemental Workplace and Elemental Change 28 | Mix 214 July 2021

he workplace industry is a great big inflatable dab hand at dressing an old idea as something new, unleashing a wave of energy. Like whipping a rope. The difficulty being, as with the rope, it’s something of a finite linear path.

The latest workplace fascination is anthropology. The same discipline that brought us the comprehensively misunderstood ‘Dunbar’s Number’.

As though we’ve just found a tribe in the Borneo rainforest who’ve never encountered anyone outside their own community, and who, incredibly, don’t have a word for ‘serendipitous encounter’. Because that’s just how they roll. It’s proving to be like trying to find a single benefit of Brexit that is anything to actually do with Brexit. Yet when we say we’re dabbling in a five-syllable ‘ology we become long-term relationship material and everyone wants a bite-sized management summary to avoid having to find out about it. Which brings us back to Dunbar’s Number. Which is all about cognitive capacity.

Because, fundamentally, workplace is a narrow field with an inherently limited pool of ideas. That’s not a criticism, just a reality.

And ideas are money. If everyone had one type of workplace but now needs a different type of workplace then that’s super business for everyone in the sector, from strategy to sani-wipes. And the wheels turn. So what happens to the ideas we have? Essentially, we evolve them through terminology. The flexible workplace was no different to Bürolandschaft, other than for the advances in technology that prompted greater mobility. The agile workplace was no different to the flexible workplace. The activity-based workplace – invented by Marvin Gaye in 1962 with everyone’s favourite gender-diversity anthem Wherever I Lay My Hat – was no different to the agile workplace. No-one would be able to tell the difference on inspection. They’re all simply organic, non-assigned, multi-setting environments. Or, at least, should be.

Which of course brings us to everyone’s hallowed saviour of the office (or at least half of it) in the wake of a global disaster – hybrid working. Which is actually no different to activity-based working, and so on. The dream of flexible, agile and activity-based was, after all, variable attendance in shared space based on the office being an intentional destination within an ecosystem of spaces in which to work. They all recognised that technology had,

in both principle and practice, freed us from the shackles of the desk, even if the organisation’s approach to management hadn’t quite caught up. And still, in many instances, hasn’t. Which remains the critical success factor with hybrid, as it was with all its antecedents.

Our paradox therefore becomes: we need new ideas, so we’ll see what’s been said and find something that works. Yet ‘hybrid’ is necessary.

As the convergence of practice of recent decades unravels, the sector has to offer something coherent to a world of workplace experts. It needs to appear relevant, engaged, the zeitgeist snapping at its heels as it peels away from the mediocrity served up by mainstream media on the subject. It needs to survive and thrive. After many years of being critical of this form of recycling through the workessence blog, therefore, I’ve come to realise that this process of renewal and reinvention is essential. It’s why I so often raid the ancients for inspiration. The Romans borrowed from the Greeks who, in all probability, borrowed from the Egyptians…and so on all the way back to when we were squishing berries to draw mammoths on cave walls. Somewhere deep in the Olduvai Gorge was the very first idea – let’s go see what’s going on outside.

At some point ideas will be obsolete. Like flares. None of the environment that sustained them will remain. The notion of evanescence, for which thanks are owed to science fiction writer, Bruce Sterling, suggests that everything must have an in-built obsolescence, such that at some point it vanishes altogether. He argued that, with an idea, we must consider its demise as the time of its inception. We can see a focus on transience, the impermanence of all things, from Buddhist through to the quite wonderful self-destructive art of Gustav Metzger and Jean Tinguely. We thankfully managed it with the office slide, whose passing really ought to have preceded its inception.

It makes us wonder how long hybrid will be with us, whether its end is already known.

Perhaps the instinctive reaction to experiencing two extremes is to choose a middle path until a more constructive and beneficial route can be found. In which case the stories will be told of the pursuit of an expedient response in an uncertain world that allowed us time to gather our thoughts and raid the wisdom of the ages for something more sustainable. Right now, in this phoney time when none of what we’re planning has yet been put into practice and it’s all a game of prediction, it feels decidedly tenuous. It’s quite possible that the best idea of all is yet to come.w

Jude chic

seating

Jude lounge seating’s practical details make it both eye-catching and timeless.

Seamlessly crossing the line between classic and contemporary, with an opulent, curved design and arms that wrap the occupant in one continuous embrace.

0151 548 7111

socialspacesfurniture.com

TM

manufactured in the UK by dams

socialspaces@dams.com

With the countdown well and truly on, we’re genuinely excited by the fact that it really is coming home – and by ‘it’ we mean Mixology, of course. Here, ahead of September’s event, we bring you the all-important finalists for this year’s project awards.

Mixology21 will be held on 16 September at Evolution London.

Go to mixinteriors.com for further information.

30 | Mix 214 July 2021

MIXOLOGY21 Project of the Year Finalists

Hotel Interiors Project of the Year

Concorde BGW Group (1) Ragdale Hall Spa Twilight Lounge, Melton Mowbray Conran and Partners (2) Park Hyatt, Auckland FaulknerBrowns Architects (3) Melia Innside, Newcastle Furniture Fusion (4) Hilton London, Croydon THDP (5) Terme di Saturnia Natural Destination, Italy

Living Interiors Project of the Year

Conran and Partners (1) LUMA, London Dexter Moren Associates (2) Millet Place, Pontoon Dock, London Jolie Studio (3) The Tea Room at Deansgate Square, Manchester Studio Henderson (4) Lighthouse View, Fleetwood Tigg + Coll Architects (5) Chapter Living Old Street, London

Mix 214 July 2021 | 31

MIXOLOGY21 Project of the Year Finalists

Bar & Leisure Interiors

Project of the Year

Concorde BGW Group (1) Stanley's Chelsea, London Conran and Partners (2) FEAST, Hong Kong Day Studio (3) Padella Shoreditch, London DesignLSM (4) Klosterhaus, Bristol DV8 Designs (5) Aspire Lounge, Luton Furniture Fusion (6) Natural Fit, Tunbridge Wells Jolie Studio (7) The Club at Deansgate Square, Manchester Structure Tone (8) Eataly, London THDP (9) Hudson Yards Lounge Bar at Hilton, Frankfurt

32 | Mix 214 July 2021

MIXOLOGY21 Project of the Year Finalists

Public Sector Interiors Project of the Year

BDP (1) University of Birmingham, Teaching & Learning Building

iDEA (2) Pilot, Ministry of Justice, London

Multi Story Thinking (3) University of Plymouth, Container Café

Roberts Limbrick (4) King's School, Gloucester

Workplace Interiors <5k sq ft Project of the Year arbor+co (1) IDP Connect, London Basha-Franklin (2) Aldgate Tower, London Buckley Gray Yeoman (3) 77 Coleman, London Chameleon Business Interiors (4) Victory Leisure Homes, Brough EPH Creative (5) The Woods, Wetherby MoreySmith (6) MoreySmith Studio, London iDEA (7) Paragon, London Wylde Interior Architecture (8) Wyke Farms, Somerset

Mix 214 July 2021 | 33

MIXOLOGY21 Project of the Year Finalists

Workplace Interiors >5-15k sq ft Project of the Year APM Design (1) The Tannery by Colony, Stockport Buckley Gray Yeoman (2) Panagram, London Build Generation (3) Harrison Street, London Hunts Office (4) Lumentum, Towcester Inactu Facilities Support (5) The Floorbrite Group, Manchester iOTA Office Furniture and Mango Interiors Group (6) doTERRA, Milton Keynes Peldon Rose (7) Gulf International Bank, London tp bennett (8) VitrA Showroom, London Unispace (9) Boston Scientific, Clonmel Wellwood Leslie (10) EY, Aberdeen Workspace Design and Build & Sheila Bird Group (11) OneStream Software, Manchester

34 | Mix 214 July 2021

MIXOLOGY21 Project of the Year Finalists

Workplace Interiors >30-70k sq ft Project of the Year BDG architecture and design (1) Sony Pictures Entertainment, London BDG Architecture and Design & Tollgard Design Group (2) Paymentsense, London HLW International (3) ICG, London iDEA (4) Meggitt Ansty Park, Coventry MCM (5) KPMG Ignition, London Modus Workspace (6) Checkout.com, London SODA Studio (7) Liberty House, London SPACE (8) RAPID7, Belfast Studio Egret West, U+I & Plus X (9) Plus X, Brighton The Office Group (10) Douglas House, London tp bennett (11) Open Society Foundations, London

Mix 214 July 2021 | 35

MIXOLOGY21 Project of the Year Finalists

Workplace Interiors >15-30k sq ft Project of the Year BDG architecture and design (1) Montagu Evans, London BDP (2) PwC Watford, London Kinetic Workplace (3) Devon House,London INTARC DESIGN (4) Financial Client, London Oktra (5) GAMA Healthcare, Hemel Hempstead Peldon Rose (6) InfraRed Capital Partners, London TTSP (7) SAP, London

Workplace Interiors >70k sq ft Project of the Year Hermantes Studio (1) Springer Nature, London HLW International (2) Ninety One, London ID:SR Sheppard Robson (3) Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Manchester Interface and Greenmount Projects (4) The Very Group, Liverpool MCM (5) Nationwide, The Post Building, London Unispace (6) Coty, Amsterdam

36 | Mix 214 July 2021

MIXOLOGY21 Project of the Year Finalists

Design Firm of the Year APM Design Ltd (1) Buckley Gray Yeoman (2) Build Generation (3) Concorde BGW Group (4) DesignLSM (5) Hermantes Studio(6) HLW International (7) ID:SR Sheppard Robson (8) Modus Workspace (9) Morgan Lovell (10)

Mix 214 July 2021 | 37

PROPERTY

One Waterloo. image: hb reavis

London calling London’s post-COVID office market may not shrink by anything like as much as some fear – if new theories about peak capacity prove correct. David Thame reports.

38 | Mix 214 July 2021

PROPERTY

M

organ Stanley, the giant US investment bank, could have chosen this moment in summer 2021 to radically re-think its property needs. But apparently it hasn’t.

The New York-based finance house is finalising plans for a new 650,000 sq ft London HQ. Both the City and Docklands are identified as potential locations.

Morgan Stanley is, admittedly, reducing its floorspace: down from around 800,000 sq ft in Canary Wharf. But a cut in their office requirement can’t take the shine off the fact that they are still looking to replace most of it at a time when some appear to have lost faith in offices full stop.

For now, the big deals that set the tone for London’s office market seem to be on track. COVID hasn’t sunk them. Google are still pursuing plans for 650,000 sq ft at Kings Cross. Deutsche Bank is still on course to move into a new 564,000 sq ft

are particularly relaxed, and see now as a great moment to sell to the large number of opportunistic buyers looking to snap up a piece of the London action. Chinese investor Fosun has put the 56,000 sq ft Docklands HQ of News International up for sale at £400m. The last time the six-building campus traded, it was for a little short of £300m in 2016. So nice payday for Fosun.

Trend-setters like Canadian firm Brookfield are going even further, hinting that now would be a good time to pile into the London office market ahead of growth in the next few years. Given Brookfield’s enormous power, the prediction is sure to be self-fulfilling.

Thanks to a £720 million deal, they are about to acquire two notable West London properties – Hammersmith Embankment and Uxbridge Business Park.

So everything is dandy in the London office

food chain. For instance, The Economist speculated that a cut in office occupancy would reduce the value of office real estate, with implications for the insurers and pension funds that own them.

That is regarded as an unduly alarmist view by most; and as a misunderstanding by others.

Instead, they hang their hopes for the London office market on what is called ‘peak capacity theory’ and it goes like this.

Justin Curlow, AXA Investment Management Alts’ Global Head of Research and Strategy, explains: ‘In a post-COVID world we expect office occupiers to focus on two key priorities: first will be peak and not average demand as it relates to their ultimate space needs. Akin to how transit infrastructure is planned.’

This is for the same reason the London Underground knows that, during the day, it will be operating half-empty trains, but plan their

UK headquarters at 21 Moorfields, above Moorgate Station in the City, in 2023.

So far, so good. Investors are encouraged, particularly the overseas investors who do not see our local political and economic anxieties as very significant. Far Eastern investors

market? The answer depends on who you talk to. There is a lot of generalised anxiety about the extent to which the UK government, and multinational corporates, will insist on a return to work. Without this, there could be problems, which would reverberate back up the property

capacity based on peak needs, not on average needs. So big office occupiers will take offices knowing that, much of the time, they will not be fully occupied. They too will take office space for peak requirements, rather than the average attendance.

Uxbridge Business Park

Mix 214 July 2021 | 39

PROPERTY

21 Moorfields. image: wilkinsoneyre

Rooftop allotments co-designed with John Lewis and Samsung

In other words, office occupiers expecting maybe one-third of their staff to be working away from the office at any given time cannot afford to reduce their office floorspace by one third. This is because they know there will be occasions when almost everybody is in the office (midweek, perhaps, or for big projects or events). So they have to plan for a headcount closer to their actual (peak) total rather than for the average (off-peak) total.

Deals like Morgan Stanley’s suggest a 20-25% reduction in floorspace. This is less than some feared, but maybe a little more than their eventual requirement, if Justin is right.

John Mulqueen is Head of Offices EMEA at CBRE Global Investors. He is also an adherent of the peakloading theory. In fact, he takes it a stage further.

‘I think we need to be realistic about what working patterns were before the pandemic. In many London workplaces staff were in four days a week, not five, if you looked at meetings and visiting clients. So we hadn’t been looking at 100% occupancy all the time before COVID. If that goes down to three days a week, does that make a big difference?’ John asks.

‘Occupiers will have to consider peakloading, which means planning for the highest

40 | Mix 214 July 2021

not the average number of people in the office simultaneously, so they will not need materially less floorspace.’

John goes on to make, semi-seriously, an interesting point. ‘Consider that we already accept that expensive offices are empty for two days a week – a weekend – and maybe we will begin to think that they are less busy, less occupied, on Mondays and Fridays?’ he says.

Behind the peak-loading argument hovers another that says that two years of delayed deals and moves will suddenly burst into activity once the pandemic appears to be over.

Justin says that occupiers ‘have effectively stacked a couple of years of lease events on top of one another, which, when unleashed, will likely lead to a significant wave of take-up’.

Data from Colliers points the same way, with renewed demand prompting predictions of strong capital growth (in the value of office floorspace) in the second half of this year.

These are soothing thoughts for those letting vacant (newly completed) London floorspace. AXA Investment Managers – Real Assets has embarked on the letting campaign for the 1.2 million sq ft skyscraper at 22 Bishopsgate.

“

Yes, wellbeing is closer to the front of occupiers’ minds.

Before COVID it was special, now it’s entry level

”

PROPERTY

“

There is a real fight for space in Mayfair and St James’ because the finance sector has done extraordinarily well during the pandemic

”

Head of Leasing, James Goldsmith, says they are pinning hopes on a broader amenity and flexible workspace offer to help uncertain occupiers learn what peak or average-loading might look like.

‘We are currently assessing plans to bring forward a flexible workspace and coworking offering,’ he says.

‘With the first occupiers expected to move in as the UK continues to emerge from lockdown and a number of new leisure offerings to be announced or open over the summer, we expect 2021 to be a hugely exciting year for 22 Bishopsgate, as the building transitions from being a development to a fully operational workplace and London destination.’

Will more development begin soon? Perhaps.

During the spring 2021 lockdown European developer, HB Reavis, finally won planning consent for the 1.3 million sq ft redevelopment of Elizabeth House, York Road SE1. The move follows completion of its Section 106 agreement and comes 18 months after Lambeth originally approved the scheme.

For a rounded view, turn to Jonny Lee, the energetic West End agency partner at Knight Frank.

‘Yes, wellbeing is closer to the front of occupiers’ minds.

Before COVID it was special, now it’s entry level. They all want a yoga studio, they want to know if you have a roof terrace, they want you to show them how the building is going to make them feel good on a dreary morning in November,’ he says.

‘But the idea that everybody wants less floorspace is an oversimplification. In the finance world it is exactly the opposite. There is a real fight for space in Mayfair and St James’ because the finance sector has done extraordinarily well during the pandemic. The same is true in the tech sector: look at Snapchat taking more space, Amazon growing its footprint too.

‘We were challenged at the start of the pandemic to re-think the office market on the assumption that requirements would be 10-15% down. But I think we are all realising that you need floorspace to enable hybrid working because all those Zoom-rooms are quite space

When work on site begins, One Waterloo will tap into the post-COVID market for buildings with a strong wellbeing profile. They promise a 16th floor ‘urban sky farm’ to produce ultra-fresh produce for the scheme’s occupiers.

hungry.’

This optimistic bulletin from the front-line suggests London’s office market is far – very far – from a crisis.

The next few weeks will reveal how quickly it can resume the normal rate of growth.w

One Waterloo promenade. image: hb reavis

42 | Mix 214 July 2021

imperial furniture

NATURALS & PASTELS ON DISPLAY AT OUR MANCHESTER SHOWROOM FROM THE 19TH JULY 2021

Head Office: Imperial Office Furniture Limited.

Bankfield Business Park, Quebec Street, Bolton. BL3 5JN

Showroom: 9 Portland St, Manchester. M1 3BE

Contact: Tel: 01204 364602 imperialfurniture.co.uk

Fax: 01204 381509 info@imperialfurniture.co.uk

AVAILABLE NOW

Office

MIX ROUNDTABLE In partnership with Specialist Group

Crafty little things As we’re all aware, the role and function of commercial spaces is constantly changing – and these changes are being massively accelerated by the pandemic. We will all want to return to something different – to flexible, functional and beautiful spaces.

We will want to be in the presence of people (again) and we will want to be surrounded by aesthetically pleasing, sustainable and expertly crafted products and spaces. And what could be more sustainable than a product that lasts longer than we do? Together with our friends from Specialist Group, we’ve gathered a panel of the industry’s finest minds at Oktra’s fantastic new Clerkenwell home, to discuss the value of craftsmanship.

W

e begin by asking, somewhat bluntly, why we should particularly care about craftsmanship or beautiful, design-led products when it comes to the workplace.

Tina: Up until recently – and hopefully again soon – we probably spent more time in the office than we did at home. If you create beautiful spaces for your teams, they will invariably create more. I think we will see this return to the office – I know that our team is desperate to get back!

Kristoff: There are still things that you simply can’t do alone – creative things that are just impossible to do over a Zoom call. The way we work has completely changed. You could say that we’re not even talking about what we once thought of as a workspace any more – your job is now to be social and to move around. The role of the workplace is becoming a place to socalise.

People are climbing the walls to return – but not to work on spreadsheets. They want to get back so that they can talk to one another, be

44 | Mix 214 July 2021

creative, come up with fresh ideas, training and mentoring, creating networks…all those things that are impossible to do at home.

Tina: Reviewing samples – has anyone tried to do that from home?

Kristoff: None of this works from home. The real heart of the matter is that the office is now an events space. You are no longer a facilities manager – you are an events manager. You need to adapt, you need to start looking at sectors such as hospitality – these are the skillsets that are now needed. Who is coming into the space?

How do we reconfigure the rooms?

Jeni: It is much more fluid now. People are no longer coming and sitting at a desk all day, every day.

Catherine: And we haven’t even had all the choices open up for us yet – those choices are only just beginning to open up for us now. While we’ve been working from home, we haven’t been able to

be collaborative and to interact in the same way with one another – it wasn’t a particularly social or engaging way to work, and what we want to do now is to attract people to spaces and to build up those connections with clients and colleagues, which we’ve really missed – and that’s sometimes not easy to do and is difficult to replicate if you haven’t got the right space.

Ciaran: If we’re not at work, we’re at home. We’ll happily spend money on our homes – because we want to be comfortable, because we spend so much time there. So why would it be any different at work? And we have to keep changing and evolving that – we have to keep evolving how we work as things move forward. We’re not just a factory, or a shed – we continue to evolve every year. This is a space to come and enjoy your work. The lighting has to be right, the heating has to be right and the atmosphere has to be right.

Tina: I think there is an importance around why a workspace needs to be beautiful. Firstly, I think that beautiful spaces have a healing

MIX ROUNDTABLE In partnership with Specialist Group

In partnership with

MIX ROUNDTABLE In partnership with Specialist Group

46 | Mix 214 July 2021

MIX ROUNDTABLE In partnership with Specialist Group

“

I think that beautiful spaces have a healing quality – people’s behaviour changes in an environment that is really looked after

” quality – people’s behaviour changes in an environment that is really looked after. Beauty and craft, to me, is related to an inherent sense of quality and something that will last.

This is really relevant to our circumstances as we deal with climate change; we need to produce things responsibly and well, and there’s an importance in beautiful products that are well made and long lasting – rather then defaulting to standardised, mass produced products.

Max: I think you want to get people to be emotionally invested in the office as well. As Ciaran said a little earlier, people are emotionally invested in their homes, because these are their homes. If you generate an office that is essentially just a pile of desks, then it is not their office – it’s just a place they have to go to work. By creating a really great space, you make people feel part of it and proud of it. I think that’s really important – it’s important to get emotional investment from the people who are using the space.

Tina: We’re now hearing about companies refitting floors that used to be offices into meeting spaces – and not having all those desks. So having facilities that allow people to come together, and then allowing them to work from home on other days – and that kind of flexibility, hopefully, is here to stay.

David: The office is obviously not a home. It can be a blurring of the two. What we all do is create and craft things.

Much of this is about the process – and it is possible to do this remotely but it’s far easier to do it face-to-face. The office should act as a tool to encourage that collaboration and provide people with different environments to create and assist their craft. For me, it’s great that we can create these beautiful objects and environments for people to come and visit, but at the same time they will assist our process.

Ciaran: Losing that social aspect of work has been really tough on people’s mental health. It has had a massive effect on people. I like to get out, I like to meet people, I like to socialise – I want to go to our canteen and see people and chat with our staff. Not being able to do that has undoubtedly affected my mental health. We can, potentially, learn to be more flexible but we still need to have a nice workplace so that we can attract people. We need good space so that we can do our best work together.

Jeni: Whether your workspace is pretty or not so pretty – more utilitarian – it is essentially where your brand comes to life. It can be a showplace for clients, but equally, it is how you showcase what your culture is. It can sometimes be an opportunity for a business to show how sustainable they are – or certainly how they want to be seen as sustainable. Our job is to try to bring that to life.

Kristoff: The office does set the context for the culture.

Most companies are now looking for people to come back in and be part of that culture. The space has to say something about who you are as a business and what you’re about – and nothing says that better than fine quality. That means looking at value for money – I’m not just talking about big spending here, I’m talking about sustainability; about where you procure your materials, how you put them together, what your specifications are…

Speaking of procurement, it’s clearly been a difficult time to source new materials and products. How are our guests looking forward to a return to good oldfashioned specification?

Catherine: We do still hear from the makers – that is how they continue to showcase themselves. The way they tend to sell now is more about telling the story behind the creation, about getting the designer to talk about their process. It has been less about technical details. But I guess they have been limited to what they are able to communicate over Zoom.

Max: It is going to be exciting to be able to go out and see new stuff again. It does feel as though we’ve lost touch with that.

Chiara: I think there is something inherent to the idea of craftsmanship, marrying with the maker and being able to acknowledge who the maker is. There is an inherent skill in making products that can be celebrated. I think there are makers out there who are reactive – who react to your requests and do ask what it is we need.

Jeni: It’s about working together with the makers in partnership.

In partnership with

MIX ROUNDTABLE In partnership with Specialist Group

David: When you relate that back to what we do with clients, the earlier we meet the client, the richer the product will be.

It seemed almost inevitable that, at some point in the conversation, the dreaded ‘VE’ would rear its head.

Tina: What so often happens is that the great VE sweep comes in – and all the great concepts and the sustainability goes out of the window. All of the values disappear and it comes down to what is cheapest. This is the tricky point, where we have the hard task of pushing things through.

Ciaran: This shouldn’t be such a big issue. Craftsmanship is about trying to understand what the end user needs, what is right for their environment, how it will be good for that environment, how long it might last and how it will work. What destroys it is that there are people out there who are only looking at making money – and making money by diminishing costs. We really want to deliver the very best product, on time, exactly as the client wants it. What stops us from doing this is these VE options and companies who are prepared to undercut at every point.

Tina: Value is an interesting word here – because what we’re really talking about here is cost and not value.

48 | Mix 214 July 2021

Jeni: It means that designers are now walking around on eggshells – they don’t want to go too far because they have no concept of what the true budget is!

Max: We have a couple of clients at the moment who are looking to locally source wherever possible – and with the global situation as it is, I think that will only increase.

Chiara: There is a need to encourage the development of this throughout the industry – and I’m Italian and I love Italian design, of course! But there is certainly an argument for sourcing locally and ensuring that those crafts skills are developed and maintained – and you can only do that if you invest in the industry.

Conclusion

Craftsmanship is at the very core of our industry and, in an age where sustainability is more important than ever, we need to turn away from cheap, disposable options and instead look to true, long-lasting value.

Companies such as Specialist continue to develop skilled workers and provide quality, sustainable products. Let’s hope that this doesn’t – in the face of VE – become something that is too specialist!w

MIX ROUNDTABLE In partnership with Specialist Group

Meet our guests

Senior Asscociate Hassell Studio

Managing Director Two

Kristoff DuBose

Tina Norden

David Bishop

Catherine is a workplace specialist and a leading light in delivering award-winning, complex, agile projects. She has worked on a diverse range of corporate projects in the UK, Australia and Asia, with clients including Sky, Fora, JLL, Bridgepoint, dtac, PTTEP and Ashurst. Catherine has been involved throughout all stages of both small and large projects, and brings to Hassell an innovative and user-orientated approach to each presentation and project she is involved in.

With a Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture from one of the Top 5 US universities, Kristoff came to London 15 years ago, fascinated by the history and quality of design.

Kristoff recently joined Two to bring a new level of creativity and focus to the team. Clients tend to follow him around for his dedication to their purpose and ability to ‘breathe spirit into matter’. His first port of call is to listen and learn before ever putting pen to paper and he loves nothing more than to see the growth clients regularly experience on the back of his work alongside them in partnership.

Tina is an interior designer and architect with a diverse portfolio stretching across many contexts and continents, from hotel and restaurant design to high-end residential. Tina collaboratively leads design teams in both the UK and Hong Kong and is currently working on a new Park Hyatt hotel project in Jakarta, a five star hotel in Mumbai, and her third restaurant for Rüya, an Anatolian restaurant brand in London’s Mayfair and Dubai.

David has been a multidisciplinary designer for 23 years.

With a traditional architectural background, he brings a detailfocused approach to projects that drives innovation. Dave believes that good design evokes emotion and that a blend of surprise, intrigue, function and simplicity creates the perfect starting point for every project. When he’s not creating tomorrow’s workspace, Dave can be found drawing, cycling, playing darts or practising ollie blunts on his skateboard.

Chiara Cantilena

Max Steward

Jeni Durksen

Ciaran O’Hagan

Chiara’s particular interest is in the evolving nature of workplace, the role of materials, colour and nature in creating human scale and intuitive environments for people to inhabit. More recently, Chiara’s work has looked at attempting to innovate the way we think about furniture and interiors in the light of climate change emergency and responsible use of resources. Chiara is a Wellbeing Ambassador and an active member of LOM’s Sustainability in Architecture group.

Max has over 22 years’ experience in the construction industry, leaving a mechanical engineering subcontractor in 2008 to join ISG as a Construction Manager. Max worked his way up to Project Director in 2015 and has led many successful fit-out projects of varying sizes and values.

An award-winning multidisciplinary designer, Jeni provides innovative design solutions for forwardthinking companies, transforming bespoke strategies into inspiring experiences and environments through cohesive visioning and thoughtful decision-making.

Working in partnership with her clients, Jeni leads the design team, from high-level ideation and conceptualisation, through to the differentiating details and finishing touches – most recently envisioning radically innovative workplaces for tech start-ups, creative agencies and law firms.

Ciaran has driven a significant upturn in Specialist Group’s performance and has led the technological developments that are the cutting edge of the industry.

Ciaran’s mantra is ‘making the impossible possible!’ – and always finding a way.

Catherine van der Heide

Associate Architect LOM

Managing Director BW: Workplace Experts

Design Director OKTRA

Partner Conran and Partners

Senior Associate, Design M Moser Associates

Managing Director Specialist Group

In partnership with

The rolling people When we heard that leading furniture manufacturer, Vitra, has opened its new, forward-thinking London workspace at Rolling Stock Yard, we couldn’t resist finding out more about this relocation from Clerkenwell to neighbouring King’s Cross.

50 | Mix 214 July 2021

CASE STUDY Vitra

The Rolling Stock Yard space showcases Vitra’s agile product portfolio as well as newly launched designs and updates

T

he working installation, which houses the Vitra UK team, is a response to the growing need for more flexible workspaces, that can be modified and adapted for different requirements, or completely moved to a new location, thus offering a more sustainable model for office planning. The space also showcases Vitra’s agile product portfolio as well as newly launched designs and updates, including Alcove Plus and Tyde 2 by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec and the ID Chair by Antonio Citterio.

The redistribution of where we work, created by the COVID-19 pandemic, has accelerated the conversation around the subject of workplace flexibility in every sector. There has now been a shift in how businesses see the function of the workplace and an increased understanding that the office should act primarily as a place of communication and collaboration, somewhere to foster culture and inspire employees. Vitra believes that a workspace that supports such ambitions must be equally as curious and creative and therefore must be equally as flexible. The installation at Rolling Stock Yard is a working showcase of how a highly flexible office can work in both the shortterm and beyond.

‘With an undisputable need to design in the most sustainable way, Rolling Stock Yard shows how we can create spaces to change and adapt with us, rather than wasting old designs that no longer fulfil our requirements, Jonathan Parr, Vitra’s Managing Director for UK and Ireland, comments. ‘We have looked at how we can make every aspect of the office more flexible, adaptable and reconfigurable,

allowing the space to become a workshop, a meeting room or even an auditorium.’

We ask Jonathan to tell us a little about the new building itself and the selection process of the location.

‘The building itself was designed

by Squire & Partners and is in the increasingly vibrant location of the newly developed King’s Cross area,’ he explains. ‘We are surrounded by creativity – Anthony Gormley’s sculpture studio and Mark Ronson’s studio are very close to Rolling Stock Yard.

‘We wanted to move into a space that was like the type of building our clients would typically work in. We were very keen to showcase our Dancing Office, and with the help and support of our landlord at Rolling Stock Yard, we were able to achieve this to great effect.

‘It wasn’t a protest or tactical decision to move away from Clerkenwell. We found a landlord that was very progressive in their views towards what the future office might look like, and Rolling Stock Yard felt like the perfect space to demonstrate this.

‘30 Clerkenwell Road had been Vitra’s home for 20 years, so we felt a change was needed. We looked at many properties and, whilst Rolling Stock Yard is temporary, our permanent new home isn’t too far away.’

So what were the hopes and aspirations for this dynamic temporary space?

‘We really wanted to demonstrate a truly agile space,’ Jonathan continues. ‘Over the years I have seen so many things put on castors, but when delivered to clients they sit exactly where they had been placed on day one. We have a rule every

Mix 214 July 2021 | 51

CASE STUDY Vitra

week – everything needs to change around. It’s been great to see people’s reactions to a space that they visited just the week before looking completely different, but still using the same products. Our ‘Build Your Own Office’ events have been a really good way to engage with designers as they take you back to the analogue world of moving furniture around and not sitting at a screen visualizing – but actually making it happen.

‘We had the concept for a while but finding a landlord that would let us drill 200+ fixing points into the ceiling for a temporary space was hard. Thankfully, our landlords, Greg and Mark, were so keen to see our multilane system, they allowed us to do just that. I think, sometimes, people really need to see a product to understand it.

‘We merged our standard portfolio – Dancing Walls, Alcove, Tyde2 – with some of our solutions from the shopfitting side of the business, Visplay and Vizona.

‘Many companies are adapting to the noncommittal, unpredictable nature of our time to react to rapid changes in their markets. They are forming agile organisational structures that constantly evolve. They keep work flexible and infrastructures light and mobile, so that the office can be readily modified or moved to a new location at any moment.’

So what does Jonathan feel makes the space unique?

‘I think it’s probably one of the only spaces in London that changes week in, week out. The space is almost like an experiment, and I wouldn’t like to class it as a showroom as such.

‘With an undisputable need to design in the most sustainable way, we have to look at how we can design spaces to change and adapt with us rather than creating waste from old designs that no longer fulfill our needs.

above Versatile Alcove elements create room-like spaces without the need for permanent fixtures

right The space combines an industrial aesthetic with biophilic elements

“

We are surrounded by creativity – Anthony Gormley’s sculpture studio and Mark Ronson’s studio are very close to Rolling Stock Yard

” 52 | Mix 214 July 2021

Iridescence

Iridescence is inspired by the use of mineral and organic pigments that layer to create diverse hues and abstract painted surfaces.

Soft transitional LVT

Colours merge in a doft smoky transition that brings a comforting tranquility to the interior space.

Iridescence LVT contains 39% recycled content and is carbon neutral throughout its full lifecycle with our Carbon Neutral Floors™ programme.

For more information about our products and services: T: +44 (0) 800 313 4465 E: ukcustomerservices@interface.com

LVT Product: Iridescence - Polar, Blossom

CASE STUDY Vitra

below This working installation is a response to the growing need for more flexible workspaces

“

It’s been great to see people’s reactions to a space that they visited just the week before looking completely different, but still using the same products

”

54 | Mix 214 July 2021

‘I tend to be a creature of habit and sit on the same chair at the same worksurface. At Rolling Stock Yard, I can’t as the space changes week-to-week, depending on the nature of a meeting or task in hand – this I really enjoy.’

The Rolling Stock Yard space, as Jonathan mentioned, features Vitra’s Dancing Office by Swiss designer and architect Stephan Hürlemann. The system has been developed to include mobile multifunctional wall elements as a tool for agile working. The Dancing Walls at Rolling Stock Yard show how offices can be quickly and easily reconfigured to suit new requirements and processes with countless possibilities.

The new Alcove Plus by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec is also on show. The versatile Alcove elements create room-like spaces without the need for permanent fixtures and offer a place in the office to retreat, for concentrated work or to have meetings. Paravents can be easily attached with a zip fastener to connect Alcove units, creating

enclosed spaces or providing a screening function.

Furthermore, the already iconic Alcove has also been rethought from a sustainability perspective, with a number of durable fabrics added to the selection, while the modularity of the design has been enhanced to facilitate the replacement of Alcove Plus parts.

Tyde 2, another new piece by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, has an understated aesthetic and allows the user to alternate between sitting and standing positions for desk working, which, of course, has proven health benefits. A new bracket construction makes it possible to attach desk lamps, monitor arms and other accessories anywhere along the edge of the table top, enabling versatile configurations. Soundabsorbing screens are offered in a wide spectrum of colours, and the technical components underneath the top can be concealed with different covers or cable trays made of moulded polyester fleece, which are also acoustically effective.

international AC socket options

panda on-desk power charge a laptop with high-power 60w USB-C

+ 3-gang units available + various mounting options

scan me!

YELLOW PANDAS EXIST OE’s desktop PANDA HP pairs power with personality - available in 8 vibrant colour finishes & a multitude of socket configurations, including our 60W high-power USB-C TUF-R USB outlet*

we’ve been shortlisted!

For more information visit: oeelectrics.co.uk/animate or call 01924 367255

PANDA HP is just one of an entire range of power solutions that can be integrated as part of OE’s ANIMATE system - a complete electrical architecture that uses click & connect modules, combining AC and DC where each is best suited.

ANIMATE flexes to the needs of the individual user & answers to a new age of agile working; Because people need power everywhere and all the time. * POWER SUPPLY UNIT REQUIRED FOR 60W USB-C CAPABILITY

CASE STUDY Vitra

below The Dancing Office system shows how offices can be quickly and easily reconfigured to suit new requirements and processes

above The installation is a working showcase of how a highly flexible office can work

56 | Mix 214 July 2021

The ID Chair system by Antonio Citterio has been expanded with a new and highly breathable PU-foamfree seat – the first of its kind manufactured from 100% recyclable polyester fibres — also used in mattresses – as well as revised armrests, new colours and materials, and an even wider range of fabrics, supplemented with Reflect, a material made of recycled polyester, allowing customers to create configurations that are 100% recyclable. The newest member of the product family is the ID Cloud; its innovative backrest design combines a flexible membrane with a stable frame to enable a novel floating sensation for the sitter.

Key products on show from existing collections include the Rookie Office Chair, Citizen High Back Chair and Stool-Tool by Konstantin Grcic, Joyn Workstations by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, Soft Work by Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby and Tip Ton RE, also designed by Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby back in 2011 and now developed by Vitra in a new version made from upcycled household waste.

Additionally, but vitally for the true agility of the space, the innovative Multilane modular system, by Visplay, is suspended from the ceiling to provide power, offering the same level of flexibility as the furniture that sits beneath it.

The Vitra installation at Rolling Stock Yard is now open, with visits by appointment only.w

Client/Furniture Vitra Building Architect Squire & Partners Displays & Conferencing Technology Sharp NEC Flooring Quadrant Biophilia Indoor Garden Design Curtains Silent Gliss Acoustics The Collective

Serene & Serene Colour OUR LATEST CARPET TILE COLLECTION

Working from home has not only laid bare just how much we miss interaction with colleagues, but also how the office could and should support employees to work and feel better, so that they will want to return.

With this in mind, Tarkett has launched its stylish and innovative DESSO Serene & Serene Colour collection, to compliment the fast-paced nature of workplaces and offer complete design flexibility.

DESSO Serene & Serene Colour are 100% recyclable in Tarkett’s own carpet recycling centre, and are made from 100% regenerated ECONYL® yarn. www.tarkett.co.uk E: marketing@tarkett.com T: 0800 328 2115

For the office you will want to return to.

MIX ROUNDTABLE In partnership with Ege Carpets

58 | Mix 214 July 2021

MIX ROUNDTABLE In partnership with Ege Carpets

Waste lines While the subject of waste management (and the wider sustainability issue) remains a hot topic, despite a mere global pandemic, is the industry really doing enough – or is it merely a box ticking issue? Every manufacturer’s website will have a section relating to sustainability, waste management and, indeed, will show the certifications achieved.

But what do these certifications really mean? Do specifiers have a duty (and do they have the time and resources) to delve deeper into the subject? Are manufacturers doing enough to combat waste management – and where does/should the ‘line of duty’ fall? Together with our sponsor, Ege Carpets, we’ve not only gathered a crack team of industry experts at the flooring specialist’s beautiful Clerkenwell showroom to discuss the subject, we’ve even invited – for the very first time – a safely and socially distanced audience to listen in.

W

e start by asking our ‘resident’ specialist on all things waste management about his own role and expertise.

Adnan: I manage and run Carpet Recycling UK. Although we’ve got recycling in our name, we are not a recycling company – we are a membership organisation.

I also work in the waste industry as a consultant, with about 20 years’ experience in the sector. We’re here to help and support our members – of which Ege is one of our core funders – and to help them promote their sustainable ideas, designs and products and, of course, help them divert as much waste into reuse and recycling applications and away from landfill.

While we have Adnan in full flow, we ask him to give us his views on where the industry is now at in terms of waste management and recycling – and, in particular, about the terminology used today.

Adnan: The terminology is definitely developing – not only from the carpet manufacturing side but also from the waste industry side. Landfill diversion was the key topic in the 1990s-2000s. It was all about diverting material from landfill – that’s where we really started.

Then we were introduced to recycling. We received all these bins at home, we quickly got confused – and we’re still confused today! But it is developing. What we would class as straightforward recycling is actually now being classed as downcycling. What we are now seeing is more

and more terminology coming in to replace recycling, which is being replaced by the Circular Economy. For me, in practical terms, the vital thing here is that you can get another life out of a product as opposed to the alternative – which is that it’s going to be buried into the ground.

This isn’t necessarily easy, but it is progressive. We’ve been pushing ahead as a sector for a long time, but – because it’s waste – it’s someone else’s problem. The duty of care has to remain with everyone within the supply chain. It’s a continued responsibility.

Lewis: I do think that we, as designers, do have a huge responsibility here, but ultimately it does come back to the manufacturer. If a manufacturer does not create a product that can be part of a circular economy, then how are we expected to implement and push it? There needs to be a good enough range of products out there, which can be reused.

Josie: Ultimately, we have a responsibility to choose which manufacturers we use – we don’t have to use a manufacturer that doesn’t take the circular economy seriously.

Adnan: The first question we have to ask is about prevention; prevention is the best solution to it all. It’s the first thing we should be looking at. Therefore, there is a responsibility on manufacturers to produce products with recycling in mind – however, this should be part of everyone’s journey and if everyone buys into this concept then it soon feeds its way down.

In partnership with

MIX ROUNDTABLE In partnership with Ege Carpets

Richard: We do, as manufacturers, have a responsibility. As Adnan says, every stakeholder has a duty – client, specifier, manufacturer, contractor, and at every step of the process.

Specifiers are in a strong position as they have scope to influence and educate their clients, but is the client willing?

At Ege, sustainability and the environment is something we have been focused on for over 20 years and we have worked towards numerous certifications and standards, but for us as a business I would say Cradle to Cradle is the most important and underscores our targets and ambitions for the next 10 years. Whilst all that we manufacture currently achieves a minimum of Cradle to Cradle Bronze, our next goal is for ALL carpets to achieve Cradle to Cradle Gold by 2025 and Platinum in 2030. Unlike others, we do not believe in cherry picking one or two products to give consumers a ‘sustainable option’ – for us it really is all or nothing.

Paul: We all have a responsibility here – and we all have the ability to take on the onus and take on that responsibility. My job is to understand all the things that people like Adnan tell us – that I’d never heard up until five minutes ago – and to understand them, and then tell my team about it, and then tell my clients, and then my clients tell their staff…so that responsibility is spread across all of us. My daughter, who is seven years old, is now telling me things about the earth – she’s educating me and already sharing that responsibility with me. I work for a company who works incredibly hard (and pushes manufacturers incredibly hard) to only offer our designers things that are pleasant to the earth, as much as they can be. If they are not, we will not offer them to our clients.

Josie: We actually ban stuff from our library now, to ensure that we’re only presenting the ‘right’ products to our clients.

So how do specifiers navigate this oftentricky path?

they naturally want to develop these products.

We, as designers, might not have the time and resources to fully concentrate on this, but we do have sustainability teams who do that for us.

The sustainability team at tp bennett will send out a really detailed questionnaire, and if they don’t fill that out, then they won’t get on the list. If they do, then they go into a traffic light system.

Magda: We have tried to create our own rating system because there are so many certifications and it can be extremely confusing. There is so much to consider in every product – from VOCs to recycled content – but also where they come from and emissions. It is a difficult thing, and it does take time.

Josie: We’ve done something similar. The way we boiled it down is that it feels to us that carbon is the best thing to measure in terms of overall output. You do find companies who tell you their products are all-natural, but then you look at where they are shipped from! Some products are made in India, shipped to America and then shipped back to Europe – the carbon footprint of that far exceeds whether it is a recycled product.

Lewis: This matters to our clients – a lot of them are investing an awful lot into this and really pushing it. They need to know whether the products we’re putting forward are going to get them their credits – and that’s a really nice thing because I have worked on projects where the client doesn’t care. Like we said earlier, we all have responsibility here.

Paul: When I started designing, there wasn’t a system at all – it’s good that there now is a system. In fact, there are probably four that you can choose from – and some are better than others. But it is nice to see that there is care out there – it’s definitely getting better and better.

Josie: Sometimes you have conversations where the manufacturer will ask us what it is we are looking for in a product, and they will then try to develop that because they do need to make sales.

Ashley: The certifications definitely help because they hold people accountable for the products they put forward. These have pushed manufacturers to think about what they put into their products. They know they’re not going to get put forward onto projects if they don’t do this.

Lewis: It actually makes the company more attractive to us – because we then know that

So it can be tricky for the specifier, but what about the manufacturer?

60 | Mix 214 July 2021

“

If a manufacturer does not create a product that can be part of a circular economy, then how are we expected to implement and push it?

” Richard: As a manufacturer it is easier to control/influence sustainability upstream, but downstream, after supply, is where the challenges lie, especially end of life with waste disposal. A key part is what we use in our products and a carpet can contain hundreds of elements and we are working to switch them both to recycled and recyclable – for example, our Ecotrust tile backing is from 100% plastic bottle waste (PET), unlike a conventional bitumen back using bitumen, fillers, PVC and fiber glass that can be impossible to separate.

The Holy Grail is a single polymer carpet, where it is made of one material and thus requires no separation.

In terms of downstream influence, there are ideas to explore – such as product leasing or a deposit system where the manufacturer is more involved later in the product’s life, but this would be a fundamental shift from the industry norm here in the UK. Speaking of the UK, where do we sit in the global table when it comes to a responsible, sustainable approach?

Magda: It’s quite difficult to judge because there are different certifications and there are different attitudes. I would say that we do speak so much more about the subject in the UK – it is still a really hot topic. When it comes to working with clients overseas, there is certainly more educating necessary! Also, there was a certain degree of education for me because in places such as Saudi Arabia there are a lot of great materials you can specify that I’m not used to putting into my designs! So there was definitely learning on both sides.

Ashley: Government legislation can definitely help. If you look at the US – in California, for example, there are really strict regulations

MIX ROUNDTABLE In partnership with Ege Carpets

In partnership with

MIX ROUNDTABLE In partnership with Ege Carpets

and everybody knows that and if you are designing in California you simply have to meet those regulations. Other states will then look to meet those standards. It also depends on the sector – I don’t think I’ve ever worked on a hotel project where the client was particularly interested in sustainability. I had one restaurant client who was really into it and one football operations facility in South Carolina who wasn’t interested at all. There is much more interest in offices – but it really does depend on the place and the sector.

Adnan: Carpet Recycling UK was actually formed on the back of a model from California – and they are so strict because of the regulation. I think there’s an assumption here in the UK that we’re behind the curve – but that’s not necessarily true. We are doing some great stuff. We could be doing even more, but there’s a definite step in the right direction – and that’s only going to move on with future generations.

Josie: But we definitely can’t rest on our laurels. We do need to do a lot more – just because we’re doing better than other countries, it doesn’t mean we can start sitting back.

Richard: Here in the UK, we are fortunate to be a leader in respect of diverting carpets from landfill, a large part of this is

62 | Mix 214 July 2021

thanks to CRUK – something Ege is proud to be a partner and founding member of.

Adnan: Although the carpet sector is making great strides moving forward with its design for recycling concepts initiatives and products, it is through you good people – the designers and architects – to help push the story forward to provide such alternative products to your clients. Only then will I get my hands on the waste that is generated…okay, I may have to wait a little bit.

Conclusion

It is not just the carpet industry that is making strides forward – there is now a general acknowledgement throughout the sector (and beyond) that we must do more when it comes to waste management and the wider sustainable picture. After all, we are today’s custodians of this planet and we have a collective responsibility for future generations – as individuals and as organisations, whether that is as client, specifier, manufacturer, contractor, trade body or government. What is certain is that this ‘trend’ is not going anywhere – in fact, it will continue to be at the forefront of thinking as new generations of makers and designers take over.w

MIX ROUNDTABLE In partnership with Ege Carpets

Meet our guests

Magda Iwanska

Adnan Zeb-Khan

Josie Lees

Lewis Huff

Magda’s professional journey from set and costume designer to interior designer has helped her develop a unique perspective on the design process, with a strong focus on concept design, sustainability initiatives and BIM work. Where she used to design and construct her own sets and furniture, she is now working on a broad range of large-scale design projects around the world, such as the Diriyah Gate Food Hall in Riyadh, The Royal Albert Hall in London, the Adygea Shopping Centre in Russia and the Haldun Universitesi in Istanbul.

Adnan has a wealth of waste management experience spanning over 20 years. He has worked in both the private and public sector on projects ranging from developing waste management strategies through to designing collection services and recycling centres. In his role at Carpet Recycling UK, he supports technical innovation, taking carpet recycling into new market sectors. Adnan holds Chartered Membership of the Institution of Wastes Management and has a degree in Manufacturing Management plus a Prince 2 Project Management qualification.

Josie is a Senior Designer at MCM. She has over eight years’ experience across commercial interiors and high-end residential projects, and was selected as one of Mix’s 30 under 30 in 2020. Josie’s big passion is sustainability, and she champions this on every project she is involved in, from material selection to the way we work. Josie was one of the founders of Interior Design Declares, a declaration of the climate and biodiversity emergency for our industry – and a pledge to do better.

Lewis joined tp bennett in 2015.

Working predominantly in the tech and finance sectors, most notably for Societe Generale’s new London HQ, Lewis oversaw a huge behavioural and aesthetic change for the bank, who moved to a fully agile and biophilic workspace. With a particular interest in workspace wellness and the science and psychology behind the way we use space, Lewis’ number one goal is to create spaces that not only look great but are inherently useful.

Interior Designer BDP

Scheme Manager Carpet Recycling UK

Senior Designer MCM

Associate Director tp bennett

Paul Dare

Ashley Thomas-Pate

Richard Strong

As an accomplished interior designer with a background in architectural consultancy, Paul has over 20 years’ experience in the design industry and currently leads Morgan Lovell’s team of creative designers and visualisers. He has been instrumental in creating innovative and forward-thinking workplaces across London and Europe.

Ashley is an award-winning interior designer who is LEED accredited and NCIDQ certified. She has nearly 10 years’ industry experience in both the UK and the US, working on projects all around the world.

Ashley is a highly valued lead designer at HLW with a keen eye for detail and a passion for sustainable design.

Richard has been working with design-led commercial interior

Head of Design Morgan Lovell

Interior Designer HLW

Southern Regional Manager Ege Carpets

finishes for over 12 years. Today he is Ege Carpets’ Southern Regional Manager, leading a team with a vision of creating beautifully designed carpets for a sustainable future.

In partnership with

This is the one When our friends at Oktra told us that they have delivered a record-breaking new project, our curiosities were naturally aroused. Originally built in the 80’s, One Portsoken Street is 233,000 sq ft of premium office space for a range of tenants. That’s right, 233,000 sq ft! Located on the edge of the City of London, the iconic Brutalist building is ideally connected to both London’s financial sector and creative industries.

CASE STUDY One Portsoken

T

he UK’s largest design and build project is now complete and ready for occupation. The project redefines the boundaries of design and build by gutting the nine-storey building and filling what was once one of the largest atriums in Europe.

The result is a 20% increase in premium lettable space without the need to build any extra floors.

‘We’ve fused the defining characteristics of design and build with comparatively traditional delivery and management processes in order to deliver the largest project in UK design and build history,’ explains Craig Smith, Oktra’s Chief Development Officer. ‘The result is a redefinition of what’s possible in design and build: One Portsoken is a groundbreaking project for Oktra and for the London design and build market. It’s a great thing to be involved in.

‘In order to deliver Portsoken, we reviewed our typical management and procurement processes across the business, creating a hybrid delivery process that combines the core elements of

design and build with comparatively traditional methods,’ we’re told. ‘By fusing the strengths of both traditions, Oktra’s operational culture is evolving to embody the best of D&B and traditional procurement.’

Oktra was selected for the project by Alfred Equities, a forward-thinking developer with the foresight to recognise the incredible potential of One Portsoken Street and the vision to utilise a construction method that reduced the developer’s risk while achieving practical completion in record time.

We’re told that Oktra already had a strong relationship with Alfred Equities, and that the client first became excited with the design and build model after seeing the impressive One Alie Street scheme in Aldgate.

The brief for the project was to redevelop the whole property at scale, transforming it from a problem building for the area into a sleek and beautifully developed property ready to

be launched in today’s work environment and industry. The building was initially scheduled for demolition, and intended to form the site of the new Butterfly Building, but instead Oktra’s team made it their design mission to enhance the landmark character of this building, to preserve and retain its statement 80s architecture, reinvigorating this unique building.

Within easy reach and access of London’s financial sector and creative industries – it is conveniently surrounded by Tower Hill, Tower Gateway, Aldgate and Aldgate East underground stations – the reworked One Portsoken features a lively public ground floor and landscaped open space, boasting various public amenities including cafés, restaurants, a flower shop, a bicycle repair shop, medical practice and coworking offering.

One Portsoken Street is in the process of achieving a ‘Very Good’ rating from BREEAM, the world’s leading sustainability assessment method.

100% of site waste was diverted from landfill;

The refurbishment features bold design features while retaining core structural elements

Mix 214 July 2021 | 65

CASE STUDY One Portsoken

below Floorplate sizes range from 10,000 to 30,000 sq ft and are designed to accommodate up to three separate tenants

99.35% of waste was recycled, while the other 0.65% was incinerated to produce energy. These recycling efforts reduced the project’s carbon emissions by 73%.

The refurbishment has involved the restoration of One Portsoken’s original design elements in order to preserve the building’s history, with all modern finishes kept neutral in order to complement the design. Standout elements include circular turrets, exposed concrete, terracotta floor tiles, exposed steel beams and sweeping London views from the top floor, which features the original atrium’s glass ceiling.

Floorplate sizes range from 10,000 to 30,000 sq ft and are designed to accommodate up to three separate tenants. The building features impressive ceiling heights ranging from 3-10

metres and improved destination control with nine new lifts and a striking lobby space with a two-and-a-half-storey atrium.

‘For Oktra to efficiently deliver such a comprehensive refurbishment project in the midst of a pandemic is truly a remarkable feat,’ says Alfred Equities Development Coordinator, Chad Frey. ‘Working with a nimble and forwardthinking contractor allowed us to adapt our scheme to current occupier demands and deliver a top-tier office product with superior amenities and an enhanced focus on technology, wellbeing and sustainability. Oktra’s ability to merge creative design solutions with technical expertise and an exceptional level of client service makes them a very unique D&B contractor and a tremendous value to our platform.’

Oktra is now working with property brands, Compton, Cushman & Wakefield and Noble Harris LLP to let the space.

‘I had always walked past the old Lloyd’s building and admired its Brutalist style, so when the opportunity came to work on its regeneration, I couldn’t have been more delighted,’ Monika Passey, Lead Designer for One Portsoken, recalls.

‘The project has had its challenges but, equally, that’s part of what has made it so exciting. As we come to the end of three years at One Portsoken, it makes me immensely proud to see the design and the client’s vision coming together.’

The designers at Oktra worked with the client and agents to develop a more technical brief in conjunction with their initial brief. Oktra’s team, led by Monika, worked with the client to develop

The upper floors of the nine-storey building offer stunning views across London

“

For Oktra to efficiently deliver such a comprehensive refurbishment project in the midst of a pandemic is truly a remarkable feat

” 66 | Mix 214 July 2021

CASE STUDY One Portsoken

concepts for the utilisation of the ground floor space, with indepth visibility studies conducted in order to test all outcomes before deciding on a final design.

The final build features a design specifically intended to elevate instead of overpower the original building’s character.

Drawing inspiration from the nearby Barbican centre, Oktra retained core structural elements, such as exposed concrete and striking orange steel beams as standout features, helping to make this a building at home in its location between the City and local creative and tech hub, Shoreditch. Visually attractive elements, such as the delicate curved entrance canopy, bring an injection of colour against the more monolithic façade and neutral colour palette, and highlight the beauty of the original curved concrete steps.

Oktra maximised what was once Europe’s largest atrium, by adding a number of pile foundations into the infilled space, creating a striking space that is now home to some of the largest floorplates in the City of London’s demanding market, and increasing the overall square footage from 195,000 sq ft to 235,000 sq ft with no demolition or construction of any extra floors – with the atrium infill which added an additional 40,000 sq ft space. The upgrade of the façade and increase in window size has improved the quality and amount of light by around 25%, promoting occupant wellbeing by welcoming more of that natural light and views of the City skyline into the space.

Clear communication between Oktra’s teams and the client enabled advanced procurement, especially in the initial lockdown, to ensure that construction continued to run smoothly despite the challenges of Brexit and COVID-19. The commercial team worked closely with Oktra’s partners to

above The iconic One Portsoken is ideally connected to both London’s financial sector and creative industries

right

The design of the space pays homage original building’s character

“

I had always walked past the old Lloyd’s building and admired its Brutalist style, so when the opportunity came to work on its regeneration, I couldn’t have been more delighted

” 68 | Mix 214 July 2021

CASE STUDY One Portsoken

below A spectacular terrace overlooks the Tower of London and the City’s skyscrapers

above Careful design details, material choices and branding details have given the landmark property a new lease of life

70 | Mix 214 July 2021

secure long lead items and mitigate future risk for component shortage or material shortages, such as the UK-wide steel shortage, which they also faced during this project.

The final Cat A+ refurbishment features bold design features and a sleek overall feel, marrying grand elements like elevated ceilings and exposed girders with careful design details, material choices and branding details, and giving this landmark property a new lease of life.

Of course, any project of this scale and magnitude comes with its challenges (COVID, Brexit etc aside). For a start, projects of this size and complexity are of course usually reserved for more traditional companies. Also, TFL owned the land under the building for future underground development, which meant Oktra had to design around future tunnel structures.

We ask our friends at Oktra to tell us about their favourite element(s) of the new space?

‘The creation of the terrace that overlooks the Tower of London and London’s skyscrapers,’ says Craig.

‘The way we have kept the standout elements, such as the circular turrets and exposed concrete,’ considers Monika.

‘The roof garden and the atrium infill,’ adds Dominic Dugan.

Well, one thing is for certain, there’s plenty to like about the One Portsoken scheme. w

Architect & Interior Design Oktra Main Contractor Oktra Project Manager Quartz Planning Consultant DP9 Structural Engineer MLM Building Control & Fire Consultant MLM Mechanical Sub-contractor Celsius Electrical Sub-contractor MALA Flooring Affinity Flooring Joinery J Carey Design

Parklife Auckland’s Park Hyatt hotel offers a modern take on New Zealand’s iconic natural beauty and strong multicultural heritage, delivering distinctive luxury and sense of place.

Upon arrival, guests enter a striking reception area, taking them from an intimate porte cochère into a dramatic full-height atrium. images: simon devitt

CASE STUDY Park Hyatt Hotel Auckland

below The Captain’s Bar: envisaged as a version of a harbourside pub but layered with Park Hyatt’s sophistication

The central core features a new stylish black steel staircase

O

verlooking Auckland’s Waitematā Harbour, the impressive seven-storey hotel offers four restaurants and bars, flexible event spaces, a day spa, swimming pool and gym – all wrapped up in Park Hyatt’s own concept of luxury, reflecting the brand’s contemporary and elegant nature.

Striking a careful balance between the urban landscape and New Zealand’s rich heritage, Conran and Partners’ design approach has been inspired by the surrounding harbour’s strong sense of place and the hotel’s close relationship to the vibrant city’s urban grain, as well as the

maritime character of the area and multicultural society.

The client’s brief was to create a collection of unique but connected spaces with an unmistakable identity and a unifying sense of place. Each space within the new hotel, including the extensive F&B offering, has its own identity while being consistent with the overarching concept. ‘We have created a seamless journey through the series of spaces, contrasting dramatic volumes with intimate spaces,’ says the team.

‘On the whole we have sought to use natural

“

The client’s brief was to create a collection of unique but connected spaces with an unmistakable identity.

” Mix 214 July 2021 | 73

CASE STUDY Park Hyatt Hotel Auckland

and locally sourced materials, with references to Māori heritage and its arts and crafts, contrasted with modern influences from Europe and Asia scattered throughout.’

Conran and Partners’ design for the guestrooms is inspired by nautical references with a warm palette of timber and fabrics and furniture inbuilt, as if on a yacht. The rooms have bespoke rugs based on Māori patterns: a custom woven fabric panel developed by a local iwi (people or tribe).

Working with the local iwi, large original works by Peata Larkin and woven tukutuku panels, created by artist Beronia Scott and her whānau (a complex Māori word meaning extended family or community) from the Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei, were commissioned to really cement the hotel in its location, giving a unique sense of place.

‘We were mindful to preserve the local culture and values of the Māori – the sustainability approach has therefore had a very strong cultural presence,’ we’re told. ‘Designed to reflect a wharenui meeting house, our design ensured the guests were engaged with authentic, local culture and that Māori artists and businesses were at the forefront of the design.

Client Conran and Partners Architecture AR+D and Bossley Architects Interior Design Conran and Partners Suppliers Plumbline, Firth, Vienna Woods, PDL by Schneider Electric, Sto NZ, Living Flame, Allproof, Advance Flooring Systems, PSP, Metrix Bathrooms, Markham The entrance to the signature Onemata restaurant

74 | Mix 214 July 2021

CASE STUDY Park Hyatt Hotel Auckland

‘Given the hotel’s location, we were also very mindful to source materials locally and sustainably where possible, to minimise the carbon associated with shipping materials overseas. The design adopts a refined palette with natural materials like stone and timber used throughout.’

Being a country with such a green reputation, New Zealand has extremely strict sustainability requirements, which the team had to adhere to from the outset. The overall design includes two large rainwater retention tanks, rooftop solar panels and green walls with hanging gardens, which were integrated during construction.

Upon arrival, guests enter a striking reception area, taking them from an intimate porte cochère into a dramatic full-height atrium – revealing the bold architectural concept of open corridors and central courtyards. To create a human scale in such a grand

and open space, the reception is housed in a pavilion, which is anchored by the tukutuku woven screen.

On the ground floor, visitors mix with locals in the numerous public areas that surround the atrium and face out onto the harbourside and its public boardwalk.

Among these spaces is the Pantry, which faces the street and invites locals in, while The Living Room offers a contemporary twist on the lobby, with relaxed lounge furniture arranged on two levels looking out over the harbourside. The signature restaurant Onemata looks out onto harbour and sea from its prime corner location, and features a welcoming - yet minimal - interior, including an intimate private dining room.

‘It was important to us that, as well as being visually striking, the hotel was functional from an operational perspective,’ Conran explains. ‘We have therefore drawn on our decades of hospitality design

“

Designed to reflect a wharenui meeting house, our design ensured the guests were engaged with authentic, local culture and that Māori artists and businesses were at the forefront of the design

”

above On the ground floor, visitors mix with locals in the numerous public areas that surround the atrium, anchored by a bespoke full-width Māori tukutuku woven screen

76 | Mix 214 July 2021

CASE STUDY Park Hyatt Hotel Auckland

to ensure that every design consideration was made with functionality in mind. Since opening, the hotel has been able to easily adapt to COVID restrictions, while ensuring that the 5* level of service and overall guest experience was not compromised.

‘With a typical Hyatt guest and their needs in mind, we have sought to provide a variety of considered and playful spaces, each with its own identity. Every journey for every type of guest or visitor has informed the design.’

It was key that (despite being a 29,000 sq m, vast hotel) wayfinding and the visitor journey throughout the variety of spaces and facilities was simple and logical, with each space naturally owing from one another, but also being expressive and exciting, with shifts in volume and atmosphere throughout. This consideration of how the hotel operates has been at the forefront of all design decisions, making the guest experience as seamless and enjoyable as possible.

‘The hotel’s atmosphere reflects the easy-going outlook which Kiwis are famed for,’ the team concludes.

‘Nonetheless, we have created a luxury hotel setting with a difference, balancing industrial gutsiness and urban references with locally-sourced, natural materials and Māori craft.’w

above The guest rooms have bespoke rugs based on Māori patterns: a custom woven fabric panel developed by a local iwi.

right The Pantry

“

The hotel’s atmosphere reflects the easy-going outlook which Kiwis are famed for

”

78 | Mix 214 July 2021

THE FINAL WORD

Teabag of change Mike Walley’s cup always appears to be half-full – but is it half-full of the right drink?

I

Mike Walley is Senior Director of Global Real Estate & Workplace Strategy at Criteo 80 | Mix 214 July 2021

was pondering change the other day, and how much effort is required to deflect us from our daily routines. This thinking came about as I made tea one morning, in that four-minute gap between the multiple Zoom calls that my working day currently comprises. I reached for the jar with the round teabags in it, safe in the knowledge they contained a certain supermarket’s finest Assam tea. A splash of milk and a soupçon of sugar later, I grabbed a hurried sip as I headed back up the stairs to my spare room office, only to discover I did not have a cup of Assam, but had somehow ended up with Earl Grey, my wife’s cup of choice. I know it’s a sophisticated and delicate brew, but sadly, to my palette, it tastes like aftershave – and not in a good way.

It turned out that there were now two glass jars with round teabags in them, as my wife had changed the brand she drank and the new one also had round bags. I made this mistake on three more occasions over the next couple of weeks, even knowing full well that there was a change to the situation and, in the end, I had to change the type of jar in which my teabags were kept, ensuring it didn’t keep happening.

Change management is part of my daily life now, as we shift our company to hybrid working (the working week split between home and office) and rebuild several of our offices to support this. I have learnt that there are changes that can be understood intellectually and be accommodated for quite easily and then there are ones that are the equivalent to the great teabag problem. They will need some time, effort and even some compromise to succeed, and I am often astounded how hard it can be to nudge people into a new way of thinking.

This week it has been adjacencies. Otherwise known as the ‘my team has to sit next to that team’ problem. I confess I wasted a bit of time thinking about this before I realised adjacencies are a big Red Herring.

If the office is now a place of connection, where we come to meet people, engage with peers from across the company and maintain social connection, why does it matter who sits next to whom? Surely, we are going to be much more mobile around the space and the needs we had for being close to a particular group are met by Zoom and other on-line communication methods?

Trouble was, it was not me I had to convince. There are a lot of people for whom (metaphorically) Assam teabags are round and anything else tastes like a mouthful of aftershave. This is where the change management specialists come into play, and I think they will have their work cut out for them.

People, it seems, can hold two conflicting ideas at the same time. They will embrace a new shared space working style and in the next breath ask where their office will be. Applaud the adoption of a ‘work at home’ policy and then complain they can’t get their team into the office.

I am looking forward to the journey our change specialists will take us on over the next year, and to see how they change people’s perception of the challenges ahead. People can be very enthusiastic about change until they realise its meant to impact them as well – not just happen to other people.

I’ll let you know how it goes. They might even get me drinking Earl Grey.w

Capsule Plus is a fixed format power module offering 2x UK sockets with individual neon switches, resettable 3A circuit breakers, a dual port Type A/C adaptive fast charger with a maximum shared PD65W, the charger can power your laptops, tablets and smart phones. www.cmd-ltd.com

Connecting Power, People and Organisations