Workplace Wellness

Employee wellness is high on the agenda for our clients. A happy employee is more productive, stays with the company longer and helps to instill company culture in all that they do. A key part of our projects include creating beautiful spaces for teams to recharge, relax, socialise and eat together. This is far more than the old school ‘office canteen’. This is about embedding company culture into the design of your workplace so that your team’s work life fits with your core company Values.

Our FitWel ambassador Harriet explains:

“Holistic health is really important in the modern workplace. Our projects have to consider the mental, physical and social impact that they will have on the future occupants. This consideration of health and wellness throughout the pre-con, design and construction will be pivotal in shaping the future of our workforce.”

We help our clients to plan and incorporate their workplace wellness goals into our designs. Where possible we encourage wellness rooms, mixed faith private rooms, gyms, purpose built outdoor spaces and biophilic design. Breakout areas serve as multipurpose venues for recharging, refuelling but also provide space for collaboration, informal meetings, all hands meets and training.

Here are some of the ways we’ve helped our clients achieve their wellbeing goals recently;

Energy Aspects wanted their new workplace in Canary Wharf to offer facilities that are as good as working from home, if not better. Together we created a well-appointed kitchen area so that catering could be easily delivered from within the office space. Adjacent to this we designed a large bar area with a central island that is fully equipped with beer taps, soft drinks fridges and snacks. The bar area has a proper barista coffee machine which is manned by a professional barista. The seating area is a mix of bar height, table seating and sofas which offer panoramic views around Canary Wharf. The spaces are used throughout the day by the team for lunches, catch ups and coffee breaks. The bar enables the team to have after work drinks from the convenience of their workplace whilst offering the space required for international all-hands meetings, utilising the multi-media wall. A wellness room was a key priority, creating a queit, reflective space where their team can take wellness breaks to recuperate throughout the working day.

The breakout area at Energy Aspects, Canary Wharf

At Croxsons, a global, premium glass bottles supplier, we created a bespoke bar area in the middle of the open plan workspace. It is a multipurpose space which offers space to showcase their clients’’ products whilst being a destination for the team to have after work drinks, gatherings and parties. On top of this, Croxsons has a large kitchen and breakout space at the back of the workplace. It boasts a kitchen large enough to cater for the full team and to be used for external charity events, serving the local community. Their wellness goals extend far beyond the workplaces’ impact on team, Croxsons are concerned will how they fit into the wider Sutton community and often invite external, third sector organisations to use their workplace for events.

The bar at Croxsons, Sutton

Amicus Therapuetics are a global biotechnology and pharmaceutical brand so employee wellness has always been of utmost importance to them. Their new workplace in Marlow includes a fully equipped wellbeing suite with a gym, a studio and a games room. Moving your body throughout the day is vital to maintaining health and having facilities to do this on site encourages healthy lifestyle choices with in the team. Moreover, an earthy colourpalette creates a calming aesthetic throughout the workplace. Feature wallpaper and lighting enhance the working areas, cultivating a spacious and airy environment. Biophilic design introduces a living moss wall, bringing the natural world inside the workplace.

The gym and studio at Amicus Therapeuitics, Marlow

At leading law firm, Irwin Mitchell, our workplace refurbishments in Birmingham, Bristol and Southampton we designed and built stunning breakout areas with ample kitchens in each. These breakout areas had to be large enough for the whole team to comfortably take breaks as well as being kitted out to the highest standard so that their busy, hard working lawyers could refuel throughout the working day.

The breakout area at Irwin Mitchell, Bristol

Investec, world leading wealth management bank, were looking to improve their existing facilities at their Reading office to bring it inline with the Investec brand and culture. They needed a workplace that their team loved to come to with breakout areas large enough to accommodate the 200+ team. We used biophilic design to bring plant life into the breakout areas. Biophilia is proven to improve employee wellbeing by bringing the outside world into the work environment.

One of the breakout areas at Investec, Reading

Wellness goals can equally be incorporated into outdoor projects. At Two Waterside Drive we designed and built a beautiful, outdoor communal seating area. The curved design, centred around a pine tree encourages people to meet and enjoy the outdoors space throughout the working day.

The landscaped, outdoor seating area at Two Waterside Drive