An office makeover for 42 Technology
The product development and engineering consultancy 42 Technology, based in St Ives, approached us to assist with a complete revamp of their offices and development laboratories recently. The intention was to increase Covid-19 security and enable staff to return to collaborative work in the offices safely. The ‘top to toe’ refurbishment included new office layouts, additional lab space and lots of changes within the building to help improve staff safety, health and productivity, while current working restrictions are in place and beyond.
Dr Zane van Romunde, health and safety manager at 42 Technology and head of the consultancy’s industrial and transport sectors, believed that the timing was perfect: ‘The reduced loading within our offices over the last few months has given us the perfect opportunity to invest in upgrading our facilities,’ he said. ‘For some of the multi-disciplinary collaborative R&D projects we take on, there’s no simple substitute for office working. Our objective with the office makeover has been to ensure that whenever staff feel they can work more effectively here rather than at home, then they can come into the office without hesitation. And at the same time, 42 Technology is now ready for all staff to return whenever they need to.’
To help free up as much internal space as possible, 42 Technology has taken additional offsite storage and converted the top floor of its building, which was previously occupied by meeting and storage rooms, to accommodate 20 staff workstations. All desks are spaced well apart across two floors and face the same way to enable social distanced working. Two additional open-plan kitchens have been installed to avoid the risk of overcrowding, every employee has their own personal locker, and extra showers have been put in as more staff are cycling to work rather than travelling by public transport.
The company has also reconfigured its development laboratories to create more space and has introduced horseshoe-shaped work bays, where each project has its own bay to limit people having to move around. In addition, 42 Technology’s in-house development facilities have been further expanded with a new dedicated electronics laboratory area elsewhere within the building. This new laboratory will allow each electronics engineer to have their own personal work zone with their desk, lab bench and R&D equipment all next to each other.
Here at Alexander Green we were delighted to be commissioned to carry out the design work and to create an environment in which the different 42 Technology teams are able to work collaboratively, but in a Covid-safe manner. As Lee Alexander, owner of Alexander Green, observes, companies all over the UK are starting to think about the return to work and what the future of the office might look like. ‘Many of our existing clients are looking to embrace agile working and the concept of the New Normal in terms of the configuration of desks, and the design and layout of public areas, meeting rooms, canteens and social areas. With decades of experience in contemporary office design, we’re now across all the requirements for Covid-safe working and we can bring this expertise to bear in reconfiguring offices of all sizes. Not only that, we can also supply a wide choice of office desks, office seating and contemporary storage from a range of quality suppliers.’
Alexander Green provide office design, office furniture and bespoke desktop and freestanding viral screens in Cambridge and Royston, and across the UK, so please call us on 01763 500115 or complete our enquiry form to request a quotation.
You can learn more about 42 Technology here.
