The new corporate home for our global insurance client marks a significant shift as they move into the light and modern surroundings of 22 Bishopsgate.
The client team set out to create a calm, light-filled and thoughtfully detailed workplace, with enhanced acoustics and comfortable facilities to support employee experience.
Sitting as a central driver to the project’s success, the acoustic requirements saw the team treating every meeting room with high levels of acoustic absorption, including wall-mounted panel installation to support better soundproofing.
But meeting the required benchmarks did not come without its challenges. Noise generated by the CRAC cooling units in the communications room made achieving the desired acoustics difficult. This paired with the presence of a pre-action sprinkler added further coordination complexity. The team worked closely with the client to adjust the operating performance of the CRAC units by reducing fan speeds from 66 to 48, delivering significant acoustic enhancements while still maintaining effective cooling.
Meeting the project’s fire safety ratings also presented significant challenges. To meet the compliance regulations, two storerooms had to be repurposed into offices, using glass partitions in place of solid walls. With existing landlord services running through the ceiling void, slab-to-slab construction not possible. This required careful coordination between the architectural and MEP teams to resolve the issue without compromising the overall design intent.
Despite the technical intricacies, the project received positive feedback from the client and relationships between the client, consultant and delivery teams remained strong throughout. Our project team were also praised on the results of their ISO audit, which was returned with no requested changes, reflecting the strength of the processes on site.
The finished product is a modern office space, with clean and contemporary features, including:
- A bright and welcoming reception area
- Front of house meeting suite
- New furniture, including height-adjustable desks throughout
- A series of enclosed executive offices
- Internal meeting rooms providing quieter settings for focused work and confidential discussions
- A 24-person boardroom, paired with a spill-over meeting room which also functions as a breakout space
- Staff tea point and booth seating area adjacent to the breakout space
- Combined pantry and kitchen area with cooking facilities
- A dedicated wellness room providing space for rest and reflection
- Storerooms for facilities management and cleaning
The success of the project has been largely due to the team’s well-established and positive relationship with building management at 22 Bishopsgate, thanks to their extensive previous experience working in the building.
This support proved invaluable when noise transmission through the floor became a concern as the event space below previously had its acoustic protection removed. The team worked closely with building management to manage this challenge with minimal disruption.
Beyond the project delivery, the project team strengthened relationships through a series of client events and an education series hosted in the space with our consultant partner, JLL.
The teams also showed alignment on supporting sustainability goals, donating all samples to local art colleges to reduce waste.
At handover, the project was met with genuine appreciation from the client, marked by a project handover event and thank you lunch.
Reflecting on the process, Kim Butler, Project Manager at Structure Tone, commented: “This was a lovely project. We worked through any challenges collaboratively and the client team made it a really smooth process for us. They’ve been fantastic to work with.”
