Design & Build•Design Services•Furniture•Project Management

From functional to flexible: Revitalising a lower ground floor workspace

Financial Client, London

Flexible Workplace Hub

Biophilic Office Design

Transforming a Tired Basement Office into a Vibrant Workplace Hub.

A London financial firm partnered with East On Projects to revitalise their tired lower ground floor office. The challenge was to transform a cold, narrow, and purely functional room into a vibrant, multi-purpose environment that would encourage staff to return to the office. By introducing warm, earthy tones, adaptable furniture, and striking material elements like moss walls, the design successfully counteracts the space’s natural limitations. The result is a highly flexible hub designed to bring colleagues together for everything from theatre-style presentations to relaxed, bistro-style social events.

The East On Projects team recently unveiled their latest design for a financial client in London. Here we learn a bit more from our client about how the plans came about and how the brief was interpreted:

Could you tell us about how the project came about?

This refurbishment focused on part of lower ground floor of our building; we’ve been here for 10 years, and the room needed a refresh after all that time because its use had evolved. We had inherited the previous tenant’s Cat B fit out and of course a lower ground floor space has its issues, so we had a lot to consider.

Were changes in working practices a factor here?

Yes, we had moved teams in from another office in London so had a larger headcount to take into account and with agile working coming, we wanted colleagues to feel the benefit of coming into the office, especially for new starters. Also creating a space that supported collaboration and connection was key.

What were your ambitions for this space?

Previously the area had felt very functional. It’s a long narrow space with low floor to ceiling heights but we could see it had potential. We envisioned a versatile environment for everyone to have lunch, for one-to-ones, presentations and even social events. On a practical level we needed a space that could accommodate for 30-40 people yet also be a suitable area for external visitors.

CGI

AFTER

Moss walls were used to bring a calming sense of the outside world to this collaborative space

Were there any opinions as to colours?

The previous design had been largely blue with very functional tables and whilst we felt that the blue theme could continue, as it chimes with our branding, we knew that we needed to warm up the feel of the space, especially as the previous lighting had been very “cold”. We achieved this with Ellie’s help by introducing warner, earthy colours to flow across the social and presentation areas.

Did you find a solution to furnishing the space flexibly?

This was a challenge; we wanted to find furniture that was visually appealing but also highly functional. East On introduced us to Senator, who were able to give us great options that filled both requirements, especially the seating.

And how about the challenges of being on the lower ground floor?

In addition to warming up the décor and lighting t we also brought the outside in by the use of biophilia – with preserved plants and moss walls which were a massive departure from our previous look and feel.

CGI

AFTER

A special mention must go to the way the presentation area can be screened off...

Yes, we need the ability to hold theatre-style presentations which our flexible furniture can achieve but this area also has a very dramatic-style curtain which can be brought across to separate the space and picks up on the blue branding. When not in use, it gives a feature wall appearance to the space and softens the feel of that end of the room.

How are you planning to use the space for more leisure-orientated activities?

We have a pool table, dartboard and table tennis table and East On styled one end of the room as a bistro – which we of course use for the Happy Hours and other social events.

Thanks – here’s to many years of presentations and celebrations in your brand-new workspace!

Ellie Pearson tells us how she approached our latest project in Central London…

Hi Ellie, tell us about the background to this project

For this scheme, I really wanted to start with the colour palette, the room had previously had a very strong blue theme but I wanted to introduce greens and terracottas that function well in the workplace. So, it was a case of balancing the blue of the client’s brand with these more earthy touches.

This was a long narrow space and we needed to find a way to link the various areas so that the colour experience flowed seamlessly but also gave some demarcation to the different uses for the space.

You’ve used a lot of biophilic solutions here, how did that come about?

This was planned as an area to break away from work and the space is also lower ground floor, so we had to fins a way to bring the outside in and to give everyone taking a break somewhere that wasn’t “desk like”.

All the research into the benefits of being in nature points to enhanced focus through lack of distraction and relaxation, so we introduced both moss walls and preserved plants to the space.

Were there any other sources of inspiration?

I spend a lot of time with our suppliers either at their showrooms or exhibitions and this really pays off. Obviously, we have suppliers that we have worked with before but we are always keen to get creative prompts from just being out in the interior design world and knowing more about the latest developments in furniture design.

We’ve noticed that there is a wide range of textures on display here, was that deliberate?

Yes, once we had introduced both the green and terracotta colour scheme and the moss walls, it was only natural (no pun intended!) to look at how we could combine varying complementary touches. As a result, we have Senator natural fabric seating combined with the Allsfar acoustic panelling and touches of wood throughout.

And we hear that this was a very special project to you – for a totally different reason…

Yes! For the first time ever, I got to work with my dad who was one of the contractors for this scheme. He’s never seen me at first hand applying what I learnt at university, so it was definitely very special for both of us. I never thought that I would be sitting on a project having lunch with my dad so this was very memorable indeed for me.

From functional to flexible: Revitalising a lower ground floor workspace

Transforming a Tired Basement Office into a Vibrant Workplace Hub.

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