Lichfields is the UK’s pre-eminent planning and development consultancy. Established over 50 years they use their expertise to deliver insight, innovation and advice to create great places for future generations.
The planned re-development of the site they occupied at King’s Cross meant that their lease expiry was an opportunity to relocate their team into a new dynamic and well-connected location in Central London.
Our clients selected a single floorplate of 15,500sqft on the 3rd floor of the iconic Minster Building, on Mincing Lane in the heart of the City. NHQ were briefed to create a space with the future of Lichfields in mind; a place where they could attract and retain the best talent and deliver excellent planning and development services to their clients. With an expanded floorplate, the new space needed to be highly collaborative, make good use of natural light from outside and celebrate the full-height glass atrium inside.
The new space is a sharp contrast with Lichfields’ former home at King’s Cross where traditional working styles dictated a desk for each staff member and teams arranged in rigid siloes according to the building wing they occupied. The NHQ design team engaged with the staff and senior management to understand the current and future business drivers, and how productivity and the work-experience could be revolutionised by introducing an agile working model. Positioning the client front-of-house area next to the full height central atrium celebrated the scale of the building and allowed the main south-facing floorplate as the principle area for staff to work at desks, in the quiet booths or in the collaboration and break-out areas. The flow through office needed to meet the brief of adjacencies, ensuring the breakout area was inviting and easily accessible for staff as well as located near the reception to facilitate visitors arriving into the space. The Lichfields’ brand was an important element in the design of the new space. The brand is strong and has an important history but had also been recently refreshed to reflect Lichfields aspirations for the future. The integration of the brand has been executed subliminally through contrasting monochrome detailing with accents of the brand colours on furniture, fabrics and acoustic walls. The brand colour range has been separated into areas to avoid any colour confusion, but all the brand colours have been incorporated to give meaning and identity to the journey through the space.
The finished space is a warm, professional yet innovative head office space which embodies the Lichfields brand and pays tribute to the expertise of their national workforce.