New Offices for City & Guilds

Artelia has completed a number of jobs for City & Guilds at their London premises, most recently its headquarters building located at 1 Giltspur Street. In the role of Project Manager, QS, designer and CDMC, as well as acquiring M&E and Structural Engineers, Artelia has completed a full refurbishment of the building for 250 employees in a workspace area of approximately 3000 sq metres.

City & Guilds have occupied the building since the early 90’s and the work environment has remained largely unchanged. The refurbishment was the ideal opportunity to upgrade all the facilities for employees and visitors alike.

The design scheme comprises a new catering facility, combining a kitchen and catering space, thus freeing up a ground floor that could be used for meeting rooms which is an improved customer journey from the reception. The canteen was extended under a link walkway, designed to incorporate the courtyard with the use of large bi-fold glass doors with a flush floor in a stone effect porcelain tile to ensure a seamless flow between the spaces and encourage use of the basement courtyard.

There is a relatively dense floorplan of 7.15m2 per person in order to accommodate all the staff in the space, this is offset with improved meeting facilities, shared tea and coffee points as well as breakout spaces.

City & Guilds is an established organisation and this is reflected in the finishes with a contemporary twist.

The reception desk has been constructed in solid surfacing material and planned into the existing space to provide both a functional greeting point as well as a focal point to the space. The random bond slate floor has an inset rug area and feature lighting integrated into the visitor waiting area.

Acoustic vertical oak slats with black felt backing form an acoustic wall between reception and the boardroom, as well as the AV wall. The room also features a further acoustic fabric wall, a bespoke boardroom table and suspended feature lighting.

The new café which incorporates a feature ‘saw cut’ timber floor, painted brickwork, textured laminate panels, bespoke banquet seating and acoustic suspended baffles to the ceiling.

Rupert Evelegh, Head of Interior Design at Artelia comments:

“It was a pleasure to work with the team at City & Guilds, their enthusiasm for new ideas and designs have contributed to a solution that better suits the need of employees and visitors, captialising on many inherent aspects of the building such as the courtyard within the basement space.”

For more information about our design services, please contact Rupert or visit our office pages.