N Brown case study

The move to Griffin House heralded an important cultural shift for N Brown Plc as a business, the new CEO was determined to bring people across the organisation together to work in a more open and collaborative manner. This was extremely difficult in the maze of offices spread across 14 floors in two buildings.

Claremont was chosen as interior designer for the two floorplates of 32,000 sq ft and one slightly less at 27,000 sq ft.

Solution

An open plan environment was provided with neighborhoods to give the space scale. The 4m high ceiling allowed us to retain external vistas, glass partitioning has simple details with lighting providing impact, open top glass 'pods' were designed to allow managers privacy yet remain visible.

The number of meeting spaces increased by 20, and the addition of informal spaces with integrated AV solutions. Breakout areas and hub services are available on each floor.

Result

The organic layout encourages communication, collaboration and the flow of ideas: the teams are now on three floors instead of 14. The merchandising floor has the products - mainly garments and home furnishing items - surrounding the teams. The design ethos included a strong desire to expose the products to the staff, literally putting the products at the centre of the business.

Communication has improved enormously, and a number of processes have been rationalized.