IM Group: Birmingham

Location: Coleshill Manor Office Campus

Sector: Automotive

Project Size: 35,101 sq ft (to accommodate 170 staff)

Project Value: £1m

Scope of Works: Consultancy > Design > Contracting > Furniture > Audiovisual

The Brief

IM Group commissioned a new purpose-built Head Office set in 200 acres of parkland for their 170 staff involved with the importing, distributing and marketing of motor vehicles. Claremont was appointed to provide interior design and space planning services for the project. The scope of works also included the supply of floor finishes, partitioning, graphics, blinds and furniture. The objectives were to provide an effective and productive working environment for the staff but also to reflect the core values of transparency, agility and inventiveness.

The Solution

The office is mainly open plan, with storage wall and fully glazed partitioning used to create offices for the Directors adjacent to their teams. The brief required a number of different meeting facilities, including a 90-seater auditorium, leading off the atrium adjacent to a client lounge with three further meeting rooms. For more formal occasions the Chief Executives’ suite has three prestigious conference rooms with bespoke Gordon Russell tables and Eames chairs. All these rooms have sophisticated audio-visual facilities for client presentations and board meetings The large atrium provides flexible space for product presentations, dealer conferences and seminars. The bright and airy space also acts as a café and provides a number of informal meeting spaces for clients and suppliers adjacent to reception. The colour palette is calm and neutral with graphic panels on the storage units bringing a splash of colour into the space.

Audiovisual Works

Viewpoint was appointed to provide high specification audiovisual systems for dealer presentations, board and meeting rooms, executive offices and information displays for reception and departmental team areas.

In the meeting rooms, visual display was provided in the form of 55” and 42” plasma screens mounted on bespoke credenzas in beech veneer in compliment to the meeting tables, facilitating the presenter to show images and associated audio from VCR, DVD, dedicated PC and laptop (with desktop connection). SMART Sympodium panels were installed with desktop connections to provide full annotation/flipchart/whiteboard functionality. For the executive meeting rooms,
fully-functional, mobile 55” plasma screens were provided to allow equipment to be moved nbetween rooms and employed as necessary. Bespoke meeting tables equipped with ‘pull out’ connection units allow for the connection of laptop PCs, with power and data provided.

The Boardroom system consists of an LCD projector mounted above the suspended ceiling in a motorised mirror rig. Images from VCR, DVD, free to air TV, ceiling-mounted document camera, dedicated PC and 4 No. laptops can be shown on an 84” electric tab-tensioned, trap-door, front, projection screen. All equipment was rack-mounted within a bespoke credenza unit to coordinate with the board table, which was equipped with ‘pull out’ connection units to allow laptop PC connection, with power and data provided. Audio was provided via a stereo amplifier and full range loudspeakers. Control and automated switching of equipment was achieved via
the integration of a 7.5” AMX wireless touch-panel system, also capable of pre-setting optimum lighting levels, dependant on source selection. Interactive features were again available from a SMART Sympodium panel housed in a pull-out drawer on the board table.

The dealer presentation room allows two people to present at bespoke corporate-branded lecterns. An AMX wireless panel was provided for complete system automation, including levels for lighting and voice reinforcement via radio microphones, and flush-mounted ceiling speakers. A ceiling-mounted projector and a 100” electric tab-tensioned, trap-door, front projection screen were installed for the display of images from VCR, DVD, free to air TV, document camera, dedicated PC and 3 No. laptops at both lectern and floor box positions.

In the reception area, twin 42” LCD screens were erected to provide information display. This information is transmitted from a server PC over the existing CAT5 network to the display devices and a local induction loop was installed at the reception desk. For the departmental information displays, a bespoke mobile unit was developed to serve as a central ‘hub’ for each department. The units house a 42” LCD displaying information from the client’s own digital signage system over the CAT5 network from server PCs. These units alson provided additional storage for departmental stationery and hardcopy information, as well as providing a recycling point for office paper waste.

The Result

The client is delighted with the end result, with the dealer hub proving particularly effective in hosting large events and vehicle presentations. The reservations from the staff regarding their move to open plan have been overcome and there is plenty of space for expansion to meet future business needs. The client has commissioned further artwork to reflect the values and vision of the organisation, as well as landscaping.

Related downloads

'IM Ready' (FMX) (PDF, 1.2MB)

"Many visitors to the building have been extremely impressed with what they see and it is in no small measure down to you and your team at Claremont Group Interiors."

Andrew Edmiston, Managing Director - IM Group