Sinclair Knight Merz: Salford

Location: Salford Quays
Sector: Business Services
Project Size: 12,230 sq ft
Scope of Works: Office Design > Office Fit-out > Office Furniture

The Brief

The objective of the move to Metro was to bring together all of SKM’s locally-based staff from the mergers with Enviros Consulting in 2009 and more recently Colin Buchanan and Partners in June, together with the existing operational engineering business. Claremont Group Interiors was appointed to complete the design and fit-out of the 4th floor and to create a contemporary and efficient working office. The scheme was to  include reception, meeting rooms, breakout space and a variety of informal meeting areas and touchdown spaces to encourage collaboration and communication across the business. SKM still have a considerable amount of paper storage to accommodate and the office design needed to support the flexible nature of the multi-disciplinary project teams. 

The Solution

The reception was designed with easy access to five adjacent meeting rooms and a bright and lively kitchen area with space for the staff to have lunch.  The office planning solution was based on positioning the Logic bench style workstations around the perimeter of the building leaving a central zone for informal meeting spaces, storage, resource hubs and other shared facilities.  Informal meeting spaces are a combination of high back sofas providing a level of privacy in the open space  and large layout tables  for project work. The colour palette works with the existing furniture standards of maple and blue on a neutral carpet highlighted with lime green, this  accent colour has  also been used to identify the informal meeting spaces which adds visual interest to the space.