JCB World Parts
Bullock and Bosson are delighted to have been working with JCB, one of the UK’s largest manufacturing companies, for the past 15 years. With the most recent project we worked closely with JCB to design, supply and install a full suite of new breakout furniture to allow meetings to be held in a more informal environment.
The Client's Brief
The initial discussions were driven by JCB’s vision for how it wanted to redistribute 120 desks to make space for new breakout areas as part of an ongoing employee wellbeing project at JCB World Parts in Uttoxeter.
LOCATION – JCB WORLD PARTS, UTTOXETER
PROJECT TYPE – OFFICE REFURBISHMENT
SECTOR – MANUFACTURING
FOCUS – EMPLOYEE WELLBEING
The Idea
In what was a very engineering-based building, Bullock and Bosson took on the task of refurbishing several areas of the office to make productive use of the extra space, allowing the office to become more collaborative and welcoming to staff and visitors alike.
The Design
Our design focused on incorporating several breakout areas across the 400,000 sq. ft. facility that would be accessible to all office staff. We understood the design needed to balance a unique and creative approach alongside the core day-to-day operational needs of an engineering-based office.
Something that was integral to the success of the design was the incorporation of 6 meeting booths with media facilities. Given that many meetings are now being held online rather than in person, the booths allow for small and focused collaborative sessions.
Aside from the acoustic booths, we provided staff with a variety of environments to work from depending on the task in hand. High tables with power and charging points for laptops and phones proved to be a great addition to the design for quick meetings or brainstorming sessions over a cup of coffee.
For the finishing touches, biophilia has been placed around the office to add a quirky element to the office space and provide a pop of colour without being overwhelming.
The Installation
We started the re-design of the different areas by moving approximately 120 desks to designated areas around the building so that carpets were able to be replaced. When looking at the CAD plans of where the desks were to be placed, we identified that some desks needed resizing to fit in with the new footprint. The challenge was to do this in a live office environment which meant moving staff to an interim area whilst desks were being moved. This meant that we needed 4-6 of our fitters on site each day to work in cohesion with JCB Site Services.
Due to the open-plan design of the office, we integrated numerous acoustically treated pieces of furniture throughout the scheme to lower reverberation without losing the benefits that the design offered staff. The addition of biophilia helped provide privacy and separation from the office space so meetings could be held in private.
The Outcome
In the words of John Elliott, Service Director at JCB: “Whilst the fitting teams were assembling the booths on one end of the office, we saw a migration of staff moving into booths that had just been assembled at the other end of the office. So one of the most pleasing things I’ve seen is, we had this vision that staff would adopt these areas and our hopes and ambitions were absolutely achieved, even before we completed it – staff had started to use it.”
