The last few years have brought big changes for organisations of all sizes. For some, it has been the catalyst to make real change to the way they use their offices and engage with their customers. We worked together with Amey to create workplaces designed for their future.

As we have explored in our Workplace [R]Evolution magazine series, for some, this will have been seen as a revolution, for others that had already adopted a more activity-based working style, the transition has been much more of an evolution – albeit one that has moved faster than expected.

A true understanding

We have been working in close partnership with clients over the years to help them evolve. One such client is Amey, they are one of the top support services suppliers in the UK, employing over 16,000 people in a number of different offices.

Our working relationship began in 2017, with the opportunity to design and build their York office, allowing them to expand their capacity and combine two large teams. This has now culminated in over 70,000 sq ft of collaborative office design in six buildings, across the UK.

Having a real understanding of a subject helps to deliver the best results. Working with Amey in true partnership, from consultancy to the design and build finish, has allowed us to support them in developing new real estate workplace guidelines, that are uniquely optimised for them and their people, whilst adhering to their corporate standards.

A ‘One Amey’ setup

One of the main focuses from a property perspective has been to look at the space rationalisation of their workplaces. This process involves looking at their current office space requirements and aligning them with their overall corporate strategy. To achieve this, we identify existing inefficiencies, the things that work and the way a space operates. This is done by combining space utilisation and space occupancy data to maximise productivity, creativity, wellbeing and profit.

This isn’t about desk counting, it is about identifying how we can get the most out of the office for the organisation and just as importantly, their people. To achieve this we needed to gather the relevant data. This included conducting staff surveys, analysing their individual needs, and reviewing real estate contracts. Our team of strategists, designers and technical specialists then formulated solutions for the spaces, with the end goal of a leaner, smarter use of their workplaces.

Space rationalisation

Covid and the subsequent lockdowns have been the catalyst to conduct further research and create a working model for their future. Since the start of the partnership, we have helped Amey rationalise their office space, and bring intuitive designs to six locations.

Myth: Office space rationalisation means decreasing your current office space.

Reality: Office space rationalisation is aligning and optimising property to organisational strategy.

Let’s look at the work we did in Amey’s Manchester office in the iconic City Tower and the fantastic 1920s art deco inspired building in Liverpool.

For their Manchester office, we helped them rationalise their floorplate down to 5,000 sq ft, however, the main focus was to ensure that the space gave them the ability to be flexible with the activities carried out in the office in the future. They wanted an efficient space that was clean, crisp and well-branded to reinforce the company culture.

In Liverpool, the building initially housed their people across two long floorplates, creating a lack of collaboration and a siloed mentality. We tailored the layout to blend with the architecture and a more activity-based workflow to enable connectivity across the teams.

The key feature that enabled this connection was the eye-catching art deco-style spiral staircase. This central statement piece provided somewhat of an engineering challenge but allowed Amey to increase their capacity in Liverpool and make much better use of the space.

True partnership years in the making.

David Isteed, Group Head of Property at Amey said: “Having recognised that the way that we use our offices in the future at Amey is going to be very different, we commenced a programme to reduce our footprint and at the same time enhance our offices to make them more collaborative and positive places to come to.  

“In doing this we needed the support of a forward-thinking workplace consultancy and saw this to be TSK who had already delivered a number of innovative and exciting projects for us. Initial progress has been swift and positive with great support and innovation coming from the TSK team leading to great feedback from users.”

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