LEADING independent property, construction and infrastructure consultancy Pick Everard has unveiled its new-look head office following an extensive refurbishment led by its recently established in-house interior design team.

The firm has restated its commitment to its Leicester city centre location with this extensive refurbishment to its Halford House office, updating the interior of a building it had originally designed in the 1950s.

Through the use of careful space planning, the refurbishment has transformed Halford House into an engaging open-plan office environment, which now accommodates a range of new and agile working spaces, including formal working areas, an executive space, collaborative and informal meeting zones, breakout areas, presentation space and a number of attractive meeting rooms. Bespoke furniture designs offer unique solutions for fixed seating, privacy screens and storage for users.

Associate Anna Bly heads up Pick Everard’s in-house interior design team, which between them have more than 20 years’ experience in commercial interior design. The creative team works closely with clients to ensures that their designs truly deliver what is needed. In the case of office design, this means making sure that the new space personifies the brand, reflects its core values, enriches company culture and drives performance in the organisation – all in an attractive manner that fosters positive wellbeing for users.

Anna said: “Halford House is definitely a project that has been close to our hearts. It’s been a really interesting process, consulting with a focus group through a series of engagement meetings and workshops that examined our firm’s culture, space and processes in great detail. This helped form a bespoke workplace strategy that fed into the creation of the design brief – which was ultimately to create an interior that reflects how we work, our brand and our future vision, as well as being a welcoming environment for staff and guests alike.”

Through remodelling the existing space, the design team have been able to introduce more light, an improved air quality system, along with a rationalised desk layout and larger, more accessible amenities for the multi-storey building. 

Feature lighting, a well-considered ceiling design and careful coordination with the in-house M&E services team has helped to achieve exposed services throughout the design, which serve to create an industrial and raw aesthetic. 

Anna continued: “A timeless neutral colour and materials palette has been maintained throughout the whole design concept, with colour being introduced through furniture and planting. These elements of biophilic design, combined with a contemporary planting scheme and enhanced natural lighting schemes all work towards promoting positive wellbeing for all users.

“Working on our own space meant that we have been able to showcase the best of our services, incorporating bespoke joinery, lighting and metalwork combine with the clean studio design to create the modern finish. We have also introduced the new breakout spaces and a large, open tea point area, which make the space easier to use. This encourages spontaneous collaboration – something that’s really important in a multi-disciplinary practice – as well as social integration within the teams.”

David Shaw, national design director at Pick Everard, said: “We are so happy to be revealing our new look head office thanks to excellent work from the integrated team behind the design and delivery. The design and aesthetic created by the team will serve to really boost staff wellbeing and promote collaboration across our teams.

“As a multi-disciplinary practice, we are able to carry out a full range of services for clients, but the interior design experts we have in-house allow us to add a huge amount of value to architecture and design projects over the last year. Anna, Cristina, David and Larissa bring a huge wealth of interiors knowledge to Pick Everard, strengthening our overall design offering as a business.

“Of course, COVID-19 did come to the foreground during the delivery of the refurbishment of Halford House, but everyone involved worked with expert professionalism to ensure that safety and social distancing measures were put in place on-site and clear communication continued between all parties to ensure that work could be safely delivered.”

Duncan Green, managing partner at Pick Everard, said: “Everyone involved with the refurbishment of our Leicester office has been carrying out incredible work, especially with having COVID-19 and a localised lockdown in Leicester to contend with during delivery. The interior design team have not left a single thing in our new space without consideration and have created an attractive aesthetic that is both beautiful and practical.” Pick Everard employs more than 500 staff across its 13 offices, providing a range of project, cost and design consultancy services. For more information, please visit www.pickeverard.co.uk