Singapore-based fashion manufacturer Q Collection has completed works on its new UK HQ in Ashby.
Q Collection manufactures apparel and textiles for international fashion brands and retailers, specialising in high-quality, sustainable production.
With a need for a UK centre of excellence to grow the UK-based team, expand its operations, enhance its technology, and a space to welcome clients, the manufacturer identified Ashby as the right location in the heart of the Midlands to realise its plans.
Located in Excelsior House on Excelsior Road in the town, local workplace consultancy Blueprint Interiors was appointed to deliver internal design and fit out of the 7,000 sq ft space.
After an eight-week fit out phase, Q Collection now has a state-of-the-art office, design and manufacturing facility which includes a lingerie lab, with 14 sewing machines, cutting tables, cup moulders and a dark room, and a knitting lab, with four full-size knitting machines, steam press and yarn library.
Other features include a fit room, where garments can be modelled and photographed, connected to a presentation area with tiered seating, next to a runway. This space allows for co-creation sessions, bringing designers and customers together to realise garments and 3D modelling technology to develop new collections.
Q Collection also has its new client lounge, which can be set up as a showroom or bespoke retail experience to display collections, with large video conferencing set up for global communications.
During the works, Blueprint encouraged Q Collection to pursue a SKA certification – an environmental assessment method developed specifically for commercial office fit outs, that helps landlords and tenants to measure sustainability across factors like energy and water use, CO2 emissions, materials, waste and pollution. The project successfully secured a SKA Silver certification.
Alongside partner TecInteractive, Blueprint and Q Collection developed a ‘Virtual Quality Lab’ – a unique space with high resolution, high zoom cameras with links into the manufacturer’s Singapore, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh sites, where colleagues can use the technology to see the samples in the labs from thousands of miles away, enabling them to make faster decision, saving time and costs.
Boutaina Faruq, Director at Q Collection, said: “This investment reflects our long-term commitment to the UK market, our global brand partners and to innovation and sustainability.
“Our dedicated team was also a primary factor in creating a space that truly puts people first. We wanted to acknowledge their commitment and design a workplace around them, which inspires creativity, supports wellbeing, and enables our people to do their best work in the space that they need.
“Blueprint are visionaries and were easy and dynamic to work with from day one. We thought we knew what we wanted and what was possible until we met with Chloe and the team. They really took us to the next level with their expertise of workspaces that put wellbeing and productivity front and centre. It was a real collaboration and an incredible end result.
“Excelsior House is already strengthening collaboration, accelerating innovation, making us more efficient and is bringing us closer to our customers. We are proud to be a manufacturing business in Ashby.”
This is the third project Blueprint has delivered for Q Collection, having also worked on the design of its head office in Singapore, and a new 50 head count office facility in Sri Lanka.
Chloe Sproston, Creative Director at Blueprint Interiors, said: “We are proud to have had the opportunity to work with Boutaina and the team at Q Collection again on what is a really bespoke and innovative project. Securing the SKA Silver rating is a particular highlight, allowing us to realise our passion for truly sustainable fit out into reality.
“Providing Cat B design and fit out services on a significant single-storey space was a real opportunity to create something special, which would meet and surpass Q Collection’s objectives. We’ve challenged ourselves at every level to deliver a really exciting project.
“As a team we took the time to fully understand the intricacies of Q Collections operations and this included on the ground research here and abroad. Blending this with our knowledge of how people work, and how to create memorable and successful workplace experiences – for colleagues and visitors – we guided Boutaina and the team on what’s possible.
“The new UK HQ is an incredible open-plan space, separated into zones to enable workflow and collaboration. Every element has a purpose from the furniture to the fixtures and fittings and can be moved and adapted as the space evolves. This was a highly unique and technical project which provides the best possible environment for the team, and a place for clients to partake in the co-creation process of garments.”
Q Collection is looking at further expansion in the Midlands and wants to encourage more manufacturing companies back to the region to create British-made products.
Boutaina adds: “The Midlands used to be a centre for apparel manufacturing and we see great opportunity for firms operating in the space, like us, to bring this back. We are working to support students wanting to learn the skills needed for a career in fashion design and production and are investing in the next generation who will hopefully enable this movement to grow and scale.”
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