When it comes to carrying out an office fitout London has some fantastic opportunities in buildings of all ages, and commercial refurbishment specialists, Thames Contracts, can carry these out on new and old buildings alike.
While choosing business premises, many businesses like to take advantage of the wonderful character offered by a Victorian or Edwardian building, or even a much older construction, but they also want their office fitout in London to include a modern design and up to date facilities inside.
Primarily a London based company, at Thames Contracts we have special experience in working with older premises as well as new buildings across the city and beyond, and can help to deliver designs that marry the best of both worlds.
London’s Office Building Stock
London is an historic city, with buildings dating back over 1,000 years and beyond. Also a financial and business hub, this means that the range of building stock in and around the city is truly varied, so as well as sleek and state of the art skyscrapers and standard modern office blocks, there is also a wide range of historic and listed buildings that need very special attention.
Generally though, for the majority of businesses the choice of office stock in and around the city includes many Victorian and Edwardian buildings, as well as a good range of modern, 20th and 21st century premises.
Whether old or new, office fitouts in London’s buildings come with their own set of challenges, and here we take a look at a few of the many design considerations that need to be taken into account.
Office Fitout – London’s Older Buildings
In our own era of sustainability and environmental accountability, choosing to repurpose an old building, rather than choosing a new build, can be an attractive proposition.
While many of London’s older office premises have already been converted to be compatible with the modern era, there are still buildings around that offer the opportunity to create a truly unique setting for your business.
Taking an older building and designing its interior for the modern era involves forethought, bringing modern facilities, such as telecoms, electrics and air conditioning, into the mix. Even those buildings that have had fairly recent refits may need to be replanned to take the most recent technological advances into consideration.
While still at the design stage, the building’s character, and the elements that you wish to retain all need to be planned. Many clients choose to keep the character of the original building while still bringing a fresh, modern look and feel to their business operations. This can involve working with architectural features such as high ceilings, columns, alcoves, staircases and fireplaces, remaining sensitive and sympathetic to their original design.
Older buildings also generally present a less spacious layout, with smaller rooms allowing departments their own areas and a much greater element of privacy – clients need to decide whether they want to open up or adjust this layout to meet their needs, subject of course to engineering constraints.
Office Fitout – London’s Newer Buildings
Buildings from the modern day, built in the 20th and 21st centuries, more often than not offer assurances when it comes to ‘green’ considerations, with more environmentally conscious fittings and windows and walls that have been insulated to allow for maximum energy efficiency.
Newer office premises will generally also have been designed to purpose, and take into account the facilities that businesses today will need.
While premium build new office locations can offer interesting aspects and personality, the majority of modern premises do not offer the character, charm or allure of older buildings. Often spacious and with open plan layouts, there can be high noise considerations to take into account, and facilities such as heating and air conditioning cannot be zoned so easily.
And while facilities may already be in place, these will have been designed to a standard layout, meaning customers often find that fitouts can still be required for operational purposes and to allow their business an element of standout from those in the surrounding area.
Thames Contracts – Select Quality and Character For Office Fitouts London and Beyond
With the experience and the expertise to carry out office fitouts, London or further afield, in commercial premises of all ages, at Thames Contracts we can guide you through the aspects and considerations you need to take into account at the design stage and beyond.
Offering a full end to end service, from refurbishment planning through to fitout, we work with our clients to understand their unique business needs in order to achieve the right balance of old and new, offering the design and facilities to suit their organisation and its day to day operations, as well as future proofing for advances in technology.
Find out more about the high quality, highly characteristic office fitouts London based refurbishment specialists Thames Contracts can carry out.