businessinfomag.uk
magazine
36
Office Design
Putting people first
The London office of Cundall, an
international multi-disciplinary
engineering consultancy, has become
the first building in the UK and Europe
to achieveWELL Building Standard
(WELL) certification.
WELL is the first rating system to
focus exclusively on the wellbeing of a
building’s occupants. Complementing
standards that focus on sustainability
and the environment, such as
LEED, BREEAM and SKA,WELL is
a performance-based system for
measuring, certifying and monitoring
aspects of the built environment that
impact human health and wellbeing.
These include air, light, nourishment,
water, fitness, comfort and mind.
In the fit-out of its office at One
Carter Lane, opposite St Paul’s Cathedral,
Cundall worked with architects Studio
Ben Allen to applyWELL principles to
building performance, whilst furthering
its own research into acoustics and
biophilia through features like a planted
trellis, active green walls and acoustic
baffles integrated within shelving units.
The 15,400 ft
2
ground floor office is
now a showcase for how a fit-out can
promote the wellbeing of occupants and
be kind to the environment. In addition
toWELL certification at Gold level, the
office has BREEAM Excellent and SKA
Gold certification.
Office design
Consistent with current office design
trends, Cundall’s new offices provide a
variety of spaces with varying degrees
of privacy and formality to suit different
tasks and to encourage creativity and
collaboration.
These include allocated desks, bench
desks and break-out spaces in the main
open plan office area; five meeting
and board rooms arranged around the
reception area; and additional break-out
areas in the Cundall Town Hall, a café
where up to 60 people – one third of
the firm’s 180 employees – can meet,
socialise, play pinball and share meals at
communal tables.
The Town Hall is separated from the
reception area by a planted trestle trellis,
which reflects the firm’s commitment to
biophilia. So, too, do the office’s active
green walls with integrated fans that
filter and clean office air by pulling it
through the planting.
An interesting feature of the new
design is Cundall’s decision to cease hot
desking and provide everyone with an
allocated desk (with touchdown desks
for people from other offices). Custom-
made to Cundall’s specification, these
are smaller than the company’s previous
hot desks, creating more room for
shared lay-out benches and break-out
and informal meeting areas.
The latter act as rooms within rooms,
helping to break up the open plan floor
Employee wellbeing lies at the heart of Cundall’s new office design
space. Strategically placed tall filing
cabinets perform the same function,
whilst also helping to reduce ambient
noise through integrated acoustic baffles.
WELL features
In creating this environment, Cundall
and Studio Ben Allen had to choose
materials and components carefully and
in line withWELL requirements in in the
following key areas:
Air:
Cundall was rigorous in identifying
and eliminating potential sources of
Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) in
everything from bespoke furniture to
the cleaning products and air fresheners
used. For example, water-based paints
are preferred to oil-based options and
desks are topped with marmoleum, a
compound of linseed oil, rosins, cork
flour, limestone and wood flour affixed
to a non-toxic jute backing. Designers
collaborated closely with suppliers to
ensure desks, kitchen, flooring, furniture
etc. contained very low/zero levels of
VOCs and other materials that give off
unhealthy emissions. Melamines and
veneers were avoided and solid oak used
instead.
Light:
Lighting is designed to maximise
comfort and energy levels while
minimising disruption to the body’s
circadian system. Desking in the open
plan office area is positioned to make
maximum use of natural light from the
windows, with the reflective quality
An interesting
feature of the
new design
is Cundall’s
decision
to provide
everyone with
an allocated
desk
