Oak Group

A comfortable and flexible modern office environment that breaks the mould and reflects the brand’s values. We were approached by Oak to design and deliver their new international headquarters in Guernsey. The brief was to provide a creative and inspiring space that broke away from the typical trust office. A place that would demonstrate their fresh and innovative approach to clients, attract the best candidates and most importantly provide their staff with a comfortable, flexible, welcoming environment to work in in where all teams could interact socially. At the time of our appointment the existing building had been stripped to a bare shell, and landlord’s works, undertaken by DRP , were underway to install a raised floor and suspended ceiling throughout. Although standard practice within commercial development, the structure of the existing building resulted in restricted head heights, and the large floor plates would have felt sterile and claustrophobic. As the floors were already installed our first move was to remove the suspended ceiling, clean up the existing concrete soffit and redesign the entire M&E package to be exposed. Whilst oak was an obvious material to work with in establishing brand identity, as a natural material it offered a tactile connection to the users. Due to the scale and open nature of the office, acoustics and way finding were important factors to inform the design. Oak partitions with acoustic foam were used to enclose keys spaces, kitchens, print areas and informal break out zones, whilst visually breaking up the larger areas of office into smaller teams. The result is a contemporary office space that stands out and creates room for mighty Oak to grow.