Despite a delay due to the pandemic, in 2021 we finally moved into our new Hemlow headquarters, based in Sevenoaks. With fantastic views of the Kent countryside and a much more expansive space to accommodate our growing team, it was the perfect setting for our next chapter as a business.
It was important to us to create the right space that first and foremost focused on our employee’s wellbeing, but also incorporated our recent re-brand, reflected our values and encouraged employee engagement. We also wanted it to offer flexibility in terms of workspaces for our staff as well as meeting and event space options.
At Hemlow, our people are what matters most to us, therefore we felt it was really important to get their input in what they wanted to see at the new office. Especially as our staff, along with the majority of the working world, had spent an extended period of time working from home, we knew that people’s expectations of an office environment had likely changed.
Therefore, we sent out a survey to all our staff allowing us to better understand how they wanted the space to look and work for them. Some of the highlights included:
- Open plan format, with ‘quiet zones’ which could be used for phone calls or as a space to work alone and concentrate if needed.
- A breakout space where staff could eat lunch, take a break from their screens and socialise
- A pool table
- A modern space with a bright, spacious feel
The next stage was to make the vision a reality. We enlisted the help of Flow Office, an office design, fit-out and furniture company who specialise in designing and installing bespoke office spaces. Having worked with them previously we knew that they understood our branding and our values and would be able to successfully incorporate this into their designs.
We shared with Flow what our employees had asked for along with a brief for how we wanted the space to work for us practically. They took all of this onboard and then provided us with design and furniture options based on these requirements. By including design features such as partition walls, hot desks, statement sound breakers and meeting pods, it provided us with those all-important flexible workspaces. Plus a pool table and group seating met employee needs for a collaborative breakout space.
By providing us with 3D images of their design proposals, it helped bring the space to life so that we could visualise how it would look. This in turn helped us with planning things such as seating arrangements and storage within the office.
Once the designs were finalised, the work quickly began, and our space was transformed for our Hemlow staff. It was a seamless, stress-free process and our staff arrived back to the newly refurbished office, thrilled with the outcome.
But our working partnership with Flow didn’t end there! The space is ever evolving as our company continues to grow. We have recently developed an in-house Technical Team who are dedicated to managing smart buildings using new maintenance techniques. As a result of this we once again called upon Flow to help us re-design an area of the office that supports them, providing spaces for team collaboration as well as individual workstations.
“We were lucky enough to be chosen to work with the team at Hemlow to design and transform their new head office. We are really proud of what we designed and created for them, and we hope that the wellbeing and productivity of their staff has increased as a result. It was a lovely project to be awarded and we would like to thank Chris Ward and his team for trusting us to make their vision a reality.”
“Lee and the team at Flow have been instrumental in establishing the right environment at our head office. Their guidance and design tools helped us to make our vision a reality”
We are excited to continue to work with Flow in the future and see how the space progresses.
