Glasgow City Council Tomorrow’s Office Programme

Graven worked with ACCESS to develop ‘Glasgow City Council Tomorrow’s Office Programme’ to review the workplace of about 4000 Glasgow City Council employees. We supported an audit of current workspace and practices and this review determined that by refurbishing 5 city centre buildings and taking over the lease of one new one the current staff could be housed more efficiently with the benefit to the council of considerable cost savings in the future. The solution established a flexible “kit of parts” tailored for implementation in new-build and existing heritage environments.

We created an inspiring and innovative design concept, which supports “flexible working” and also provides a functional and practical workspace covering the different roles of departments and individuals. Our concept of having a standard footprint of benches is supported by a “kit of parts” — a flexible series of components (e.g. breakout spaces, informal meeting spaces, touchdown areas with minimal tailored bespoke elements).

The whole concept is imaginative and along with the introduction of carefully considered branding to personalise the different forms of space, is helping to create a contemporary quality work environment thus providing work arenas, a selection of meeting spaces (private and informal), good coffee and tea areas, and easily identified reception and welcome entrances.

The ‘Tomorrow’s Office’ project was the first move in a whole new approach to workspace by Glasgow City Council, managed by ACCESS – a joint venture between Glasgow City Council and Serco – the acid test of value for money on a low budget has been met and expectations exceeded.