VIDEO | How to design an office the right way

When JMW Solicitors signed for 43,000 sq ft of 125 Deansgate in Manchester, the law firm effectively had a blank canvas to create the perfect place for its clients and staff. Partner Thomas Pearson walked Place North West through the firm’s approach.

Place editor Julia Hatmaker toured the office over the summer, hearing from Pearson as well as the project team, about how it came to be.

The office basics

JMW’s 125 Deansgate base saw two previous offices merge under one roof. Set across a series of floors linked together by apertures and a spiral staircase, the office includes a client space on the 11th floor and a colleague meeting and amenity area on the 10th, complete with a terrace offering a superb city view.

Assembling the team

When asked his greatest tip for those approaching an office move, Pearson’s advice was this: “make sure you have the right team around you”.

In the case of JMW’s office move, that team was project manager Edwards Property Consultants, interior expert SpaceInvader Design, and builder TMT.

TMT was brought in early doors through a two-stage contract, which meant the company could help shape the design.

This also enabled the project team to have more certainty around cost and timeframes – and to avoid any surprises as the project progressed.

Pearson, alongside fellow JMW partner Jodi Lund, was heavily involved throughout the process – bouncing ideas off the team, assisting with making difficult budget calls, and driving delivery along.

Their presence and engagement, Pearson said, was necessary given the importance of the project.

“This is a pivotal moment for the firm and a big statement piece for our colleagues and for the markets as well,” Pearson said. “We wanted to take the time to work with that project team, work through the process and how we wanted to deliver things.”

Pearson and Lund’s involvement hastened decision-making and meant that the team always JMW’s priorities.

Edwards director and head of building consultancy Oliver Thomas, who led the work on JMW’s office, said having the right team in place – and in place early on – was “essential”.

Getting professional advice around design, budget, and space at the start can help avoid heartbreak later on, he said.

“Often you get wedded to a particular building or a particularly space and then you try to shoehorn your requirement into it,” Thomas said. “Often, that can leave quite a big comprise in the end product.”

He also pointed out that having that right team on board can ensure budgets are met.

“A design-led scheme doesn’t have to be expensive,” he said. “It just means that people are thinking about that journey from start to finish about where you want to be at the end of the project and what you’re trying to achieve.

“We’re thinking about that right from the beginning in the initial briefing and then we’re trying to deliver on that vision that you have for your business,” he said.

Getting to the heart of JMW

To that end, the JMW office team sought to make the office fit JMW, not the other way around. Thomas sought to ensure that the scheme was rooted in the law firm’s values and ambitions.

“We cottoned on to the JMW way of working fairly early on and the fact that they like to do things differently,” Thomas said.

“They’re obviously a prominent law firm in Manchester and their scheme from day one was all centred around their culture, their people, and the way they like to do business.”

SpaceInvader director and founder John Williams did not shy away from conversation in his approach to the space. He and his team conducted workshops and interviews with JMW staff to find out what they wanted from their office, what would enable them to work to their potential.

“John and the SpaceInvader team really took a lot of time to understand who we were, what we were about, and what our culture was,” Pearson reflected.

“How they’ve manged it is magical in my mind – to actually present that in the floorplate and in the offices. You feel that sense of JMW-ness in the office space, that warmth, that caring element that exists throughout the space – and not just in the client space but all in the colleague areas and their workspaces as well.”

Pearson, Thomas, and Williams all agreed that the core theme of the project was ‘One JMW’. That was the crux of the office move, bringing two previously separate offices together under one roof. That one team, working together for a common goal, was the overarching theme of the office design.

“The whole ‘One JMW’ narrative is about how the space is laid out,” Williams said.

“It’s about giving areas for people to collaborate, areas where people can come together, areas where people can meet and conduct themselves in a way that allows them to be as professional and accomplished as they can be.”

That did not mean there was not room for creativity.

“While ‘One JMW’ – it’s actually a celebration of individuals within a team,” Williams said. He pointed out that was reflected in the design.

“If you look around the floor plate, there are lots of little pops of colour, lots of little unique and quirky details that represent the individuality of everybody – of client and colleague alike at JMW.”

The design also played on the proximity to a Manchester treasure, the grade one-listed John Rylands Library. You will find the Rylands influence in the woodwork, the trims, the furnishings – from tiles on display to the patterns in the panels.

That attention to detail was another element SpaceInvader pulled from the JMW ethic – Williams said he was cognisant that the space needed to reflect the meticulous approach JMW takes to its work.

Williams also used the firm’s focus and core values to consciously avoid flashy or overtly expensive materials and elements in the design. It needed to be down to earth, practical, but thoughtfully put together in order to reflect JMW, he said.

“Whilst there are pockets of expression through colour and texture – that’s always backed up by beautifully detailed, timeless, warm materials and not overly expensive finishes,” Williams said.

“You have lovely, beautiful soft natural timbers, but the detail of how those come together – that’s where the beauty is. That’s where the effort is, in how they come together.”

That sense of togetherness is the heart of JMW’s Manchester office. You can take a virtual tour of the space, and hear more about how it was delivered, in the video at the top of this article.

To learn more about JMW visit jmw.co.uk.