Occasionally people ask us why we are involved in office environments and technical environments such as data centres. They seem bemused by the existence of these two sides of our business. Perhaps to some they do appear unusual bedfellows. But as we like to explain, they are just like knives and forks…
On the face of it, a knife is a very different thing to a fork. In some circumstances, you only need one. Buttering your toast? You only need a knife. Eating a bag of chips? You only need a fork.
However, for the majority of meals you need both.
Depending on the dish the knife and the fork will have differing degrees of involvement, but both are needed. They perfectly complement one another and work together effortlessly.
And so it is with our work.
Most of our projects involve the core skillsets from both sides of our business: our office design and specification expertise, and our technical M&E expertise.
The point is that office environments not only need to be well designed, but from lighting and ventilation to power and communications, they need technical excellence too.
Equally, projects to create a server room or to build and fit out a data centre often have an office-design component in the form of a neighbouring meeting room, hot-desk area or kitchen.
When we explain this to people, the penny drops and the two sides of Procol make a lot more sense.
But what then seems to surprise people is that our set up is an unusual one. Having our kind of knife-and-fork skillset makes perfect sense, but it’s rarely found elsewhere.
Other businesses will offer design and technical services, but where we have those skills in house, others need to outsource one of them.
Eating a meal with mismatched cutlery – a knife from one set, a fork from another – is completely feasible. But if you’ve ever done it, you will know that while food on the plate remains the same, the process feels a bit weird and just doesn’t work as well.
Our own experience shows (and our clients tell us) it’s much the same in our line of work. All aspects of our projects run more smoothly and deliver better results sooner thanks to the practised teamwork, combined talents and distinct insights of the two sides of our team.