The British Council for Offices’ (BCO) National Awards programme honours the best in office design and functionality. This year’s event brought together key industry players and winners from the BCO’s Regional Awards for the announcement of the winners of the National Awards, including the much coveted ‘Best of the Best’. While this ultimate prize went to the impressive 2 Television Centre, it was two of the other winners that caught the eye of the team at Procol.
The winners of each category as repored by Workplace Insight were:
• 2 Television Centre, London : Best of the Best Award and Commercial Workplace Award
• Janet Nash House, Durham : Corporate Workplace Award
• Hanover, Manchester : Refurbished/Recycled Workplace Award
• Ingenuity House, Interserve UK Hub, Birmingham : Innovation Award
• Deloitte HQ, 1 New Street Square, London : Fit Out of Workplace Award
• Live Works, Newcastle : Projects up to 1,500 Award
• PwC, 1 Embankment Place, London : Test of Time Award
We certainly don’t argue that 2 Television Centre was worthy overall winner, but we were especially impressed with the winner of the Innovation Award, Ingenuity House, and the winner of the Fit Out of Workplace Award, Deloitte HQ. Both these projects really chimed with our own philosophy of creating professional working environments that deliver benefits to clients on a range of fronts.
Ingenuity House was praised for the way it transformed the occupier’s way of working. What piqued our interest most – and impressed the judges – was the ‘intelligent occupier analysis system’ that allows the occupier to adjust core FM settings to maximise the use of space and minimise energy consumption.
The fit out of the Deloitte HQ was lauded by the awards jury due to the way it puts the experience of the occupier at the centre of the design. It features a rich array of flexible workspaces with additional staircases, upgraded facilities and smart technology to enable greater connection between employees, and between employees and clients. The offices have also achieved the highest score for sustainability of any global commercial building fit-out.
Impressive stuff all round, and our congratulations go to these and all of the winners.