Watkins Payne provided MEP systems and IT cabling design services for the fit-out of 186,000ft² of commercial offices in the eight storey 1 Forbury Place in Reading, which formed the focus of SSE Services plc’s relocation strategy to consolidate several buildings from across southern England and accommodate 1,500 employees in a single location.
The Cat B fit-out design supports agile working, collaboration and connectivity, optimising employee and visitor comfort. Facilities include a café with catering facilities on the ground floor, main and secondary plant equipment rooms, a sixth floor conference and meeting rooms suite, and agile open plan office areas on other floors consisting of collaboration spaces, meeting pods and booths with VC facilities.
The majority of the base build MEP systems were retained, adapted and modified with flexibility in mind, to ‘future proof’ and support the Client’s needs.
The base build air conditioning, which is provided by electric VRF systems was modified to suit the fit-out. A standby generator was installed for resilience, and a fully networked CCTV and security access control system was provided to meet the Client’s operational requirements.
The Practice also assisted the Client in the initial due diligence exercise as part of the lease negotiations.
234 Bath Road development located in Slough is arranged over ground, first and second floors, with a basement level car park and podium level car park to the rear. The development constructed in 2016 stand at 68,000 ft2 of office accommodation. Part of the ground office floor area was utilised to provide a café to enhance the amenities within the development.
New build residential development providing 142 units over 3 blocks up to 16 storeys in height.
Coda Studio, located in Fulham’s Munster Road, contains 57 self-contained office units providing rentable accommodation for various types of small businesses. An 8,600ft² section of the existing car park was reallocated for the development of a gym, lounge and meeting area, for which Watkins Payne supplied building services engineering.
A purpose-built student accommodation scheme at Dundee Street Edinburgh.
32 Duke Street in the heart of St James’s, the contemporary development known as The Marq comprises mixed use accommodation, with A1 and A3 retail units across ground and basement floors and 35,460ft2 of office space on six upper levels.
The building services use a 4-pipe fan coil unit arrangement with various ventilation systems to suit the different use areas. Full building power back-up standby generation, UPS, security and access control and automatic blinds all formed part of the fit-out.
