Leading workplace design and fit-out experts Area have completed a 28,000 sq ft flagship EMEA headquarters for global technology company F5 at Building 100, Bourne Business Park in Addlestone, Surrey. The new workplace brings together more than 150 employees, clients and partners in a space that balances high-performing design with a warmer, more human experience.
Designed to support focused work, collaboration, client engagement, training and events, the headquarters gives F5’s teams a genuine reason to come together in person, while creating a destination for the clients and partners they work with across the region.
Nature’s Network
The design is shaped by a concept the Area team called “Nature’s Network”, inspired by the green spaces, waterways, fields and landscapes that surround Bourne Business Park.
Rather than taking a literal approach, the concept draws a parallel between the natural networks around Addlestone and F5’s own network of people, technology and ideas, linking the natural world with the digital infrastructure at the heart of the business.
This idea runs through the workplace as a visual thread. Digital installations, layered materials, 3D elements, specialist lighting and nature-inspired compositions bring F5’s brand to life, with circulation routes, collaboration spaces and everyday touchpoints all treated as part of the wider experience. Tactile materials, visible joinery and crafted details add a distinctly British craft sensibility, giving the high-tech environment a grounded, human feel.
“F5 wanted a headquarters that felt as connected as the technology it builds, but warmer and more human than a typical tech office,” said Carl Burne, Managing Director, Area. “Nature’s Network gave us a way to tell F5’s story through the landscape around Bourne Business Park, creating a workplace that people, clients and partners genuinely want to spend time in.”
A welcoming front door
On the ground floor, a flexible reception and event space adapts throughout the day. It combines a concierge-style welcome with a collaborative innovation hub, meeting spaces and refreshment points, making it equally suited to hosting clients, running training sessions and staging events.
Framed views into the workplace create a sense of openness from the moment visitors arrive, while keeping the teams working on the upper floors private.
Designed around how F5 works
The upper floors offer a full range of settings, including open-plan desks, agile spaces, meeting and focus rooms, quiet zones, collaboration lounges, breakout areas and tea points, alongside dedicated IT support spaces. This gives employees genuine choice over where and how they work during the day.
Workstations are placed around the perimeter to make the most of natural light and views, while meeting, focus and quiet rooms sit within central pod structures. Area also coordinated structured cabling, WiFi coverage, testing and certification, and integrated digital components, so the technology performs as well as the design.
To help employees settle into new ways of working, Area partnered with 360 Workplace, which delivered change management support to help F5’s teams understand, prepare for and adopt the new environment.
Working with the building, not against it
Area’s earlier work on Building 100 gave the team a detailed understanding of the building’s structure, services and sustainability strategy. Building 100’s redevelopment achieved BREEAM Excellent and a 5.5 NABERS UK Design for Performance rating, and the fit-out was designed to protect that base-build performance.
The central pod structures were a direct response to the existing services and ceiling constraints. Working with the building in this way reduced intrusive works, retained existing infrastructure and left flexibility for future change.
Sustainability and social value
Waste on site was managed through a structured process of segregation, monitoring and reporting. As a result, 98.6% of project waste was recycled or diverted from landfill, beating the project’s 98% target. The approach reflects Area’s commitments as a certified B Corp and its Project Positive sustainability programme.
The project also delivered value beyond the building. Area and F5 supported a Mini Medics programme at The Holy Family Catholic Primary School in Addlestone, providing first aid training to more than 120 pupils.
As organisations rethink what the office is for, F5’s Addlestone headquarters shows how a technology-led workplace can be high-performing, sustainable and deeply human at the same time.
