When faced with a big office move, or design refurbishment it’s any wonder businesses take a large intake of breath before even beginning to think where to start. With so many companies likely to be involved, from facility managers through to build contractors – mechanical engineers to property agents – not forgetting the designers (of course). It’s hardly surprising company owners often start to worry about losing track of the ‘real’ cost of their project and wonder how they can prevent their budget from spiralling out of control.
In these tough economic times leading strategic design consultancy Burtt-Jones & Brewer feel it’s more important than ever before to help clients understand the true scope and potential cost of creating a fantastic new commercial space.
Through Burtt-Jones & Brewer’s years of experience in workplace design, they’ve helped clients to save literally tens of thousands of pounds through openly tendering their design specification, or ‘drawing package’ for the required space. By providing transparent procurement guidance Burtt-Jones & Brewer advise clients on the ‘right’ suppliers for the build elements, lighting, furniture etc… with the advantage to the client being that they’re able to make an informed choice and compare like-for-like quotes against an approved design specification. Opposed to a finger-in-the-air upfront quote based on a design concept that is sadly so often the result of a free design and build pitch.
A recent project where Burtt-Jones & Brewer applied this approach was for Glenigan, who are part of Emap Ltd. Glenigan are the leading provider of construction project sales leads, industry data, analysis, forecasting and company intelligence. Glenigan were after a design that would transform their 10,000 sq ft space into a place where their team could feel calm, motivated, yet inspired.Incentive FM appointed Burtt-Jones & Brewer as lead designers for this project as they wholly support and back Burtt-Jones & Brewer’s trusted design approach and saw the real value in collaborating together in sourcing and recommending the best third party suppliers for Glenigan. The competition was tough, but through this invaluable tendering process, Overbury were awarded the contract to fit-out Glenigan’s office.
Fully aware of Glenigan’s work within the Built Environment, Burtt-Jones & Brewer were keen to demonstrate a good use of environmentally sound materials and suppliers. The carpet choice was awarded to the environmentally pioneering company Interface Flor, the main furniture desking systems by Steelcase supplied by Portsdown and the beautiful bespoke board room table sourced by EKO along with the stylish meeting room chairs. With the designer flooring around the tea-point area supplied by Karndean.
Working with some of the best suppliers in the industry and engaging with this open tendering approach is echoed in Managing Director for Glenigan, Mike Woolfrey’s comment, “We’re delighted with the outcome of our newly designed offices and feel like we’ve been in there forever, which is a good sign. The things that really worked for us (beyond the physical design obviously) was the upfront investment of time that Burtt-Jones & Brewer took to understand our workplace culture and type of environment we were looking for to enhance our staff’s performance. Burtt-Jones & Brewer consistently referenced back to these insights and as a result, have designed a space that’s perfect for us. Their open tendering approach gave me great peace of mind that our project would not escalate financially and they helped us to save in the region of 10% of the final construction cost.”