Hilson Moran recently moved into Bruntwood’s newly refurbed, Neo Building in Manchester, looking for a city centre location to provide better links and opportunities for the business. Hilson Moran wanted to design an office that would meet the WELL standards – a recently released standard that recognises the importance of health and Wellbeing of employees and creates a healthier working environment. Working with leading Interior Designers Space Invader, our brief was to provide furniture to meet their design concepts and vision for the space.
An essential criterion of the standard was to reduce the amount of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from products and furniture in order to improve air quality. This meant that only furniture with the Greenguard Gold certification or equivalent could be considered for purchase. Penketh Group was instructed to source furniture that would conform to Stringent VOC expectations required to achieve the WELL Standard.
Hilson Moran also wanted to incorporate a ‘refresh area’ to allow staff to integrate and grow their relationships with one another. When not being used for a social space it can be transformed into a working space for staff, utilising the space to its maximum capacity and increasing productivity.