Thinking like owners and occupiers

Successful developments meet a commercial need now and in the future. To achieve them, we match technical expertise with wider understanding of market factors and a collaborative way of working with owners, tenants and other stakeholders to drive asset value and minimise waste.

Read on to hear how our approach to project management drove the success of two landmark schemes. To understand how we can apply a new perspective to your property challenges, please get in touch.

Expansion, optimisation and quality tenants

We oversaw the repurposing of Pinnacle House to meet the needs of incoming tenant Kindred, owner Aviva Investors and the wider Wimbledon community. Through close consultation we rejuvenated a tired and under-performing building to become a modern, optimised and valuable asset.

Pinnacle House sits in prime location in Wimbledon – in the heart of a vibrant community centre, around the corner from the station and minutes from central London.

But from the kerb, the building’s original post-modern ‘80s image was tiring. Inside, its layout didn’t make the most of its footprint nor was it inspiring quality tenants to occupy it.

Our role was to provide a fresh design to Pinnacle House, to make the building work harder and secure valuable new occupants for its owner.

Together with the team we identified an opportunity for Aviva: by extending three floors upwards, the net lettable area would be increased by over 50% while optimising many aspects of the building from a sustainability and efficiency point of view.

Engagement with the incoming tenants early on was crucial, to understand their needs and design a space which could accommodate their own Cat B fit-out seamlessly  and avoid the need for removal or reconfiguration of the landlords basebuild Cat A fit-out.

By working to a clear brief and cultivating an ethos of collaboration between all parties, our team was able to achieve planning permission, a pre-let tenant and an unconditional building contract within one year of Aviva’s acquisition of the original building.

Now, Pinnacle House is an attractive part of Wimbledon town centre, providing highly useable, efficient and flexible office space, suitable for both the speculative market as well and the pre-let tenant.

Future-proofing investment

400 & 450 Longwater Avenue are part of the latest phase of development in Reading’s 195-acre Green Park development; a destination for dynamic businesses looking for great transport connections and Grade A office space. We were briefed to manage this development and help deliver 228,000 sq ft of speculative office space across two new buildings.

The speculative nature of this development raises the important consideration of flexibility in the design, to allow for all likely letting or occupational strategies to be realised. We approached the challenge with a wider perspective than pure construction consultancy to ensure the flexibility and future operational viability of the building.

Our initial focus was on a clear sub-divisibility strategy, including: column-free floor plates for space planning flexibility; M&E systems designed to enable simple subdivision on a floor-by-floor, or half-floor basis; capacity in the structure and HVAC systems to accommodate enhanced occupational densities; and provision for future (retrospective) goods lift installations.

But early and ongoing engagement with future stakeholders, such as the building management team, was another major part of the solution. This consultation meant the building could be simply and effectively operated and managed by combining our technical knowledge with the input of experienced facilities management to shape a better performing building for the future.

We were careful to balance cost and value throughout the process, ensuring the design was underpinned by quality and longevity of materials and equipment. Ruthless cost-reduction at the outset, or not appropriately managing the risks during procurement, could create future complications in terms of maintenance and tenant dissatisfaction with the finished building.

By planning for our clients’ future need to maximise their asset in the years to come, we were able to help shape design and delivery to be adaptable for all eventual investment and occupation strategies.