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About the Client

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is the largest nature conservation charity in the country. It consistently delivers successful conservation, forging powerful new partnerships with other organisations and inspiring others to stand up and give nature the home it deserves.

Office breakout area interior design for RSPB in Brighton Office breakout area interior design for RSPB in Brighton

Client Brief

RSPB required our help for an office relocation and design project for its Brighton team. The project also included office dilapidation works to honour the charity’s lease agreement with the landlord.

With RSPB moving to another location, part of the brief was to transfer much of its existing equipment to the new office and ensure everything was set up for the team. This would prove crucial in enabling the team to successfully return to work within the designated timeframe.

For the new workplace interior design, RSPB wanted a modern, nature-themed aesthetic to reflect its brand identity. Furthermore, the charity wanted the office space to accommodate hybrid working and be DDA compliant for disabled employees.

Hanging acoustic office screen for a refurbishment in Brighton Hanging acoustic office screen for a refurbishment in Brighton
New furniture installed for a Brighton office refurbishment project New furniture installed for a Brighton office refurbishment project

Our Office Design and Relocation Solution

Office Dilapidation

For this phase of the project, our team visited RSPB’s office to help the charity’s project lead understand the dilapidation schedule provided by the landlord. This stated that RSPB needed to restore the office back to the condition it was when the charity moved in. With vast experience in office refurbishments and dilapidations, we ensured RSPB left the premises without complications. The works included the removal of a number of elements, such as air conditioning units, offices, the kitchen area and decorations. Additionally, our team restored the flooring and made changes to the floor boxes.

Office Relocation

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, relocating proved an obstacle for RSPB. With the RSPB employees unable to pack up and help with the relocation (as per the original plan), we sent in the Rap Interiors team to expedite the process. This entailed packing and moving the contents of their old office while complying with COVID-19 health and safety regulations. In addition to moving these elements, we set up RSPB’s space so the employees we ready for work upon moving in. This included installing IT equipment, setting up phone systems and unpacking.

Office Interior Design 

Creating a well-configured workspace design was another obstacle due to the new building’s unusual angles and bay windows. This required the help of our Brighton office interior designers, who provided a comprehensive plan of the space to reflect the project brief.

Our designers used their experience to work out how many desks were needed to accommodate the hybrid working model. They also introduced a number of new office furniture elements, including height-adjustable desks for DDA compliance, a metal-framed dining bench, and breakfast bar stalls in the breakout area positioned to overlook the city.

To create an on-brand aesthetic, our designers came up with the unique idea of creating work zones with bird-themes, such as The Bird Bath, The Nest and The Perch. They also introduced greenery and plants to emphasize the nature theme.

Other key elements of the design included hanging acoustic screens with a tree “cutout” effect to further reflect the charity’s nature-themed identity, a storage wall to keep the space tidy, and a large floor-level locker system to enable hot-desking.

Office breakout area interior design for RSPB in Brighton

The Results

With the help of our Brighton interior designers and project team, RSPB were able to move comfortably within its four-week relocation schedule. With our dilapidation and office move management expertise, we were able to act quickly and ensure the space was set up for employees to start working immediately.

Furthermore, RSPB now has an office that ticks the boxes for style and practicality. The nature-themed aesthetic is a strong reflection RSPB’s brand, while the intelligent space configuration and furniture selection has enabled the team to work with a modern hybrid model.

Ultimately, this multi-faceted and challenging project was a huge success for the client and ourselves. We are delighted to say that RSPB now has a space that will enable it to continue the excellent work it has been doing in the charity sector since 1889!

A Word with Sarah Murphy, Senior RSPB Office Administrator

What was the general remit for RSPB?

It was an office move and refit initially.  I think I contacted you guys because you did the dilapidations and then on the back of that I had a chat with Julie and then I realised you did basically everything else!

How did you find Rap Interiors throughout the process

Really good. Very communicative, very understanding. Rap’s original design was amazing, but being a charity we had to cut it back by quite a bit. Rap were very understanding of our situation so yes they were great.

How did Rap help you to stay within your budget?

They just understood our situation basically, as we had to cut back quite a bit on the design and in the end we ended up using quite a bit of furniture that we already had and moved across, so they were just so understanding of what we were after.

What’s your favourite part of the new office?

The acoustics panels are great. They look really nice and I really like the lockers. They’ve sort of intermingled with our shelving units really well and they’ve created a really good barrier between one side and the other side of the office, without it feeling like a barrier.

So is it fair to say that the new office functions a bit better than the last one?

Yes!

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