Creating standardised meeting spaces within Listed Buildings
Dalen Designs were approached by the Bank of England to begin working on a series of meeting spaces to help meet the demands of a hybrid world. The bank’s goal was to enable staff to walk into any meeting room and be up and running with minimal effort. Some of the current set ups were varied, inconsistent which caused delays to the start of meetings.
Their approach was to standardise across the site in terms of technology and to minimise disruption to the business, saving time and money. By ‘parachuting’ a standard solution to fit the specific space in, the bank could also avoid the need to modify floors or walls to install the necessary AV equipment.
The Bank of England also wanted to promote interactions between a hybrid workforce. With such reliance on cloudbased solutions, it was imperative that when kitted out with adequate technology, the furniture should facilitate simple setup of these remote meetings.
Key project criteria:
Support hybrid working:
- Encourage meetings between hybrid workers – the solution and its systems should be simple and feel familiar. Whether a member of staff is working in the office or from home they should be able to seamlessly interact with their co-workers and contribute to meetings.
All-in-one solution:
- The furniture should facilitate video conferencing, the playback of multimedia and power and data connectivity. Any unit must also improve the current cable management situation.
Standardised across site:
- The bank wanted to strategically adopt a standard AV solution across site for simplification and consistency.
Future proof:
- The furniture solution should be deployable into any room when the firm required it and easily retrofit with new or updated systems.
Grade 1 Listed status:
- Reduce the impact on current infrastructure by minimising the modification to the rooms needed for installation.
Decision process
The project was initiated with a design consultancy phase, including an assessment of the room’s layout and acoustics. Using room drawings renders, the team visualised the space to optimise equipment placement.
This process provided the Project Managers to visualise the final installation,giving room for adjustments to be requested, approvals to be made, and a precise project road map to be agreed on.
Free standing, all-in-one meeting spaces for deployment within Listed Building
Facilitate VC and provide easy to use connectivity
Configured with power and data connectivity built into the leg, mast and worktop alongside internal cable management which resulted in easy access to the PC and AV equipment, presenting a better first impression to customers and clients on site.
Encourage Hybrid meetings
A combination of the easy to use connectivity, collaborative worktop shapes and standardised integrated AV meant participants could seamlessly share between users over live video. The systems used in the office and at home were made identical to further simplify and streamline the transition to hybrid working.
Standardised across site
Configured with a range of specific connections and arranged in the same locations on each product, saving time during meetings. Additional AV mounting equipment was also standardised including a camera mount, PC cage and a screen bracket. Each solution was then customised with the appropriate worktop size and style for the room. This standardisation enabled us to minimise the impact of the project on the business.
The result
The Bank of England were thrilled with the results and now have a standard solution they can specify and ‘parachute’ in as needed. Since the installation had no impact on the existing infrastructure of the various sites, the Global Bank were able to complete the project without delays, saving both time and money.
Thanks to the improvements to the meeting spaces the Bank have made across its site, employees are now able to meet and collaborate with ease. Whether they are based in the office or from home they are better equipped to be included in essential strategic meetings and collaborative working events. The majority of their workforce are now able to maintain a 60/40 Hybrid working model.
A standard specification managed by Facilities Management team makes training simple and effective. Once someone is trained in the use of one meeting space, they are able to use the same training to use technology and interfaces across the site. What’s more the systems they use in these meeting spaces are consistent with what they are using at home, this means that transitioning between the two environments is seamless and easy to understand.