Workplace
ServiceNow
Designing a UK headquarters for leading software company ServiceNow
1 Floor
11 Week Programme
19,000 Sq Ft
The Challenge
To design a UK headquarters for the leading tech firm, that allowed them to think about space differently post pandemic, optimising it rather than reducing it in alignment with changing working practices.
The Solution
Creating a sophisticated and dynamic space with a variety of different seating areas to encourage community and collaboration.
The Result
A distinctive blend of industrial aesthetics with technology, greenery, and subdued colours that encourages employees to work efficiency and in comfort.
The US brand is known for optimising digital workflows, so we helped them create a physical space that matched that streamlined thinking.
ServiceNow is an American software company that helps companies manage digital workflows, digitising and automating siloed processes to help organisations unify and work smarter. The brand is all about optimising the work experience for everyone – customers, team members and, ultimately, the business itself with improved productivity and profitability.
It’s a set of values that closely aligns with ours as well. That made it a particularly cohesive when they asked us to help them engage their own employee base as part of a collaborative design and build of their UK offices in Staines and London.
Optimising the office
Their approach was not to reduce their footprint, but to think about it in alignment with hybrid working. Their goal was to build a UK headquarters befitting their vision for the future of work and their brand.
Noting the importance of comfort and creating amenity rich environments to work in, a combination of collaborative working, efficient floor plates and wow-factor were priorities within the brief.
The goal was to ensure employees were well educated on how to use the spaces, from the space itself to integrated technology, in order to maximise productivity and enhance experience.
What they wanted to see at the end were spaces that team members wanted to work in and were happy to spend time in.
A collaborative approach
The relationship with ServiceNow was highly collaborative, both in terms of formulating ideas and understanding what the team wanted and needed from their working environment, as well as then turning that information into workable designs.
Structurally, there was a focus on more hub locations to enable teams to gather and meet, more flexible workspace and more community areas.
The office had to deliver two very difference spaces – an employee space with desk and meeting areas as well as an executive briefing centre. This needed to be elevated in terms of design and the technology. The goal was to achieve this whilst ensuring a coherent look and feel – so it didn’t seem like two separate offices.
A dynamic look and feel
The result is an engaging and sophisticated urban look and feel with an industrial aesthetic thanks to exposed ceilings and brickwork, concrete effects and characterful woodwork that allows the grain and tones of different pieces to shine through. This is all offset with muted tones in fabrics and soft furnishings.
Vast windows let in a wealth of natural light, enabling us to play with darker tones on the ceiling and in fixtures and fittings. Plant-life forms a big part in the concept in living walls and ceiling features, softening the finishes, and adding a wellness element.
Glass partitions meant that we were able to create nooks and private spaces without the space feeling enclosed. Meanwhile, unique lighting features create a talking point and add to the sense of a forward-thinking environment with a dynamic mindset.
A trusting relationship
During the fit-out process regular meetings with the team provided a vital two-way dialogue and feedback to and from key stakeholders.
As a result, the space was extremely well received by the company and by team members. Following its success, the brand is now building spaces in Dublin and Munich with features following the benchmark set in the UK.