Workplace
Creating Better Workplaces
At Footprint Architects we recognise that good office design can have a positive impact on employee wellbeing and productivity. Successful office design can provide an uplifting working environment that can effectively support workplace activities.
Workplace design should spark ideas, boost productivity and promote wellbeing. After all, we spend a third of our lives at work. At Footprint Architects, we design workspaces that meet the needs of today so teams can focus on creating a better tomorrow. Applying our expertise helps us create spaces where employees feel good and do good. And, most importantly for employers, it means staff want to stay.
Leading the Way in Net Zero Carbon Offices
Our sustainable architects are committed to developing workplaces and offices that are environmentally friendly and respond positively to the climate emergency. We believe that all new office designs should be low energy, zero carbon, cheap to run and built using local, sustainable materials. Environmentally sustainable office design is good for both the planet and wellbeing.
Why Choose Us?
We’re an RIBA Chartered Practice
Footprint Architects is an RIBA Chartered Practice, this means we are dedicated to the highest standards of architectural professionalism and ethics. All of our architects hold the relevant architectural qualifications and are registered with the Architects Registration Board ARB.
Community-Centered Approach
We prioritise the needs and aspirations of the communities we serve, ensuring that our designs are inclusive and user-friendly.
Sustainable Workplace Specialists:
Committed to sustainability, we integrate eco-friendly practices and materials into all our projects. We think carefully about the impacts of our projects on the environment. By incorporating passivhaus standard design methods and using recycled and sustainable materials, we can achieve innovative and eco-friendly workplaces.
Our Workplace Projects
Refurbishment and Retrofit of Former Debenhams Building into a Thriving Mixed-used Development
A Historic Restoration Converting a Former Bakery into a Modern Office Space
A Historic Renovation of a Grade II Listed Building into an Uplifting Coworking Space
Our Office Design Expertise
Footprint Architects are at the forefront of workplace architectural design and have been creating inspirational office buildings for over a decade. Our specialist team of architects have in-depth knowledge and experience in developing high quality, innovative and sustainable office designs for all working environments.
- Office fit out design
- Sustainable offices
- Coworking Spaces
- Refurbished offices
- Repurposed offices
- Retail spaces
- Interior design and fit-out
- Wellness and social spaces within the workplace
- Brand alignment
Retrofit of Heritage Buildings
Our architects specialise in providing sensitive designs for old buildings and contexts with rich heritage. With considerable experience handling projects involving conservation of historic buildings and re-use of Grade listed buildings. Our designs ensure the preservation and refurbishment of buildings with high cultural and historic value, reducing overall construction needs and providing sustainable development. We are experts in rejuvenating town centres and turning old retail spaces into thriving coworking spaces.
Our approach to successful workplaces:
1. Sustainable workplaces
Implementing the simplest low energy, passive design decisions from the outset helps ensure that an office’s energy consumption and carbon emissions are reduced. Footprint Architects adopt a fabric-first approach to all new office buildings that we design.
Enhancing the building fabric and airtightness to LETI or Passivhaus standards is a simple but highly effective measure in reducing energy consumption and in achieving a net zero carbon office in use. This low-tech approach ensures that the workspaces we create are easy to operate, have low running costs, are simple to maintain, and are healthy and comfortable environments to work in.
Our Approach to Passive Office Design
- Use of high levels of insulation to keep the heat in, enabling heating demand to be reduced by as much as 90%
- Maximise airtightness and avoid thermal bridging to meet Passivhaus standards.
- Position windows to maximise heating from the sun in the winter
- Use thermal mass to store and slowly release heat in the winter
- Use thermal mass to keep the heat out in the summer
- Position the building to maximise shading and reduce the need for air conditioning or cooling in the summer
- Orientate the long side of the building to face the south, with minimal east-west facing windows to reduce prevailing wind chill and excessive summer heat gains.
- Use fresh air to naturally ventilate a building
- Utilise existing trees to provide natural shading in the summer months
2. Natural Daylighting
Slogging it out day after day in a drab, artificially lit room without natural ventilation or a window to even glance out of might just send you sprinting to the nearest recruitment agency. We need natural light, it just makes us feel good and research shows that offices with large areas of glazing have lower sickness levels with everyone feeling more laid back and more motivated to power through their workload. We recommend the use of large windows down to floor level and glazed external doors directly from the office spaces to increase natural lighting.
An abundance of natural daylight, with minimal glare, can create an engaging and healthy office environment. The use of natural daylighting can reduce the reliance on artificial lighting, improve employee wellbeing in the workplace, reduce energy consumption and help to achieve net zero carbon in operation.
3. Colour
Colour is such an easy and inexpensive way to transform a space during an office fit out and the effect it has on our productivity and wellbeing shouldn’t be underestimated in workplace design. Warm tones such as Yellow or Red, increase optimism and alertness. Cool tones like Green or Blue, calm and keep us focused.
4. Natural Ventilation
Natural ventilation is also key when it comes to boosting productivity. We advocate providing simple, natural ventilation coupled with high ceilings to absorb stale air. Office ventilation systems need to be simple to operate and quickly responsive to allow air quality in the workplace to be easily maintained. We also recommend the use of roof lights to provide north light, increase natural ventilation and offer greater privacy for the offices over windows in the façade.
5. Biophilic office design
House plants have become a big interior trend and that trend is finding its way back into modern interior office design as well. Bringing the outside in not only improves air quality but plants have the power to reduce stress, anxiety and fatigue.
6. Healthy office spaces
Offices have a tendency to foster sedentary behaviour. Adding bike sheds and showers or even a gym can encourage more activity and healthier choices which in turn reduces sickness and has a positive impact on employees mental health and wellbeing. Ergonomic furniture, that allows employees the choice to sit or stand, can foster a healthy and more comfortable office environment.
7. Dynamic Social Spaces
The best office designs take an approach that’s layered and creative. We’ve seen an increasing trend in modern office fit outs incorporating a ‘neighbourhood’ approach. This transforms a traditional office building into a corporate playground that seemingly blurs the lines between work and leisure. With civic and private spaces, cafes, coworking areas, gyms, gaming or chill out areas and more, you have the opportunity to create something truly aspirational.
The best office design layouts create a sense of collaboration and creativity by designing in large, open plan spaces. No-one likes to be left out in the cold and this kind of space encourages cosy interaction. Desks placed side by side create no physical barriers for workplace communication.
8. Branding Opportunity
Modern office design shows that branding isn’t just for customers. Making your workplace a place of pride for everyone means you’ll have a team who are fully engaged with the company’s mission and more committed to their jobs.
We engage with all levels of an organisation. Involving multiple stakeholders within a project, be that the client, the office staff and even the maintenance team. At the Tank Museum in Dorset we developed an VR walkthrough, to allow the client, the museum director, the staff and even the contractor the chance to understand what the spaces would feel like.
The People We Have Worked With
Workplace Design Guides
Get Your Project Off The Ground
Get in touch today to kick-start your project. Let us know a few details and we’ll be in touch to discuss bringing your vision to life.
