Ben Johnson Interiors had worked with Harworth Group on their Leeds office refurbishment and following the successful project were introduced to the Manchester team. Harworth Northwest was moving to a larger floor plate, and Ben Johnson Interiors assisted them during the building evaluation stage by providing feasibility planning for the three short listed buildings. Once Trinity Manchester was chosen, we were then introduced to the local project team to develop the plan to meet their local business needs.

Harworth Northwest wanted to adopt a more agile work style, with clearly defined work areas that included 22 open plan workstations, a breakout area, a choice of collaboration zones, areas for quiet focussed work and three flexible 10-person meeting rooms which would open to create a seminar space to hold 30 people.

Ben Johnson Interiors were to provide design, fit-out and furniture through a JCT Contract working with the client’s project team, which included an independent building surveyor, acoustic and mechanical consultant as well as an AV consultant.

Trinity Manchester had a manned reception, so Harworth opted to have a welcome area on entry with the Harworth logo made using a neon light and mounted on a moss feature wall. On entering the space, employees or visitors can then be directed to a feature booth, taken into the breakout space, or go directly in to one of the meeting rooms. The breakout space included a Howdens kitchen and a choice of banquet seating, dining, or lounge seating, with dynamic feature graphics and pendant lighting.  A feature graphical Harworth history wall was installed on the journey between the welcome area and meeting rooms to showcase Harworth history and experience.  Feature graphics were used throughout the space, including a Manchester landscape graphic behind the feature booths at the back of the open plan space. A graphic wall was also installed in the resource area to highlight Harworth’s commitment to sustainability. 

The Trinity Manchester workspace had all exposed services so managing acoustics both in the open plan and between meeting rooms was a key focus for the project. Harworth employed an independent acoustic consultant to advice on best practices. Solutions included installing acoustic baffles over the open plan work areas and using feature acoustic wall treatments in all meeting rooms to absorb sound and manage reverberation. Focus was given to the meeting rooms with all solid and glazed partitioning, double boarded and glazed and mechanical and electrical services were reconfigured to avoid cutting through the walls and creating acoustic weak points. The bi-folding walls between the meeting rooms were also specified to a high acoustic standard, achieving a rating of 50DB. Other acoustic features included acoustic pendant lights and flexible floor standing acoustic screens. Fabric screens were also added to all the height adjustable open plan workstations to help stop sound transfer between the workstations.

Trinity Manchester had a stylish black linear lighting system which was reconfigured to meet the new layout and supplemented with feature pendant lighting, which was used to identify walkways and collaboration zones.

Ben Johnson Interiors also assisted Harworth with the procurement of all new furniture. They loved the benching system with wooden legs we used previously in the Leeds office and felt the selective use of wood would help warm up the space. Time was spent identifying the best task chair and ultimately the team opted for the Orangebox Do chair due to its comfort and high sustainability credentials. A bank of height adjustable desks was installed in the hot desking area for the Manchester staff to work agile and to support colleagues visiting from other offices. A flexible flip top table solution with lightweight stackable cantilever meeting chairs was used in the flexible 10-person meeting rooms to ensure easy reconfiguration.

The Finished Project

Sustainability was always high on Harworth’s agenda. On completion Ben Johnson Interiors provided an ESG sheet on all the materials and products that were used on the project. All the chosen suppliers had strong sustainability credentials to meet Harworth’s environmental criteria.

The careful attention to acoustics throughout the design and build process created an environment that allowed users to work agile in the various zones, as well as hold events and meetings without disrupting their colleagues.

We are proud to be part of the project team that created this amazing workspace.