Reward Finance group provide tailored finance solutions to businesses of all sizes across England, Wales and Scotland. Following an impressive tour of our recently completed project for Envirovent in Harrogate, Reward Finance approached Ben Johnson to help with their Leeds office relocation.

Reward Finance promote an agile, dynamic, and highly responsive workplace culture and wanted their new workplace to better reflect this. From the word ‘go’ the team recognised the modern office had to do more than provide a desk; it must provide a sense of community and engagement to encourage their colleagues to come to the office. It was important to give their employees a choice between work spaces, collaboration spaces, good welfare facilities and social spaces to encourage interaction. With such an exciting brief, our designers got to work!

Embracing agile working meant that lockers were installed in the entrance, allowing the workspaces to remain clear and free of under desk pedestals. This grants employees full flexibility of where to sit on any given day, meaning desks can be used either for quiet working or project teams and collaboration. Gone are the days where desking takes up most of the office space! The Reward Finance space dedicates over 60% of the floorplate to collaboration and meeting spaces.

Informal soft seating areas and high tables are positioned in the open plan area to support staff collaboration close to the desks, and a dedicated kitchen and social space for welfare, entertaining, and events was created away from the work area. The breakout space includes informal booths, a gaming area, pool table and a (well stocked!) drinks fridge. The inclusion of a bold “Ey Up!” neon sign finishes the space and really helps to set the fun, relaxed tone the client wanted in this space.

The main client meeting room is totally flexible, featuring a centrally positioned bi-folding wall and adaptable furniture solutions so the room can be transformed into a larger meeting room or an event space. Privacy can also be controlled with simple curtains that can be drawn along the glazed partitions if the meeting was more confidential.

Like many companies, Reward Finance were facing the challenge of how they accommodated the high level of virtual meetings and calls. Ben Johnson installed two dedicated phone booths, with a quirky “on air” sign to signal when they were in use. The phone booths provide good acoustics and independent lighting for those all-important virtual calls and have proved to be popular spaces with the team.

Every building has its challenges, and 12 King Street was no exception with its metal ridged soffit and exposed services. Acoustic treatments had to be utilised to ensure we could achieve the required acoustic performance in the meeting rooms and to minimise the reverberation in the open plan area. Reward Finance invested in a high quality bi-folding wall system and double glazed partitioning to ensure the newly constructed walls had a good acoustic performance. Acoustic batons and foam were then applied where the partitions met the soffit to reduce sound leakage. Feature baffles were also utilised on the ceilings and walls in the bi-folding meeting rooms and above the desking to help sound absorption. Well-designed AV in the meeting rooms, town hall and social spaces were also essential, and when paired with a state-of-the-art digital room booking system, the team are provided with a choice of seamless meeting spaces.

The finished project

First impressions count! On entering the space, you are greeted by a waiting area with feature carpet, calming lighting and comfortable furniture. Looking across the workspace you have glimpses of the various work zones including the bi-folding meeting room with a feature moss wall, social spaces and further collaboration areas. Feature flooring, lighting, greenery, and furniture is used throughout to create visual interest and help define the work zones. There is a real buzz in the office and you really feel that you have entered a dynamic and exciting space fit perfectly for a highly responsive and modern company. Reward Finance work and play hard, we’re so glad the space we’ve provided helps them do just that!