Due to being a rapidly growing business and increasing numbers of itinerant staff, Ben Johnson were appointed to conduct a workplace assessment. Working with the client through a series of audits and interviews helped identify their square footage requirements and enabled Spectrum to select two floors at Navigation Walk in Wakefield. The majority of Spectrum’s workforce worked off site at client premises. They required an office that could provide a workstation when they had admin tasks and meeting spaces for collaboration or private briefing sessions. Spectrum was also fast changing, constantly bidding and winning new contracts, the new workplace had to support future growth and the senior team saw agile working principals as a means of creating a more efficient working environment.

Spectrum wanted to ensure that the open plan office did not resemble a typical public-sector office space. The company brand colours were used throughout the space to help identify the various teams and informal breakout areas. The teams all had lockers enabling the desks to be used by multiple agile users. To create future flexibility, the offices and general meetings rooms were planned in identical sizes, so their use could change as the business grows and evolves. A larger flexible conference room was provided with an adjacent furniture store so the space could be reconfigured as required for seminars and training. The communal breakout area had to incorporate lots of light, great views and have the ‘wow factor’. Spectrum stipulated the position which was 20 meters from the core services so a pump was used to transfer water. Design features included an L-shaped kitchen with built-in bar element, a feature wall and bright furniture in keeping with the spectrum brand. Acoustics was a particular concern due to the confidential conversations taking place on site; with clients such as HM Prison Wakefield this was a fundamental request. Ben Johnson worked with Spectrum to develop a strategy for the acoustics. The amount of glazing was reduced where possible, and investment made in double glazed modules and vertical and horizontal acoustic baffling over the partition lines. The Air-conditioning and lighting was also adapted and relocated to accommodate the cellular spaces.