SpaceInvader unveils Manchester office for multinational law firm Pinsent Masons.

For multinational law firm Pinsent Masons, Manchester-based interior design consultancy SpaceInvader crafted a thoughtful and functional palette at No.1 St Michaels (by Gary Neville’s Relentless Developments).

Utilising products and materials from Material Source Studio Partners: SAS International (suspended ceiling); Autex Acoustics (acoustic baffles/panels); Zentia (ceiling tiles); Milliken (carpet tiles); Forbo (vinyl floor), and working with a team including Overbury (lead contractor); WSP (mechanical & electrical engineering and acoustics); Gleeds (project and cost manager); Zerum Consult Limited & SOCOTEC Building Control, the brief was to "help achieve a contemporary, refined and functionality-driven working environment."

“This was a particularly enjoyable project”, SpaceInvader studio operations director, Sarah Dabbs, commented. “The client’s facilities management team was so well-organised, structured and clear about their needs and priorities, the entire programme was a pleasure, start to finish. If we could give out awards for great clients to work with, Pinsent Masons would be a definite winner!”

Whilst the firm’s values of quality, reliability and longevity hold true as requirements for all office spaces, the new 2,452 sq m Manchester office was to be a step-change from its direct predecessor, not only in look and feel – moving away from the red and white brand-led feel of the former office – but also in terms of responding to how its team now wished to work. Workshops were held by SpaceInvader for each individual team at Pinsent Masons and with every member of staff contributing their requirements to feed into the overall planning of the space.

“Pinsent Masons’ changes in requirements had two clear roots", Sarah Dabbs explained. "First of all, technology, which meant both that more call and video-meeting rooms were a requirement, but also spatial arrangements that were partly a reaction to the post-Covid period of hybrid working.

"The net results of this not only affected working patterns, with hybrid working now an accepted norm for the company, but also, as we are finding both here and in other schemes, in terms of people’s increased sensitivity to sound, having become accustomed to working in the silence of their own homes.

"Acoustically-sealed rooms on this scheme for focused working or 1-to-1 meeting rooms have therefore been integrated at a ratio of 1 room per 9 desks and at a ratio of 1-to-20 for small group rooms. This set-up also prevents the wasteful practice of larger meeting rooms being used for sole or dual occupants only.”

At Pinsent Masons, legal experts work collaboratively with colleagues across business operations, sitting in neighbourhood groupings, with non-assigned desks in each particular zone, along with amenity provision and call/focus areas. Sit-stand desking is incorporated throughout – amounting to 50% of all desks - along with multi-faith and contemplation spaces.

The aesthetic look and feel of the new scheme, meanwhile, responded specifically to the city of Manchester and the immediate environs of the building rather than to brand-based requirements. References are made in the design to the brick and stone of the older surrounding buildings, for example, as well as to features such timber panelling, though these are always translated into a high-quality and non-shouty modern vernacular.

The 7th floor welcome lounge has a high-impact, bespoke joinery reception desk in the centre of the floorplate, featuring a composite Cosentino stone top, edged by a metal band, a metal-faced laminate front and brushed metal fins. All joinery in this area is in treated ash veneer. Always manned, the reception desk also includes a barista area for serving both visitors and staff.

A sweeping ceiling curve overhead features suspended timber dowels which move gently, and noiselessly in response to the air conditioning. The dowels are painted in a gradation of gentle tones, creating a subtle ombre effect.

The colours in the space are timeless and range from neutral to earthy colours, one response of many in the design scheme to the priorities revealed by the workshop process, which also included prioritising dedicated wellbeing spaces, the integration of biophilia, the consideration of sustainability in all furniture choices and maximum natural light ingress.

There are no distracting patterns and only the sparing use of bright colours in the scheme’s social hubs, reflecting the business’s calm and purpose-driven culture. Planting is grouped together for impact but not inset into the joinery so as not to degrade the scheme’s use of timber.

To the left of reception is a mini social hub, whilst the main social hub is located at the top of the 7th floor plan, overlooking the city’s town hall and library buildings. Both spaces include a social island with sinks and a flexible seating area.

The F&B offer in the main hub includes nutritious food available to all via a chilled vending and cook-it-yourself vending model, as well as bean-to-cup coffee. A further social space also sits on the floor above. The discreet lighting here and throughout – featuring coppery bronze-toned pendants - has been chosen with settings to mimic natural daylight, even when far-removed from the building's glazing, and feels high-quality and domestic in tone. The floor in this first space is a porcelain tile, with a floor apron around the social area island, typical of the considered and subtle detailing in the scheme.

The open plan areas of the office are positioned around the central welcome area with focus rooms and meeting rooms of varying sizes and degrees of formality – including a 24-person boardroom – located to the far sides of the desking and also around the building’s core, with easy access in all cases directly from the open plan areas.

The variety of room sizes and typologies is aimed at giving team members maximum control over the environment they need for any particular mission, with high-concentration document read-throughs representing a major part of the working day. Because of the confidentiality of much of the firm’s work, lockable document storage areas within a number of rooms were also a requirement. Coat storage is integrated at the end of team desking areas for each neighbourhood.

A generous terraced area, with a glazed, metal-edge balcony, offers unobstructed views over the city and is located next to the main social hub. There are also a number of wellbeing spaces within this spatial cluster, including a multi-faith space and a returning parent amenity with a privacy curtain, blinds and a lockable door.

The 8th floor half floorplan repeats the thought process and delineation of the 7th, with the addition of an IT space and a Workplace Room, housing postal, repro and other support services. The latter was deliberately positioned to be an attractive space with really nice views for the team members who work in it all day, inverting the usual scenario in which it’s the least attractive space left over on the floorplan.

Pinsent Masons commented on the design of the new offices: “We are absolutely delighted with our new Manchester office and the flexibility and functionality it offers everyone. From our initial discussions with SpaceInvader, it was clear that they understood our vision and concept for the space and their modern design and clear focus on quality of finish really reflected this. The space has a relaxed corporate feel, it is calming yet at the same time vibrant and it has felt like home since day one.

"The brief was to build a modern, truly agile, tech-led workplace that enabled greater flexibility and collaboration between teams. SpaceInvader truly understood the brief and this made the working relationship extremely collaborative and interactive. They listened to our needs and were quick to accommodate and push through changes to the design, even at the very last minute. By working so successfully together we have delivered an exceptional project that works perfectly for our Manchester team and is a project that everyone is immensely proud of.”