The Ink Building
Client
Castleforge
Sector
Commercial Offices
Services provided
Project Management,
Cost Consultancy,
The Ink Building
The client brief was to create Grade-A office space with 4,500 sqft plates which will be able to be sub-divided into smaller circa 2,000 sqft (186 sq m) office plates, if required. The specification and appearance was focused towards a new build office development suitable for companies seeking for satellite offices outwith London.
The building was rebranded as ‘The Ink Building’, a nod to the history of the site as former printing press and that was key to the client’s marketing of the completed building.
The refurbishment included overhauling the external envelope of the building, giving it a new visual identity, and improving the functionality with repairs and upgrades to the building fabric.
The reception area was redesigned to meet the requirements of a high-end client and to do so in such a way that promotes the building and activities at this corner of the city centre. The ground floor unit was left as a shell to give the client the option to include a coffee shop offering at the street level.
It was fundamental to ensure that the design team followed the client’s brief for the upgrades of the communal areas including the WCs and lifts. The client’s budget for these areas was restricted however it was important to ensure we established a distinctive brand identity for the building while achieving the necessary costs savings. PMP achieved this by ensuring there were regular design team workshops which included a review of the associated costs. It was important the client was involved in these reviews to ensure there was an acceptable agreement between design specification and costs.
A key part of the client’s brief was to transform the building’s external appearance through decoration of the façade and window replacement. It was important to determine what was the most effective and efficient system to install to achieve this while also showing an awareness of potential solar gain increase. The outcome of this resulted in dropping the cill height and taking the glazing to the underside of the structural opening. The benefit of this was that it reduced the overall extent of the spandrel panel and gave the building a significantly more open appearance.
