Britsh Red Cross

When the British Red Cross moved into the old Swiss Re building in Moorfields, the  charity inherited all the old office furniture from the insurance power house, that barely suited their needs. Swiss Re went on to purchase new office furniture for their new office relocation in the recently constructed Gherkin, 30 St. Mary Axe. Within just a few years the Red Cross were expanding to the limits of their new space and needed to employ more people and find more space. City office rents and business rates are some of the highest in the world – and relocation costs for a new fit-out so soon after a relocation would have being financially onerous for this charity – with donations better spent elsewhere.

Working with their in-house facilities team we undertook a detailed space planning exercise on each floor, and replaced the inefficient corner desks with a more modern  bench desking system from Senator. This  managed to not only improve the workspace, but also increase occupancy  by nearly 40%. This negated the need to move and improved the operational efficiency of the space by the same amount. The employees were delighted with their new chairs, height adjustable screens and the all round improved ergonomics of their workspace. This all translated into the saving of a small fortune for the Red Cross; money that was better spent through the good work of the charity. Images above show the new furniture installation and the before and after space planning showing the significant differences and space efficiencies.