Schroders Personal Wealth New HQ

Keeping SPW’s ethos central to the design process was key in creating a unique and inclusive business environment. With SPW being a new organisation, there was a lot of emphasis on stakeholder engagement. This included collaborating with the various strands of the organisation to ensure that we understood every aspect of the brief.

Working with strict schedules and timelines, we put our client at the heart of the design journey. This ensured their vision could be realized, thanks to clear and regular communication throughout.

The delivery of the project took 10 months from inception to realisation and, although very successful, was not without its challenges. With time being a critical success factor, there was no ‘give’ in the schedule. This presented an immediate challenge in that the team could not afford to have much time (known as the license to alter period) between the completion of the design stage and the works commencing.

We recognised this early on, so agreed a reduced timescale for the alteration approval period within the lease negotiations. In addition, before the license to alter period concluded, the team gained early site access to start carrying out demolition works. This helped to accelerate the smooth running of the project schedule.

Another challenge was only having one goods lift in the building, and this was out of service for 4-weeks of an already tight schedule. We worked with the contractor (ISG) to minimise the impact of this by breaking down deliveries and agreeing alternative means of access with the building management team.