After becoming a public company in 1997, Holmes Place expanded rapidly and in April 1998 commissioned Walters & Cohen to design new corporate headquarters for the managing directors and senior management staff. At that point we had been working with them for two years on the design of several health clubs. As a young practice, it was exciting to step into two new sectors with one client.
Previously, all senior management of Holmes Place had been in separate offices located across London and the brief was to provide a comfortable working environment for 30 people. Holmes Place was clear about its requirement for very modern offices reflecting a commitment to quality design. The space, in an existing building on Kensington High Street, is a simple ‘L’ shape with windows on two sides which divides naturally into cellular offices and meeting rooms around the walls with an open plan office in the centre, drawing natural light from two existing rooflights.
The walls are timber-lined full-height storage units. There are two different floor finishes, solid French Oak in the cellular offices and a pure wool broadloom carpet in the open plan area. The rich use of warm-coloured timber is set against the industrial simplicity of the existing building. We also selected the office furniture to complement the simplicity of the office interior.
