This was a highly sustainable scheme aimed at creating a relaxing and inspiring working environment for staff at cutting edge Sophos.The design brought the natural physical environment right up to the office windows so that lake, flora and fauna were literally within touching distance of the workspace. This naturalistic style extended throughout the site plan binding together potentially disparate elements such as access, parking, service yards, screen planting and outdoor amenity space. It increased the perceived scale of a relatively small and highly developed site, making visual connection with the nearby Thames and screening its less attractive neighbors. Throughout the design, careful attention was given to views from the workplace (desk, canteen, reception). The choice of hard materials such as compacted and sealed local gravels, and the predominant use of native plant material accentuated this approach. A limited number of definitive interventions played up the contrast between ‘designed’ and ‘natural’.This approach was twinned with the objective of maximizing the sustainable credentials of the scheme. We achieved this in a number of ways. Retaining in situ, the underlying domestic refuse was one way which required careful use of separation barriers particularly under the lake. The lake itself was another as it took all site surface water run off and attenuated it before controlled discharge into the Thames. The lake was also designed to provide an attractive and vibrant piece of working ecology which was soon colonized by local flora and fauna, both of which proved immensely popular with staff (and helped in terms of planning gain).The project was notable for the level of client contact particularly with the chief executive who took a deep interest in the design throughout. The scheme was opened by Her Majesty, The Queen.
