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Impressed with the intensely collaborative, non-prescriptive approach of Peldon Rose’s Landlord team, our client commissioned them for a complete overhaul of the tired, dated reception area on the ground floor of Waverley House.
Based just a few minutes’ walk from busy Oxford Street, the landlord wanted the refurbished reception to reflect an elevation in presence and professionalism, with more street prowess and better disability access.
From the outset, the building reception is a changed entity. After gaining an extra 100 sq ft on the ground floor, a second set of double doors suitable for disability access could be added as another entrance into the now-larger reception area.
Midnight blue, glazed tiles give the exterior a shiny appeal and border a single piece of tempered glass set into the wall, which replaced several smaller, old-style windows. The glass has two functions; to cascade natural light into the interior, and to display dual architectural staircases, one leading up and one leading down, just beyond the large pane. The view gives depth to the space for passersby, catching their eye as they walk by. Craning the glass (shipped all the way from Poland!) into place on the busy thoroughfare proved one of the project’s most exciting challenges.
Inspired by Waverley House's name, our designers installed a wave pattern of LED lights into these timber flutes, the perfect backdrop to the reception desk
Stripping out the old flooring to install new ceramic tiling, Peldon Rose found the substrate beneath crumbling and in no condition to build over. The team set to redoing it, ensuring occupants were inconvenienced as little as possible through phased, planned works which enabled them to access at least one of the two doors into the reception to travel to their offices.
The reception desk has been upgraded from one to two-person capacity, with recessed storage in the form of secret doors for files and paperwork, integrated into the back joinery wall to declutter the space. A 60/60 fire rated door was installed to provide access to the ground floor unit, and wayfinding is prioritised with new signage. A polished concrete wall to the left of the main entrance gives a clean, fresh aesthetic to the space, and similarly the reception sign-in process has been streamlined and modernised, with interactive sign-in iPads.
These small touches all have big implications for visitor experience, and with several of Waverley House’s floors newly refurbished and available to rent, they operate to entice prospective tenants into a workplace which is modern, technologically savvy, and prioritises efficiency.
In this case, a very clever feature back wall. The marriage of place name and building identity illustrates the diligence and detail implemented in the design at Waverley House. Behind the new reception desk is a joinery back wall made from fluted timber, with inset LED lighting of differing lengths forming the curvature of a wave. The pattern ebbs and flows across the wooden joinery wall, rising to a crest above the reception desk and falling on its journey toward the lift doors. It’s the perfect homage to the building’s name, Waverley House.
To talk the talk means you have to be prepared to walk the walk …and walk (or surf) through Waverley House’s new design, the Landlord team certainly did. The midnight blue tiles give the building’s façade an air of smooth sophistication, elevating its presence in the central London vicinity and securing a higher commercial value for the landlord’s share of the property. Current occupants enjoy a streamlined reception area they are proud to walk into every day, while prospective tenants are impressed by a modernised experience with architectural allure.
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