Stephen George + Partners showcases design excellence with its new Leicester office
Stephen George + Partners, one of the UK’s leading architectural practices, has turned its talents to its own new office in Leicester. The new building in Grove Park, Enderby, showcases Stephen George + Partners’ capabilities in design and sustainability to create a light and vibrant new workspace for the company’s employees.
The new office will feature a minimalist “soft-modern” design, using various architectural techniques to create a strikingly bold yet simple effect, with clean frontage and lines. The front elevation is divided into simple symmetries, breaking down the large front elevation to create an intimate, human scale. Whereas many new designs are hard-edged, the design features cream-coloured textured bricks from local Leicestershire firm Ibstock to soften the modernist form of the building.
The building will boast an outstanding environmental rating, as it uses the latest sustainable technologies, including solar panels, water-based heating and cooling which substantially reduce harmful chemicals often used in HVAC systems, and wooden louvred brise-soleils which reduces the amount of sun falling on the large windows, lowering solar gain and the associated cooling load.
Earth moving has already begun, and the new office will be ready for completion by February 2018.
“Our new Grove Park office will showcase everything that’s great about Stephen George + Partners. When it’s built, it will be an inspirational place for our employees, clients and visitors – open-plan and full of natural light, providing the perfect place for collaboration and sharing ideas. This philosophy was a key feature of our approach to the new headquarters, with employees openly feeding into the design process.
“The final effect will be quietly impressive. What’s important to us is not to create some brash, flashy design but to create something ageless which makes a real difference to our employees’ quality of life, improves the way that we work and collaborate, and has a positive effect on the environment and the local community. That’s why we have carefully selected various building and environmental standards, and used sustainable materials and building techniques, to create a fitting headquarters that reflects our business, our values, and our vision of the future.” Michael Barker, Managing Partner, Stephen George + Partners