Welcome to our home
After 10 years in any home, it’s always a shock to finally make the move to premises new. In our case, we knew that it needed to be done. Although functional, our old offices had not kept pace with our growing business.
The last decade has seen Shorthose Russell morphed from being centred around marketing and PR, to include an expanded design studio, digital, web teams and a merger with a Shoreditch agency known for their brand work. There are now more mouths to feed, more brains to inspire, and more clients to accommodate – not to mention the sister brand, Thissaway. It was clearly the right time to move…
Upper Thatched Barn is a building steeped in history and is surrounded by fields and seemingly endless sunsets. It feels cosy and making us feel very much at home.
Situated about two miles outside of Norwich, our offices are part of the Crown Point Estate. Famous for the mustard… our Landlord is Sir Timothy Colman!
Freshly renovated, the interior is as modern as the exterior is charmingly old. This was a real draw for us, as we were looking for personality – it’s walls tell tales of Norfolk’s agricultural heritage, and of beasts that have long since moved on. We are the new inhabitants. We are the next generation to occupy this beautiful space.
Designing a functional interior isn’t such a problem when you’ve been blessed with a little more space and a few more rooms. You could even say it was easy (… ish!). The important elements to consider were personal working spaces, areas for socialising, and rooms for meetings.
One thing we were keen to promote was the movement of staff around the office, so that we can all get away from our desks – some call it hotdesking, others just call it flexibility. To achieve this, we’ve multiplied our sofas, introduced additional desks on our mezzanines and added tables and comfy seating to the kitchen. Two long bar tables in one of our meeting rooms, which can be arranged in various ways to allow for collaborative working, standing desks or group presentations.
The move also gave us a chance to have a good clear out and to strip back to a more minimal set of tools. Printers have been banished, and now sulk in the server room. The bins have also been sent away, finding themselves in the kitchen. This is not simply a way to hide things, but encourages people to stand up from their desks, and to walk through these new spaces or take in the views. It’s much easier to do now, as the clutter is gone.
We have new desks, custom made for us by our friends at X-Ply, which maximise material usage and minimise cutting waste – using just 2 sheets of ply for four people. Not bad. These are a dramatic move away from our old screened desks and are active in promoting conversation and collaborative working (not to mention being beautiful pieces of design!)
The immaculately gravelled courtyard has, in estate agent speak ‘potential’ (needs some love in the spring) to make another versatile area for us to all use in the summer. Barbecues have been mentioned, and this would be a great way to establish friendships with our new neighbours.
We would love for you to pop by sometime and see it for yourself, the door is always open, so see you soon!
