Meet our the new Storey space at 201 Bishopsgate – one of the most exciting workspaces in our portfolio with welcoming, comfortable shared spaces designed in tactile and warm materials and flexible private offices that can be simply adapted to your company’s requirements – plus there’s an outdoor terrace to escape and get some fresh air.
With incredible access to east London’s transport, culture, food and drink, 201 Bishopsgate is the perfect home for our latest Storey space.
201 Bishopsgate’s history
201 Bishopsgate was originally completed in 2008 by the influential architecture practice, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM), responsible for some of the world’s most iconic buildings from the 1960s until now – including Broadgate’s Exchange House.
When it first opened with distinctive steel struts on the exterior and built over the railway tracks, 201 Bishopsgate seemed to be located on the edge of the City but was, in fact, perfectly placed to connect the historic area with the then-emerging creative and buzzing destinations of Hoxton, Old Street, Spitalfields and Shoreditch.
Now it’s a connection point between them all. But, it needed a new inspirational space that would reflect Storey’s commitment to world-leading architecture and design while centering our core values of sustainability, productivity and wellbeing.
London-based dMFK were the architects tasked with creating that vision. Known for places “that are familiar whilst surprising, beautiful whilst useful, soulful whilst authentic, and enduring whilst refined”, we spoke to the dMFK team about their work on Storey at 201 Bishopsgate and why it’s so special.
Tell us about Storey at 201 Bishopsgate…
At dMFK, we’re very interested in retrofitting and the re-use of existing buildings. One of our loves is looking at forgotten buildings and finding the joy in them – bringing them back to their best and giving them new lives.
201 Bishopsgate is a relatively recent building so you wouldn’t want to rebuild it. It combines excellent engineering with a good office building and it has a lot more to give. But, when it was built, things like extra facilities, external amenities and wellness just weren’t on the table and now it’s something tenants need for their teams.
What have been your main aims?
We were keen to avoid shoehorning a look and feel into the building so we did a lot of research into 201 Bishopsgate on what we liked about it so we could design something that will last long-term; we have an aspiration for the building to wear in.
Storey has a real mix of customers so we needed to design units to have a certain amount of facilities within them as well as in the shared areas; also something that gives tenants the ability to action changes within their own units.
The building has a generous floor-to-ceiling height but this was all concealed by the ceiling system and services zone. So there’s now a ‘breathe out’ moment with a generous view towards the windows. Then there’s smaller spaces which provide flexibility for tenants so they can choose meeting rooms, no meeting rooms, whatever they want.
Designing for flexibility without waste is an important thing as we want to give Storey customers the freedom to change their environment without having to rip out partitioning.
Its beautifully made European oak joinery has been designed to remain in situ and has excellent durability so the tenant is able to replace modular pieces in the screens to combine and redesign spaces without any intrusive adaptation.
What makes it a good space to be in?
This Storey is designed to encourage a sense of community – there will be fewer provisions within customers’ own space (a term called ‘rightsizing’) so they can share certain areas with other businesses.
For example, everyone has their own space where they can retreat and focus with their own internal meeting rooms and executive offices but there are also areas outside of your office space – such as the wellness room – which you might only need once a week. It’s about the right workspace for the right task at the right time of the day.
Has the history of 201 Bishopsgate – linking commerce and creativity – has influenced your approach?
We’re very interested in democratic design – that this building can embrace lots of different types of people working there but also that it becomes a warmer, more welcoming environment.
We’ve referenced 201 Bishopsgate’s strong design, high quality and detail but we’ve used more tactile and warmer materials to make it feel a more comfortable place to be. We have a strong belief that workplaces should be welcoming.
So we used European oak in the joinery details, a lot of fabric in the phone booths, ceilings and upholstery so if you’re having a private meeting, you will always be able to find a space that will provide you with the right acoustic quality.
All of these elements have come together to create a space that feels warmer while complementing the existing building. We also used some found materials such as original travertine tiles which were reused and rehomed in the design.
What other sustainability considerations were there in the design?
British Land and Storey are leading the way in reducing operational energy. One of the ways is making sure the heating and cooling reacts to the solar gain on the outside of a building. These glazed buildings obviously get a lot of light and heat, so controlling that is part of the design.
What did you find particularly great about 201 Bishopsgate?
The outside terrace on level 7 was a lost opportunity and a fortunate gift – it’s the only floor in the building which has an external terrace. In that era of building, external amenity spaces just weren’t really considered.
So we’ve allowed the shared space to break out onto the terrace bringing with it the benefits of fresh air and ventilation. Now anyone on the Storey floor will be able to pop outside and enjoy lunch with a view.
It was great catching up with dMFK and we are so excited for the opening of our new Storey space, with just over a month till we launch the space to the broker market please get in touch if you are interested in attending our broker event in May and we will share an invite.
Find out what we have available at 201 Bishopsgate or within the rest of the Storey portfolio. Email us on [email protected] or call on 020 7467 3451
