Hamilton House

G1 Group’s new head office, “Hamilton House”, is the refurbishment and part re-use of the former BBC Scotland headquarters on Hamilton Drive in Glasgow’s West End.

This location was a unique opportunity for the group as it could for the first time custom build an office environment to suit the company’s varied needs.

Over the past 23 years the G1 Group has grown from its beginnings as an operator within the leisure industry to its current status as one of the leading operators in the country. However in order to facilitate this growth the company has endeavoured to bring most employed trades ‘in house’. This has allowed the company to grow at an exponential rate, It has also allowed the company a freedom to procure, refurbish and redevelop opportunities with little mobilisation time as all the trades and consulting expertise are all in house. To add to this in house facility the G1 Group has developed strong relationships with local companies, tradesmen, designers and consultants.

These strong in house trades and relationships have been employed on a number of occasions most notably with the recent success of The Corinthian Club, which was fortunate enough to receive an RIAS award. It was this successful design team that was tasked with providing the solutions for the new office development.

The design team provided a scheme for the G1 Groups ‘Hamilton House’ that transformed the former BBC Scotland Headquarters from a dilapidated cellular office building to an open plan, inclusive and interactive environment suitable for the multi-faceted G1 Group. By drawing on years of experience and previous successes, utilising the local specialist skills and employing a palette of sustainable, natural and quality materials the G1 Group have moved into an office that suits the current needs of the company whilst providing a sustainable infrastructure for the future.

The main objectives of the design and indeed the rationale for the office move was to provide a working environment that the staff would enjoy. By undertaking a staff consultation process and allowing the design to be informed by the staff requirements, G1 endeavoured to create a feeling of staff ownership towards the office. The staff should be able to clearly see their stamp on the building.

Given the varied nature of the works that is carried out across the company G1 needed solutions that would provide the individual with the tools required for the job whilst maintaining the same level of design throughout. Given the company facilities and holistic approach to design and construction their in house joinery workshop and tradesmen were able to work closely with the designers and produce prototype solutions for desks, storage, meeting tables, internal cladding. This allowed the design to be tailored to the requirements. Natural materials were utilised that the in house tradesmen were comfortable using. The task desks, boardroom tables, reception and storage units are built in house from sustainably sourced timber. This level of craftsmanship also allows the furniture to be maintained and indeed adapted throughout its lifespan.

Developing a more sustainable development was also high on the Group’s agenda. The introduction of strong passive design features including new insulation, new windows and exposed thermal mass on the ground floor has delivered an impressive B rated EPC.

As the building was part of a collection of Listed Buildings relatively strict Historic Scotland Guidelines had to adhere to. The existing Terrazzo tiled stair and lift core did not meet current regulations, however by retaining this circulation core, to the rear of the office, there was an opportunity to create a new bespoke engineered steel feature stair from the reception area leading to the office floor plates. By creating a feature stair visible from the main reception the G1 Group has been able to encourage the staff members to use this stair rather than the existing lift thus reducing lift travel and helping to encourage and active lifestyle.

As staff interaction and well-being was key to the brief the G1 Group, along with the tea prep and bench seating areas, created, a separate staff canteen, finished to the same high quality as the rest of the office.

Greater interaction between departments was created by centrally positioning the social and meeting spaces within the open plan floor plate. By using natural and quality materials the office has a warm and tactile feeling to it and again given the openness the staff members treat their areas with care, which has allowed the staff ownership of the design.

As the G1 Group have many different departments all with separate working requirements the office created has been designed to facilitate the current company structure however the bespoke environment and suite of furniture can accommodate a multi-function business / businesses. Again this flexibility has been deliberately built in to the design through the innovative use and design of the furniture, storage solutions and variety of meeting spaces. This will allow the business to grow without impinging on the current quality and environment created.