Employee Well-being
When the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) embarked on its mission to find a new home, the regulatory body undertook an extensive search across some of London’s most exciting areas. With its excellent nearby facilities, international transport links and fantastic commercial value, 12 Endeavour Square in Stratford was chosen. Close collaboration throughout the team was key to the project’s success. And Jack worked closely with the developer’s architects, Rogers Stirk Harbour to produce a next-generation office design that supports the FCA’s efficient, agile and collaborative work style with countless stimulating interior spaces.

Promoting health and wellbeing throughout, the 15-storey building unites all London staff under one roof for the first time and offers a diverse mix of facilities alongside the right infrastructure to support the business as it grows.

Well-being
When planning the workspaces, maximising natural light and views was a key consideration. A connecting staircase in the atrium links communal breakout spaces and was a major architectural intervention to the base build scheme, while an extensive interior planting programme was designed to reinforce the connection with the outside.

Experiential Design
An atrium interlinked by stairs throughout floors encourages openness and transparency. This has helped eliminate siloed working and lends itself perfectly to dynamic collaboration, allowing individuals and teams to come together. The building design encourages informal conversations, while generous sight lines have been opened up across floors and through the building, opening the entire organisation and creating a greater sense of community and common purpose.

Workplace Strategy
It was the shared objective to ensure thinking, planning and designing was for the future and not the present. Change was managed very closely to ensure key decisions weren’t revisited, and the design constantly move forward. Jack’s team engaged with groups from throughout the organisation, including the diversity and accessibility groups. The result is a considered, inclusive environment that has suits a diverse body of staff. One key feature output is a suite of non-gender-specific WCs, available to both staff and visitors.

Mobility
Through the introduction of agile working practices, increased alternative work settings and flexible spaces, the FCA can now easily adapt to future growth and change. As the catalyst for a dramatic shift into new ways of working, the relocation has added real value to the organisation. Layouts, settings and amenities allow teams to collaborate in new ways. Knowledge sharing, mobility and transparency have increased throughout the business.