Creating a great place to work | Office refurbishment

February marked a new chapter in life at Paris Smith.

On 24th February, all our Southampton based colleagues moved back in to our iconic office at 1 London Road. The eight month refurbishment and total modernisation of our professional home in Southampton was finally complete.

I had to admit, over the previous weekend, I was nervous in a way I have not felt for years. So much has happened since 2020 and debates on the future of the office have been endless. Huge care and attention had been put in to the design, materials, lighting, and management of sound, texture and space, under the watchful gaze of Axis House, our Practice Director Sue Murphy, surveyor Rob Jupp at Cornerstone and of course my partners at Paris Smith. 1 London Road looked amazing, but how would people feel working in the building. There was only one way to find out!

The response from my colleagues has been humbling. I am blessed to be surrounded by a large group of talented and hard working people, but even so, their collective response to big change has surpassed all my positive hopes and expectations. I am so grateful to them all.

Going in to this project, I would say we had hoped for:

• A fully modernised, comfortable, well lit and planned out open collaborative space to work in, with top line IT kit;
• Quality furnishings throughout;
• Plenty of soundproofed one, two and more person meeting rooms on every floor;
• Great management of sound throughout the building;
• Break out comfort space on every floor;
• Kitchen, dining and relaxation space on every floor;
• A splendid reception area and suite of client rooms and presentation areas, with top level tech;
• A reasonable amount of storage space for those who have not yet completed their journey to paper free working;
• Clear desks, floors and open spaces, with reserved space for personal belongings;
• A tech based booking system and apps which allow instant management of desks and rooms at the touch of a button; and
• Most importantly – amazing coffee!

This has all been delivered – and more.

I’ve also seen:

• The spirit of Paris Smith at its finest, colleagues helping each other through the change;
• A host of smiles, energy and a “can do” approach;
• A real desire to be present, because London Road and Southampton is a great place to work;
• An incredible IT Team and Facilities team making the building as close to perfect as possible on moving in, and dealing with the snags as they arose during the week;
• Family members touring the building to take pride in where their spouse, mum, dad, or children work;
• Teams providing different services sitting together to work, share ideas and practices, or enjoying the break out space with lunches overlooking Southampton’s parks;
• Visible and vocal pride in who we are, what we do, and what we intend to continue bringing to Southampton and the wider area for many years to come.

The refurbishment has been a huge investment by the partners of Paris Smith, and every penny is worth it. We expect the energy unleashed to help us further improve our business practices, reduce operating costs in the longer term and deliver more and better value for clients.

Our colleagues deserve the best professional home, as do our clients and supporters. It serves as a clear signal of our longstanding and ongoing commitment to both, and to the wider community that has supported us through 206 years.