Forward to the office

An office “designed from scratch to support agile working”. Or how about “an ideal springboard for the new hybrid working model”. Recent months have seen press releases from a rash of well known legal firms in Scotland announcing moves to new offices designed, they claim, around the working patterns that, if not born from the pandemic, have certainly become prevalent as a result. Are such descriptions just PR spin, or how different is the cutting edge legal office from its predecessors? We checked out some of the latest moves.

Capital Square: transforming

Capital Square, Edinburgh is one of the developments forming what is now known as the city’s business district, that have transformed the area between Lothian Road and Haymarket. Just a stone’s throw from the Society’s Atria One HQ, its eight levels have since new year become the Edinburgh base of both Brodies and Pinsent Masons. 

Pictured, Pinsent Masons’ new office for its more than 200 Edinburgh staff has an aesthetic design with a vibrant colour scheme

It is no surprise that for Brodies the new location marks a future shift from its long-time New Town base in Atholl Crescent. A tour of the new office, in the company of managing partner Nick Scott, was an eyeopener
all the same. 

The expansive reception area that greets the visitor occupies the castle-facing end of the top floor. Like the adjacent large, divisible meeting rooms, it opens on to a roof terrace. Further rooms of various sizes on that floor are well equipped for virtual meetings, including a large litigation room with full width wall screen as well as table and ceiling microphones. 

Main working areas take up the two floors below. The central space at each level – the “focal point”, Scott proudly calls it – is a stairway, Brodies’ specification, around which is set the firm’s library. The firm values this resource even in this digital age: “We are a knowledge business,” Scott declares. As well as becoming the office hub through its location, the library provides one of many different work environments on offer.

For an open plan office serving a 400-strong Edinburgh presence, the layout is flexible, and subtly varied. No one, Scott included, has their own work space or station, apart from teams like People Engagement (HR) and Business Development. Others must book space before coming in; everyone has a locker for anything they leave behind. The idea is to encourage random mixing of colleagues; but beyond that, people can expect to do different tasks in different places, as Scott explains. You might choose to make a phone call from a private booth, collaborate on a project round a larger table, or have a one-to-one over a coffee in the spacious café, which outwith the lunch period is part of the whole flexible space.

Display shelves partition different areas – moveable as needs change, of course – and even the carpet tile colours demarcate individual and communal space, also as a flexible and changeable feature.

As offices open up again, Brodies is not laying down set rules about attendance but expects that people will come in – and will want to come in – for much of their working time. “People will realise what they’ve been missing”, Scott believes. They may also want to use the training rooms – more communal areas with a mix of tiered bench seating and cushioned stools, a different look and feel again, with space that will also be used for yoga and pilates classes – while the top level energy efficiency and “WELL” standard certificates recognise features such as lighting that adjusts according to the natural light conditions.

Agile working commitment

In the same building, Pinsent Masons has relocated more than 200 lawyers and others in order to further the firm’s commitment to agile and hybrid working. Key specifications were factored into the office design to take into account changing working practices, meet the company’s environmental objectives and promote wellbeing.

Partner and head of office Ewan Alexander explains that while the firm has long-established agile working practices across its international locations, “we felt it was necessary to review how the pandemic had changed staff attitudes to hybrid working and how we could best maximise the space available”. He continues: “As a result, we dialled down the number of physical workstations by more than 20% and freed up space to introduce more collaboration zones and meeting spaces. 

“The design team put a lot of thought into the aesthetics, moving away from the older and colder office styles, to create a warmer, more welcoming environment.

“We also revised our technological needs in view of the lessons learned from working through the pandemic, and now have a single video technology which is accessible for every user, be that on a meeting room screen, an individual laptop or mobile device.”

Dedicated spaces for collaboration, wellbeing and focused work, a stylish café and multifunctional social hub all feature, along with a vibrant colour scheme. In addition, fabrics, materials and furniture have all been chosen for their sustainability credentials.

“The initial response from our people who have so far seen the new offices has been overwhelmingly positive,” Alexander assures me, “and it is widely recognised that we have attempted to strike a balance to suit those who prefer working most of their time in an office environment, and colleagues who have embraced hybrid working, including working from home.”

St Vincent Plaza: efficiency

Across in Glasgow, meanwhile, two moves have caught the eye, one by a long established practice and the other by a more recent arrival. 

Though only flitting across the road – completing around the time this is published – Wright, Johnston & Mackenzie’s 100-strong team in the city will find their new St Vincent Plaza base radically different from their office over the past 25 years.

Pictured, Fraser Gillies in Wright Johnston & Mackenzie’s new St Vincent Plaza base

Managing partner Fraser Gillies tells me that exchanging 14,500 square feet over three floors for 10,000 square feet on a single floor delivers a much better use of space, and in an energy efficient building focused on cycle and public transport. 

“It’s very unlikely that everyone will be in the office at any one time,” he explains, “so we’re operating on the basis of a much reduced occupancy on any given day. That combination means that this is a more than adequate space for the size of the team and it allows for a bit of growth as well.”

WJM will provide a mixture of allocated desks and flexible working spaces. “Some people will be here much more regularly, so we haven’t gone fully along the road to hotdesking yet, though that might happen if the occupancy of the building increases. At the moment there is a blend of hotdesks and spaces where people can sit next to their colleagues in the same team.”

The big change will be moving to open plan, which will encourage more collaboration between different teams. Various flexible spaces can be used for different purposes, “because we recognise that what people want to come into the office for is changing. And I think a lot more time will be spent on the purpose of being in the office, certainly not exclusively on fee earning work”. 

With people also wanting to collaborate, socialise and catch up with their team members, “We’ve ensured that we’ve kept a number of really good spaces where you can just sit with your laptop or papers or have a coffee and chat with a colleague. We’re not being too prescriptive about how these spaces are used; we’re just going to let people use them and see what they do with them.” 

WJM allows a choice of office or remote working. “While we’re giving people a lot of flexibility, we are trying to encourage them to be in the office two to three days a week, unless there are particular circumstances, and subject to what clients need, what’s right for the business. We’re not returning to five days a week in the office or anything like it.”

In tandem, everyone’s IT has been upgraded to support that freedom. “All these things were coming but have been accelerated by the remote working that was forced on us all. The timing and our opportunity to move into this office has been pretty good in that respect as well. It has allowed us to take what we think are the good bits about the way the working environment has changed and hopefully cement those for the future.”

WJM were able to influence the design, taking on board feedback from different teams. “I think most firms of our size have different ways of working between different groups – private client, property, corporate and so on – so we’ve come up with what we think is a solution that is going to work for everyone,” Gillies affirms.

Cadworks: zero carbon

Hot on their heels, within a few weeks TLT will have moved its 80-strong Glasgow team, also to a single floor of 10,000 square feet, at the top of the Cadworks development in Cadogan Street. 

The UK firm, with a Scottish presence 10 years old this year, refrains from setting any proportion of working time that its people are expected to spend in the office. “We’ve tried to be as entirely flexible as we can, because we’re keen to have a flexible, progressive and inclusive environment,” Scotland location head John Paul Sheridan confirms. “What we’ve done is allow people to choose where and when to work, that suits them, their clients and their role.” To do that, TLT has invested in the technology and digital environment, but also ensured a supportive culture: Sheridan, like his partners, regularly takes a day working from home.

Pictured: The zero carbon environment at TLT

That said, he too believes the new building will tempt people in. “The space we’ve got is designed to encourage people in for specific things – collaborative work spaces, a café space, but also one-to-one meeting rooms, quiet work pods, and rooms that can be used for court or licensing hearings. It’s very much designed around the question, what is the purpose of being in the office? When you’re doing a detailed piece of work you can do it as easily at home, or I can anyway, whereas you’re coming into the office to collaborate with your colleagues.” 

Again operating on a hotdesking basis, with zones for teams and lockers for storage (“These days we all have a clear desk environment anyway, for security and so on”), and experimenting also with standing desks, the firm will offer other incentives to attend – barista style coffee, free fruit boxes and other healthy snacks, all to help build a sense of community. Staff were able to provide input, resulting in a dedicated court hearings room, as well as the café and other collaborative spaces.

Pictured, John Paul Sheridan outside the Cadworks building

A particular claim for Cadworks is – it is believed – it is the first zero carbon office development. Construction is mostly from recycled materials, including the window glass; energy sources will be 100% renewable; there is LED lighting throughout; air source heat pumps provide heating. It’s also designed for environmentally friendly transport: apart from some electric vehicle charging points there is no car parking, but 120 cycle rack spaces. With TLT having a target of carbon neutrality by 2025, “We as a firm were very keen on this particular building”, Sheridan states. “TLT is one of the leading firms in renewable energy and we are very keen to live those values as a business.”

Haymarket Square: hub

Further down the line, autumn 2022 will see three prominent firms take up occupancy in Edinburgh’s Haymarket Square development as it reaches completion. Shepherd and Wedderburn are taking the top two floors, and Shoosmiths and Dentons a floor each, again for combined reasons of facilitating hybrid and collaborative working and enhancing their carbon reduction effort.

Less detail has as yet been provided of the work environments that will be on offer, but the building is set to achieve an “A” energy performance certificate rating along with a “very good” BREEAM certification (the pioneering sustainability rating scheme for the built environment), with features including roof-mounted photovoltaic panels and highly efficient heating, cooling and lighting systems. Along with 130 cycle spaces, it is situated at a transport hub, with bus, rail and tram services on its doorstep. Three buildings also incorporating a hotel, shops and leisure facilities will be configured around a landscaped public realm for the benefit of the local community and business district.

“We are committed to being net zero for greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, which means, like many other businesses, we are implementing a programme to make our business more sustainable,” Shepherd and Wedderburn managing partner Andrew Blain states. “We integrate sustainability considerations into all our business decisions and are focusing initially on reducing energy consumption, materials use, waste production and travel.

“We will be fitting out our new office to provide a more collaborative working and meeting space and to accommodate hybrid working patterns. 1 Haymarket Square offers premium facilities and a working environment that we believe will be warmly received by colleagues and clients.”

Alison Gilson, partner and head of Shoosmiths’ Edinburgh office, also emphasises that the move reflects the firm’s commitment to “the very best infrastructure in support of our clients and our staff as we expand further in years to come. The office space is also designed to a high environmental specification, which fits well with the firm’s ESG goals”.

Claire Armstrong, Dentons Scotland managing partner, adds: “The location and facilities fit perfectly with our vision for the Future of Work strategy, which we devised after consulting with our people and commissioning research into the role of the office given the changes that came during the pandemic.

“The research confirmed Dentons is much more than just an office space and that, as everyone adapts to working in a more distributed way, anchoring our people and our clients to our values as a firm, and a community, will be hugely important.”

The workplace as a community has become a recurring theme. A sense of belonging is likely to play an important role if the age of the Great Resignation continues, with so many employees across the economy said to be considering a move. 

Perhaps Brodies’ Nick Scott sums up the collective aim: “The culmination of the past two years has enabled us to embrace a new way of working, with work being the thing you do, not the place you go. Resetting the way in which we approach work provides a great opportunity for keeping colleagues engaged and retaining people throughout their journey through life, as well as recruiting a more diverse workforce.”