- Location:
- Nottinghamshire
- Services:
- Client:
- ROMO Fabrics
- Size:
- 33,000 m2 GIA
- Sector:
- Workplace
Industrial & Manufacturing
The scheme consolidates the Romo business, which previously was spread across four sites, and brings together the separate elements of office, process and storage space, into one, stunning, headquarters building allowing the business greater efficiency and removing the prior need to transport fabrics and other products between each of their sites.
Take a guided tour! Project architect, Leo, will take you on a tour of the completed building explaining many of the design features and the challenges in creating them.
Zones
From a detailed analysis activities were separated into appropriate zones which produced the simple concept diagram for the internal organisation.
Totalling 33,000m2, the building houses in excess of 350 staff, and is designed to allow for further expansion. The layout of the building consists of three main elements: atrium, offices and warehouse. The main objective was to bring these elements together by siting them on a masonry plinth, below the principal elevations. The forms above the plinth have a consistency of treatment and height, while the elements of the warehouse, atrium and offices have different details to reflect their internal uses.
The atrium at its north and south ends is largely glazed, accentuating the entrances and offering glimpses of the internal space.
Materials
One of the client’s core values as a business is quality, in both material and design. This drive from the client has led to a simple palette of materials.
The offices are clad with a system of curtain walling containing glass and coloured panels. To avoid breaking up the clean lines of the facade, louvres are incorporated with internal opening lights to provide fresh air to the offices.
The cladding to the warehouse element is metal and mimics the verticality elsewhere in the design. Simple cladding with well-detailed openings, where appropriate, give a clue to the process activities in this section of the building.
One of the central themes that evolved during the concept design stage, was that of a building which would reveal itself in stages. The building will not be immediately apparent from its entrance due to a belt of mature trees running along the boundary emphasising the idea of exploration.
The Romo Group headquarters’ landscape scheme strives to create a visually stimulating, environmentally sustainable site with well defined circulation patterns and clear hierarchy of function. The landscaping provides a high quality ‘place’ which is sustainable, safe and attractive.