FEBRUARY 10, 2020

Eagle House, Bristol.

Winner of:

South of England & South Wales Refurbished / Recycled Workplace.

BCO Awards 2020

Project Summary:

Location: Bristol
Sector: Office
Client: Immediate Media
Architect: Stride Treglown
Consultant: Box Twenty
Main Contractor: Meridian
Electrical Contractor: Savage & Sons
Fitout: Lorenc Design
Value: £221K
Duration: 18 Months
Size: 38,000 sq. ft
Interior Photography: Courtesy of Lorenc Design
Exterior Photography: Craig Auckland – Fotohaus

The recent CAT B refurbishment and rooftop extension of the 1930’s building Eagle House situated in the heart of City and Queen Square conservation area sees a transformation of a vacant building to approximately 38,000 sq. ft of an attractive workplace for over 500 members of staff of a creative platform and content company Immediate Media.

Immediate’s Bristol division now employs around 500 people who work across a large number of popular consumer brands, including BBC History Magazine, BBC Focus, BBC Wildlife Magazine, BBC Countryfile, BikeRadar and Cycling Plus.

Eagle House boasts a fantastic location within a short walk to Bristol Harbour, College Green or Queen Square and offers plenty of space, attractive facilities and stimulating environment for the creative workforce.

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THE DESIGN BRIEF.

The five storey office building on the corner of Colston Avenue and St Stephen’s Street was built in the 1930s and recently unoccupied for a while. The new owner appointed Stride Treglown with the brief of creating a flexible workplace for the client’s 500 + team. The objective was to create inspiring place promoting collaborative working, wellbeing and attracting the best talent. Sensitivity to the vistas across the city centre to the church behind was a key influence on the design.

The architectural practice Stride Treglown came up with the concept of designing an extra storey on the rooftop of the building to provide more office accommodation for the client’s expanding team. The main entrance to the building has been redesigned to give the building a grand street presence and represent the creative nature of client’s brand.

The new full height atrium has been formed by taking the external courtyard and connecting it with the new roof storey, giving the building more natural light, new core and visual connectivity. Taking the atrium concept one step further, Tree Research suspended a 4m Black Olive tree, constructing a live green chandelier sculpture, visible to everyone. 

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As soon as the boarding came up on the building, our team proactively approached the team working on the project, expressing the desire to become a part of this prestigious development in Bristol. Eagle House was a dynamic D&B project, utilising the latest wireless lighting control technology across the large fit out.

The 299 team worked closely with everyone involved in this complex project, supporting and coordinating the installation on site. Our light engineers attended numerous site meetings and provided the project team with feedback and guidance mainly with the lighting control systems. 65 hours in total were dedicated to lighting design and calculations, ensuring the CAT B fitout not only meets all guidelines and regulations and is energy efficient, but also gives the client the best lighting for office productivity. 

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LOWER GROUND FLOOR.

On the lower ground floor, linear lighting Rio Suspended was used in the bicycle storage area, hot-desking space and studios. In the lobby and circulation space, cylindrical shape luminare Sett Suspended was installed in between the cable trays to achieve a raw, industrial look and offer a more contemporary alternative to LED downlights. In the acoustic booths in the Courtyard, micro linear lighting was used to provide a soft concealed lighting effect.

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GROUND FLOOR.

The ground floor features a contemporary reception area. Above the reception desk, a symmetric feature of Bellart Mini Suspended in matte black finish accomplishes the minimalist interior design. The area also features Rio Surface Mounted linear profiles. Custom micro linear lighting was used in the reception area in the shadow gap between the wall and ceiling, to create a soft illumination and an additional layer of lighting, making the feature wall stand out.

An auditorium cuts into the ground floor, opening up the basement to the rest of the building. This provides the occupiers with the opportunity for a flexible working environment throughout the building. Flooded with daylight, the auditorium is using a mixture of natural and artificial lighting. The edges of the space are lit with Suna track lighting. The square shaped LED lights Teign Suspended are positioned above the seating area of the auditorium. 

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In the reprographic room with an extremely accurate printer, a Sun-Like RIO with super high CRI & full-spectrum output was used to aid with true representation of the colour that is being printed.

Rio Suspended was used across the entire scheme providing the main lighting for the office space. Rio is a performance-driven linear profile with clean contemporary looks. Designed with attention to detail, Rio is the ultimate LED office lighting tried and tested on many commercial projects. It can be used as an individual luminaire for task lighting or complex lighting systems. On this floor, it’s being used as the main office lighting in the meeting rooms, studio area, and tea points.

The Suna Track lighting features in the meeting rooms, bringing more focused lighting alongside the decorative lighting used in the space. Square and circular LED downlights were used in the meeting rooms, backroom areas and toilets.

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FIRST FLOOR.

The linear suspended lighting Rio Direct/-Indirect was used in standard sizes, both as individual pieces and system luminaires, as the general office lighting across the entire building. Continuous linear systems with custom corners enhance the space and create an interesting feature referencing the shape of the building. In some areas, surface mounted LED office lighting Rio was used. in the shadow gap between the wall and ceiling, to create a soft illumination and an additional layer of lighting, making the feature wall stand out.

The linear lighting was also supplied with integrated emergency components, again allowing for an easier and cleaner installation. The scheme is using the wireless Philips EasyAir across the entire building. EasyAir is a wireless lighting control system, allowing presence detection and daylight dimming, without a physical data infrastructure. Sensors are built into each luminaire for maximum flexibility and control.

Eagle House was designed down to the last tiny detail, using architectural lighting to highlight the interior design. The design concept is using micro linear lighting in several spots across the entire building, making a statement about the quality of the fitout. Micro linear profiles were used at all tea points across the entire building, lifting the smaller rooms by illuminating the ceilings, and also providing task light onto the worktops. They were also used around the central staircase as handrail lighting detail. 

Slim linear lighting Leck was used in the wooden facade around the atrium lending the structure a premium finishing touch. 

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SECOND, THIRD & FOURTH FLOORS.

These floors follow the same design as the first floor, using the same lighting across the entire floor plate.

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FIFTH FLOOR.

The new mansard roof floor features slightly lower ceilings than the rest of the building. Rio Suspended is being used as the main office luminaire for the entire floor plate. Exterior lighting was also supplied for the roof terrace on this floor.

Alongside the main office floorplate, we also delivered the bulkheads in the stairwell and recessed downlights on the landing and the toilets. As experienced office lighting suppliers, we made sure that all linear luminaires were fully assembled and pre-flexed to make the installation process easier. The two part luminaries, and continuous lines with custom corners have plug and play system, significantly saving time on installation.

All lighting was supplied in neutral silver, grey and white colours, allowing for minimalist integration with the services, and allowing the interior design to stand out.

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Immediate Media moved to their new Bristol home in August 2019, after 18 months of design and build process. The result is an attractive and forward thinking CAT B fit out scheme using wireless controls throughout the entire project. This has been our largest and most complex project in Bristol to date. Eagle House is using the latest wireless technology, making it a great showcase for more technologically advanced projects to come in the future.

The scheme has been shortlisted for British Council for Office Award 2020. 

“I was involved in the Philips EasyAir control R&D, which allowed for presence detection and daylight dimming without a physical control infrastructure. This was one of the first projects we had used this technology on, however, it has integrated well into the fitting and allowed for increased energy savings. I was also supporting site – when there were questions or issues, I would attend site to work with the installation team to deliver a successful project. Being D&B, the project deliverables changed frequently but working closely with the other contractors on the project allowed for an easier coordination process and a great installation.”

Project in figures:

65 Design hours

65 design hours in total were dedicated to this project.

728 Metres

In total, we supplied 728 metres of linear profile Rio and Leck over the 7 floors.

18 Months

From initial project brief through to delivery.

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