Matra BAe Dynamics is Europe's largest missile manufacturer which operates from over 30 buildings on a 30 acre site in Hertfordshire, that accommodates approximately 3000 personnel. Advanced Workplace Associates (AWA) was appointed to review the occupancy of two key office buildings to inform an accommodation strategy that involved:
- Retention of some of the existing premises
- Development of new accommodation
- Release of part of the site for independent commercial redevelopment.
AWA conducted extensive research both into the working practices of the occupants of the buildings, and the relative effectiveness with which the current accommodation satisfies those operational requirements. Key findings were:
- Typical working patterns of the engineers concerned involved a potentially conflicting mix of collaborative and intensive solitary working
- Confidentiality of project data was constraining the co-location and configuration of working groups
- Unreliable data storage systems were causing large quantities of hard copy documentation to be stored on office floors.
The net result was that the utilisation of office floors was often as low as 40%.
AWA developed a planning strategy based on a mix of different working environments appropriate to different tasks. Matra BAe Dynamics placed great value on each individual having a 'home' workplace, and the design was based around a number of semi-enclosed 'cells' which would provide a suitable environment for solitary working, but occupy the minimum of space when unoccupied.
These could be opened out to embrace more collaborative working, and were supplemented by a range of meeting and team spaces. Floors were designed around a number of 'neighbourhoods', each containing a number of base cells, some shared workspace and service facilities.
The successful operation of the strategy depended on automation of document storage and retrieval, computer networks that allowed access to data at a variety of different locations, and above all the willingness of staff to adopt a sharing attitude to the facilities available to them.
It has been decided to pilot the strategy on part of one floor of one of the existing buildings, in order that a complete specification can be agreed for the fit out of the new buildings to be erected on the site.
