SOUTHAMPTON, with its prime location on the English southern coast, is one of the UK’s busiest ports, with its passenger, freight and cargo traffic directly supporting 15,000 jobs in the Solent alone and generating in excess of £1.2bn annually. The city also has a thriving tourism sector, which partly spins off the maritime connection, with recent data showing huge increases in cruise passenger dockings. Southampton regularly appears in the top third of polls of the best places to live and work in the UK, and there is no shortage of entertainment, with a huge range of shops, restaurants and bars, as well as cinemas, the beautiful Guildhall venue, and a number of amazing artistic hubs, including the Southampton City Art Gallery, the John Hansard Gallery and the Mayflower Theatre. This heady brew of culture, commerce and vibrancy is reflected in the best Office Layout Ideas to be found throughout Southampton. Here are 8 of the most inspiring office layout ideas that are a byword for leading standards in workspace design.

1. Cogeco Peer 1

Cogeco Peer 1 is one of those companies that has really helped to put Southampton on the map; not just by situating its European headquarters here, but by making this flagship location a byword for fantastic workspace design. The offices, which probably have the best known office layout ideas in Southampton, was designed by Space and Solutions with the aim of create the best place to work in the UK. The headquarter celebrates innovation, creativity, and helps to retain the company’s finest talent. It has certainly achieved that goal, regularly appearing in global online surveys of the finest offices in the world.

2. Castle Malwood Serviced Offices

For businesses looking for a base convenient to Southampton but not in the city centre, here is one of the more unusual office layout ideas, situated not too far away in an incredible location at the highest point of the New Forest. Castle Malwood serviced offices are based in a beautiful building of sandstone and brick, on the site of King Rufus’s (William II, 1056-1100) hunting lodge. The building has incredible views of the landscaped grounds and across the New Forest out to the Solent and the Isle of Wight. The serviced office accommodation is on the first floor of the building, accessed through a spacious reception area, and is divided into a number of offices of various sizes, and comes with a sizeable conference suite, a bar and games room.

3. Sailors’ Society

The Southampton offices of international Christian charity, Sailors’ Society are based in a former conservative club, totally transformed into a welcoming and brightly pleasant working environment for the charity’s staff, clients and trustees. The charity has a network of chaplains worldwide who work with seafarers on ships and in ports to provide Christian ministry, welfare care and practical support. This transformative workspace design —steered once again by the office layout ideas of Space And Solutions — also makes discreet and nuanced reference to the ocean and seafaring, subtly highlighting the Sailors’ Society brand and mission.

4. UBCUK Serviced Offices

These serviced offices of United Business Centres (UBCUK) are ideal for business seeking a base location close to Southampton’s marina and convenient to the amenities and conveniences of city life. UBC acquired the three-floor business centre at Enterprise House, a former Victorian warehouse, and completely rejuvenated and refurnished it, with an overhaul of the reception, office spaces, communal areas, kitchens and bathrooms. The new furniture and overhauled premises is also bathed in natural light from the newly installed glazed panels throughout the centre. Many of the offices boast spectacular views over the Marina, where there are numerous restaurants and bars, the building is also situated near popular Oxford Street.

5. Southampton Freight

WHEN the family-run business Southampton Freight Services Ltd relocated to a new premises on the outskirts of Southampton, Space And Solutions was the firm engaged to handled the design of the new offices. The project brought together two adjacent warehouses into a single contemporary working environment that still leaves the company with a huge 15,000 square feet of warehouse space. Throughout, the new design foregrounds many features related to the work of the company, including repurposed shipping containers and impressive boat models.

6. Leonardo

Multinational high-tech player in aerospace, defence and security, Leonardo has a headquarters in Southampton for more than 400 employees (which was the Southampton HQ of Selex ES, whose activities were subsequently absorbed into Leonardo). Sketch Studios was appointed to devise the design and standardise it several sites in the UK. The office includes newly designed and furnished workspaces as well as a restaurant and conference suite, optimising the wellbeing and productivity of employees with spaces that encourage collaboration and communication.

7. Old Mutual Wealth

Global insurance providers Old Mutual Wealth, formerly Skandia, engaged Spectrum Workplace to redesign the corporate reception and atrium at its flagship Southampton UK headquarters. The project involved complete refurbishment, a new reception counter, hard/soft flooring combinations, decorative wall panels, a bespoke audio-visual and touchdown unit, soft seating and bistro style furniture. This space also incorporates a breakout space, complete with coffee bar, meeting pods, and audio-visual unit, a touchdown desk and tables and chairs. It’s a space that can’t help but fail to impress new clients, while providing a great collaborative space to spur employee productivity and inspiration.

8. VITA Student, Southampton

The VITA Student luxury student accommodation in Southampton designed by Fuse Studios is one of the most spectacular refurbishment and repurposing projects projects in Southampton, incorporating stunning shared spaces as well as more than 200 stylish studio apartments in the converted city centre office building Richmond House. While not strictly falling into the category of office layout ideas, we think this design certainly brings the finest principles of office layout ideas and design—heightening the potential for communication, socialisation and creative collaboration—to higher education.

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