Collar Your Deal Like Yard-Winning Architect
A new New Scotland Yard becomes the latest hub of London’s police force.
Its replaced predecessor apparently unloved by occupants. Worse than what was seen in Life On Mars, a fictional brutalist, cold police station from 1973.
The refurbished space looks everything you’d want from a contemporary, modern office. Thankfully leaving out faux indoor gardens, fireman poles and pingpong tables too.
It has what feels like glass walls which give a fantastic view across the Thames towards South Bank’s Eye. The working environment looks highly desirable. Even the toilets have a touch of wit and glam, with tile patterns matching past and present panda car liveries.
What strikes me though is the pitch. The architect winning the bid played a blinder. The press refers to their “seductive images” of the eventual finished building which you hope were trailed as part of their Proposal.
Now I’m sure every tender response featured glossy pics galore. The trade concerned revel in design excellence. Yet how many of them displayed the angle of the winners here?
Namely, focus on the working life of the occupants.
This included the aforementioned stunning, hard-work-inducing views from inside out. “Another shot shows how it would look at night, its glazed rooftop pavilion transformed into a glowing blue lantern”. And beautifully, the image portrayed by the inevitable statements given to camera with the front door as “dashing” oblonged televisual backdrop.
Other benefits of the move show workstations considerably reduced down from 3,500 to 550, “nesting has been outlawed” (hurray) and running costs savings of £6m.
One delicious user-quote; “[the old office building] felt very institutional and that, in turn, affected the way they were working”.
Sidenote; stack your current workspace up against this test, for I visit many a salesroom that does not make for an optimum sales performance.
Quite the brief. Quite the outcome.
It naturally brings to mind the extent to which we show our prospects how the day-to-day experience of using our wares will be enjoyed by them. The minutiae, humdrum even, routinisation made significantly both more pleasant and productive.
What will living and breathing with your product feel like? What can you do to get it across?