Productivity
Workshop at MOD Main Building , Whitehall , London
‘…an
environment that can facilitate fundamental change in ways of working…’
Wednesday,
13 July 2005
Over
35 delegates attended the Office Productivity Network’s best practice
workshop at the Ministry of Defence’s (MOD) Main Building, Whitehall,
central London. The
redevelopment of MOD Main
Building
was a major construction programme. The building covers 1 million
square feet and has approximately 5km of corridors. There are 3,000
occupants. The programme involved the demolition and removal of
17,500 tonnes of rubble, the installation of over 45,000 square
metres of raised flooring and 13,500 square metres of secondary
glazing. The contract was signed in May 2001 and staffs were decanted
in August of that year. Reoccupation was completed in November 2004.
The
Main Building Redevelopment project was approved as a competitive
PFI procurement, awarded to Modus Services plc. The refurbished
building has been designed to create a much more flexible space
by removing the majority of non-structural internal walls. Within
such space, the precise layout of individual open plan areas is
easily variable along the two longitudinal sides of the building,
with the spine area providing a combination of group offices, meeting
rooms and support facilities. A comprehensive cabling infrastructure
will be provided under a raised floor.
New
conference facilities have been created to provide a better variety
of sizes, be air conditioned and be fitted out with modern projection
facilities and simultaneous translation. The reception facilities
at the North and South entrances were improved to deal properly
with the volume of visitors expected and the Pillared Hall - previously
blocked off and used as a furniture store - has been restored and
opened up to improve ground floor circulation and provide a coffee/informal
meeting area.
Other
aspects of the design include:
•
A new Library that, together with the Staff
Restaurant, situated off the Pillared Hall to form the new social
heart of the building.
•
A Business Suite for visiting MoD staff
•
Extensive open plan work floors
The workshop included
presentations on the history of the project and scope of work, design
limitations and performance from the user perspective. Delegates
had a short tour the building (naturally constrained by security
considerations) followed by a debate and interaction with the occupant
and management teams in a panel question and answer session
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