Whilst Design Engine were masterplanning Gifford’s rural Southampton campus following their successful Carlton House collaboration and two subsequent phases of conversion, Gifford had taken a short lease on Roman House as temporary accommodation for their structural engineering teams. The building had fallen into disrepair, but had the potential to offer quality naturally ventilated, open plan studios – along the lines of Carlton House itself (voted ‘Best Office Project of the Year’ at the Building Services Awards 2005).
Design Engine was commissioned to refurbish the existing office space, create offices and meeting rooms, remodel the cores to meet current standards and to make positive alterations to the external entrance area in order to improve its appearance and functionality. The project was an essay in collaborative working on low-budget, fast-track delivery.
