Project Overview
As trusted global partners to Pharmaceutical and MedTech manufacturers, Uniphar was looking to create a new, innovative space that would enhance collaboration and create an environment where everyone would feel welcomed and cared for.
Uniphar, which has its headquarters in Citywest, a corporate zone south of Dublin, wanted a workplace that could accommodate its current staff in a hybrid way. It was anticipated that the space would not be always used, with a rate of circa 60% expected. Due to this, Uniphar wanted to develop a distinctive space that team members would appreciate and want to spend their valuable time in, to work, collaborate and socialise.
The result? Our team created a contemporary design that reflected Uniphar’s values and a welcoming environment for all its colleagues and clients across various functions.
Project Commissioner
Project Creator
Project Brief
As working preferences changed, Uniphar’s teams saw a rise in workplace attendance and knew they needed to evolve their space to suit their people’s needs and support this positive shift.
The workspace is connected to their large product warehouse that receives, organises and dispatches pharmaceutical products, and during COVID-19 the two workforces had become separated as the canteen was only open to warehouse staff. The main aim of a refreshed workspace was to unite the two workforces.
A key focus of the project was to create a social area that all teams could mix and socialise within. We turned this focal area into a large restaurant with a canteen, complete with relaxing booths, elegant mirrors and suspended greenery to create and open and inviting space for all to use.
We also refreshed the changing rooms that connect the two spaces, acting as a transitional portal for Uniphar teams to change. Complete with new lockers, marble counters and black metallic finishes, this bridge between spaces has been given a modern uplift to support warehouse teams and match Uniphar’s new front-of-house refresh.
Project Innovation/Need
Uniphar is dedicated to providing an atmosphere that upholds its values including teamwork, integrity, innovation, and achievement, in order to maximise each employee's potential. The new workspace has contributed to enhancing team retention, allowing Uniphar to retain skilled and productive individuals as well as demonstrations of appreciation, benefits, and support for a healthy work-life balance.
The second floor is made up of a range of adaptable, open spaces that can be used as focus rooms or for team activities. The new Uniphar office offers a positive aesthetic and encourages interaction, with teams now often getting together to build connections and solidify relationships in a lively, fun environment. A central teapoint with a sizable marble island and flora hanging from above serves as a meeting place for informal social assemblies, breaks, and lunches.
Teams now regularly gather at teapoints and in the restaurant on the ground floor, creating a lively environment to build relationships and strengthen friendships, which has enhanced motivation. Collaboration improves how teams work together to solve challenges and function as a whole. This has led to increased innovation, efficient processes, success, and improved communication within the office at Uniphar. By paying attention and picking up tips from one another, everyone is able to work together to accomplish their goals.
The new Uniphar office has been uplifted and has enabled team members to connect thanks to its understated yet elegant design.
Design Challenge
Taking cues from the symmetry of the building’s architecture, geometric patterns became a key design theme. This can be found in the sharp lines on meeting room acoustic wall panels, in manifestations on glass meeting room walls and in smaller details such as the chevron splashbacks at each teapoint.
Walking into the space and turning left at the reception, individuals can access the spacious restaurant and canteen that is now available to all team members. Our design team developed a modest, yet attractive style that would encourage social interaction and incorporate an atmosphere of hospitality. This is evident in the rows of relaxing booths and elegant round mirrors on the back wall, which emulate the intimate, private ambiance observed in restaurants while adding a refined touch that enhances staff morale.
We also added an abundance of greenery to bring life into the space, found in pots, within the joinery and suspended on the ceiling within modern grates. The result not only matches the surrounding hills and forest around the building, but also makes the space feel warm and approachable.
Sustainability
As a leading healthcare services provider, Uniphar is rooted in serving the community in looking after people, health and safety, and wellness.
Unispace supported Uniphar in encompassing these values throughout the design of their workplace from construction of the fit-out to the working environment for their employees. Our design team determined that it would be important to maximise the amount of natural light coming in through the floor to ceiling windows that overlook the breath-taking views of the building's neighbouring hills, forests, and parks. As well as improving Uniphar’s employees’ wellbeing, increased natural light also benefits the environment by reducing the use of fossil fuels, preventing the release of carbon monoxide and other harmful products into the environment.
Uniphar's desire for a better future is palpable throughout the whole space. Our team made sure that all HVAC, lighting, and water use was optimised for sustainability, whilst changing all lighting fixtures to LEDs with motion sensors so they would turn off when no one was in the space.
Tags
Interior Design - International Commercial
This award celebrates innovative and creative building interiors, with consideration given to space creation and planning, furnishings, finishes, aesthetic presentation and functionality. Consideration also given to space allocation, traffic flow, building services, lighting, fixtures, flooring, colours, furnishings and surface finishes.
More Details