“The design process is a partnership, a journey which we take together…we will work with you to ensure we deliver the right design for you, for your staff and for your clients: no two clients are the same and therefore no two designs should be the same.” So says Susan Whittle, director of interior design practice hi Design.
The practice was set originally in September 2007 as part of a larger group of companies offering a one-stop shop from design to furniture and fit-out. However, some clients did not like this approach and so in 2010, Susan took the practice away and set up as a completely independent interior design practice. Susan adds, “Since I made this move, our business has just grown and grown and exceeded our wildest expectations. Today, 99% of our business is either repeat business or referral.”
One of the practice’s major clients is the Swedish Bank – Handelsbanken. hi Design has just completed the refurbishment of its 47th branch for the bank, which is engaged in an aggressive expansion across Europe. As the corporate designers for Handelsbanken, hi Design acts as the brand guardian and manager.
Today, hi Design acts on a nationwide basis. Susan says, “As a design practice, we are totally focused on cost, practicability and delivery to budget and we like to act as an integral part of the contract team. We have a very ordered approach to design – discover, design and deliver. We place a great emphasis on understanding a client’s needs, including workplace consulting and staff appraisals.
“We had one contract where I went undercover as an employee, experiencing life in a call centre. I was able to get under the skin of the company, finding out why staff left, what they wanted, what they did not like, what cars they chose and why, etc. As a result, I got a complete profile of the client, how they were structured and from all of this, I was able to build up a profile of how the company should look. From this I could then carry out our design brief.”
It is vital to understand what the business actually needs; how much space people need and can space be reallocated. Properly done, carrying out a project like this can actually help a company change. It is interesting to look at various ‘new’ trends. For instance, hot desking has been around for quite a while and yet people still like to have somewhere to call home and to keep their ‘clutter’.
Another interesting development is an increasing requirement for prayer rooms, complete with the facilities for those using the room to wash their feet. In open plan areas, it is important to have quiet areas, perhaps screened off with storage units; look at conversation levels and put people where they can talk. Open plan can be beneficial, but sympathetic use should be made of visual and acoustic screening.
One of hi Design’s recent projects has been in designing and refurbishing two floors of a listed mill building near Tiverton. This enabled the client to bring together in one place a large number of people from across a 20-acre site. Others jobs have included work for Jaguar Land Rover, Phones 4U, the YHA, Wolverhampton University, Morrisons and the Co-operative.
For further information please telephone 0121 232 8702 or visit www.hi-design.biz.
