Veolia
Quickly assembled, infinitely extendable, surprisingly comfortable – container offices offer additional short-term workspace. Veolia therefore also decided to opt for this spacious temporary solution until the completion of its new head office building. At the same time, the company wanted to test out furniture systems for use in the new building.
Veolia Water Technologies needed more space and therefore decided to extend its Celle head office as soon as possible. The water treatment expert wanted to make good use of the interim period before the start of the construction work and opted for a short-term solution. In September 2017, the container offices were erected directly opposite the main building. Twelve metal beams were precisely connected to one another to offer an additional 174 square metres of workspace. Only a month later, the staff from the After Sales and Quality, Health, Security, and Environment (QHSE) departments were able to move into their new offices. Along with three allocated team offices, the group of containers also offered a meeting room, a lounge, a study for projects and a flexible office that could be used by staff from various different departments. For the company, the container office solution offered two advantages. Firstly, the new offices were up and ready for occupation in no time at all. Secondly, they also gave Veolia the chance to test out the furnishing concept that was later to be used in the new building.
Good decision
Veolia commissioned ASSMANN specialist retail partner Christiane Abenhausen with the design of the furnishing concept. In close cooperation with the company, the expert developed a functional furnishing concept that perfectly fitted into the available space. “The container passage is very narrow and we had to find solutions for the smaller offices that were easy to assemble and fit, even in extremely confined spaces,” Abenhausen recalls. She therefore selected the Canvaro Compact product line. The desk systems for group working spaces can be extended to up to twelve individual units. They are equipped with integrated screens for privacy, which also provide soundproofing, and power and data cables are organised with the aid of cable trunking. They are also very easy to assemble and fit®– which was important, as the systems are to be dismantled again in 2020, when they will be moved into the new building. “The ASSMANN fitters do not connect the centre supports of the Canvaro Compact to the other elements until they are on site. This makes the individual parts easy to transport and the actual assembly only takes a few hours,” says Abenhausen.
From top to bottom
For Veolia, it was the sit-stand mechanism of the desk system that was decisive: each individual workstation can be adjusted to a suitable height at the push of a button. This will allow some of the staff to work standing up whilst their colleagues are sitting down to work. Roman Reichert, data scientist with Veolia, loves this: “Thanks to the new sit-stand desks, I now work almost exclusively standing up. On a normal working day, I sit down for a maximum of twenty per cent of my working hours. This really relieves my back.” To ensure that concentrated working is possible both standing and seated, all of the tables are also equipped with additional Viteco partition elements. Fitted directly above the cable trunking, they not only hide the power and data cables but also ensure that the visual heights remain unchanged throughout the space, even if the desks are all set at different heights. “Although this feature is initially not that important in the temporary containers, we wanted to try out all of the solutions we intend to install in the new building,” explains Abenhausen. And the trial was a success: some offices in the existing main building have already been furnished with additional ASSMANN solutions – and following their successful trial in the container, the decision to use Canvaro Compact, Viteco and co. in the new head office has already been made.
Brief:
The group of container offices erected in the company’s grounds was to be equipped with 22 workstations with sit-stand desks as well as acoustic solutions.
Challenge:
The container office fit out was also to introduce a design concept that could then be fully transferred to the planned new head office building on completion. The furniture systems therefore had to make a good impression and create an inviting and cosy atmosphere, even in an extremely compact space.
Project:
Container office fit out
Specialist retail partner:
Abenhausen, Celle, Germany
Client details:
The company is one of the world’s leading providers of solutions and treatment plants for processing drinking and waste water.