Creating a premium office is about much more than selecting luxury finishes or investing in high-end furniture. The most successful workplaces balance aesthetics with functionality, creating environments that impress clients, support employees and adapt to changing ways of working.
When the leading law firm Mishcon de Reya merged with Taylor Vinters, the firm appointed COEL to design and deliver its new Cambridge office. The project presented an opportunity to create a sophisticated workplace that reflected the firm’s reputation while providing a practical, flexible environment for both employees and clients.
The result is a contemporary workspace where every design decision has been carefully considered to combine luxury with practicality.
Located adjacent to Cambridge railway station, the new office provides excellent accessibility for staff travelling from across the region, supporting the firm’s hybrid working model and making commuting as convenient as possible.
The brief called for a refined, contemporary workplace that would offer an exceptional experience for clients while delivering a highly functional environment for employees. As a professional services business handling confidential legal matters, privacy, comfort and flexibility were all essential requirements.
Rather than simply designing an attractive office, the objective was to create a workspace that would enhance the daily experience of everyone who used it.
Like many new-build commercial developments, the project required close collaboration between multiple stakeholders throughout the construction process.
COEL worked alongside Mishcon de Reya, the landlord and the wider construction team to coordinate the fit-out alongside the completion of the building itself. With elements of the base-build still under development, the M&E design team worked from unfinished construction drawings. It carried out comprehensive validation surveys to ensure potential issues were identified before work progressed.
One of the most significant challenges involved creating an additional entrance into the client-facing side of the office. The building had not originally been designed to accommodate this structural change, requiring close collaboration with structural engineers to develop a bespoke steel staircase that could be safely constructed entirely on-site.
Fire safety also required careful consideration throughout the project. Following detailed inspections, COEL undertook additional works to ensure the building fully complied with current fire safety regulations, maintaining regular communication with Building Control throughout the process.
Successfully managing these technical challenges allowed the design vision to be delivered without compromising quality, safety or programme.
For a leading law firm, confidentiality is fundamental to every client interaction. The office therefore needed to provide complete separation between client and staff areas while maintaining a welcoming and premium atmosphere throughout.
COEL created two clearly defined zones within the workspace. The client-facing environment has been designed to deliver an exceptional first impression, featuring luxurious finishes, elegant meeting rooms with enhanced acoustic performance and a sophisticated client lounge that immediately reflects the firm’s professional standing.
The overall design concept drew inspiration from London’s earliest private clubs, combining a grand arrival experience with carefully selected bespoke furnishings and refined finishes to create an exclusive yet comfortable environment for clients and visitors.
Behind the scenes, the staff workspace has been designed with equal attention to detail, focusing on functionality, collaboration and employee wellbeing.
Practical luxury extends far beyond appearance. Every workplace feature should contribute to making working life easier, healthier and more enjoyable.
A dedicated multi-purpose wellness room provides employees with a private, adaptable space that supports a wide range of individual needs. Complete with a wheelchair-accessible sink, lockable door and refrigeration for breast milk storage, the room can also be used as a mother’s room, demonstrating a commitment to inclusivity and employee wellbeing.
Accessibility continues throughout the workplace, including a fully wheelchair-accessible kitchen equipped with premium amenities such as filtered drinking water, instant hot-water taps, and a state-of-the-art coffee machine. These carefully considered features enhance the everyday employee experience while reinforcing the high-quality environment the client wanted to create.
Modern workplaces must support a wide variety of activities throughout the working day, from confidential client meetings to collaborative workshops and informal conversations.
To maximise flexibility, COEL incorporated folding acoustic walls within the client meeting suite. These allow individual meeting rooms to operate independently or combine into larger spaces capable of hosting presentations, seminars and client events.
The wider office provides an extensive range of meeting environments designed to suit different working styles, including:
Alongside these collaborative environments, the office accommodates 30 fixed workstations, along with a dedicated agile working area offering 22 hot desks, supporting hybrid working and allowing the business to adapt as its needs evolve.
Creating a premium workplace also means investing in technology that improves the everyday working environment.
To support employee wellbeing, COEL installed an advanced CO₂ monitoring system throughout the office. Managed via an intuitive app, the system provides complete visibility of indoor air quality across meeting rooms and shared spaces, helping the client maintain healthy working conditions.
The intelligent monitoring system automatically detects whether the folding meeting room walls are open or closed, recognising whether individual rooms are operating independently or as one larger environment. This allows air quality monitoring to automatically adjust as spaces change throughout the day, ensuring optimal environmental conditions regardless of occupancy.
Every successful workplace should reflect the organisation it represents.
For Mishcon de Reya, this meant creating a workspace that combines sophisticated design with practical functionality, balancing exceptional client experience with employee wellbeing, flexibility and operational efficiency.
From overcoming complex structural challenges during construction to designing luxurious client spaces, adaptable meeting environments, inclusive facilities and intelligent workplace technology, every aspect of the project was carefully considered to support the firm’s long-term success.
The completed Cambridge office fit out demonstrates that luxury and practicality are not competing priorities. When carefully integrated through thoughtful workplace design, they create inspiring spaces that enhance the employee experience, impress clients, and enable businesses to perform at their very best.
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