ideaSpace

The client

IdeaSpace, part of the University of Cambridge and managed by Cambridge Enterprise, is a community of founders and entrepreneurs across three locations in Cambridge.

The brief

After a comprehensive tender process, we were awarded the contract and appointed to deliver IdeaSpace’s new office space in Hauser Forum. We worked closely with the design team at Ralph+Smith to bring the client’s vision to life while remaining within budget and retaining the initial look and feel of the design.

The challenges

The primary challenge arose when our team demolished the existing slab-to-slab partitions to adapt to the new open-plan office space. Once the demolition was complete the team was met with an uneven and, therefore, inadequate subfloor.

To mitigate the risk of this impacting the programme of the project, we addressed this unexpected issue quickly by:

• Installing a brand-new raised access floor
• Relaying the floor
• Ensuring all health & safety standards were met

The outcome

• Breakout / social space
• A reception area
• A built-in phone room
• An informal meeting / collaboration zone
• Two focus desk areas
• Two 2-person focus booths
• Three meeting rooms
• Refurbished WCs and shower room
• A storage room