In Practice: With BDP Glasgow.

BDP Glasgow recently moved its Glasgow Studio to the historic Grosvenor Building, located directly opposite Glasgow Central Station.

For the new workspace design, the concept focus was two-fold. Collaboration was to be put at the heart of the scheme to foster a sense of community amongst its valued team members. And "practising what they preach" in terms of sustainability would underpin the material and product choices to facilitate it.

All of this came about in answer to the question: “How best to occupy a building, constructed by Alexander ‘Greek’ Thomson - one of Glasgow’s finest Victorian architects, as a warehouse, with a contemporary workplace?”

Now settled in and enjoying the space so much that Edward Dymock, associate director and Glasgow ID lead, who invited Darren Clanford, co-founder & creative director, Material Source, David Smalley, director, Material Source, and Laura Connelly, editor-in-chief, Material Source, over for a tour of the new studio, shared with us the fact that many of the team now choose to work from the studio 5-days a week. And that's no mean feat when competing with a homeworking option. When wandering around though, it's easy to see why the uptake has been so great.

Every element of a person's working day has been considered and subsequently catered for in the design, led by Lorna Bryden, senior interior designer, BDP, who also joined us for the tour alongside Jeff Main and Keelan Roebuck, both also senior interior designers with BDP.

From the spacious desking to the central casual meeting tables, adequately separated to avoid excessive noise, the soundproofed booths tucked away, and the open plan kitchen and socialising area - perfect for breakfast, lunchtimes and evening events with colour changing lights encased in a mesh grid able to be customised to set the mood. Beyond, in the space that wraps around the central light well, the acoustics - from Ecophon - are comfortable, and the lighting is varied and warm and feels overwhelmingly calming.

With the product and material choices, this warmth also exudes - there's a familiarity that exists in original design pieces - weighty Eames chairs and matching tables came with the team from their old office, and now pair with contemporary furniture for a really nice combination that suits all working styles.

Blocks of colour - contributed to by Crown Paints - draws the eye by way of subtle zoning. And a bare concrete pillar is emblazoned with a backlit sign in red reading ‘BDP’ - the only overt mention of branding in the space - almost like "spray paint on a wall", says Edward. The rest of the practice's story is told through visuals of projects and the skilled hand drawn sketches by the team pinned to a notice board.

This mix of old and new extends to some of the features and fixtures of the building - a 1970s-waffled slab and a central glass dome that's just visible through the windows into the light well add an almost futuristic vibe to the setting. This retention of original fittings means BDP’s new Glasgow office has the smallest environmental footprint possible - "offering an indication of the future of workplace design", comments Edward.

Let's get into the detail...

A home with history

The Grosvenor Building, Edward tells us, is well known to Glaswegians. It originally opened in 1861, and was designed and constructed speculatively as a warehouse by Alexander ‘Greek’ Thomson and his brother George. It has been Category A-Listed since 1988.

Though little known outside of his home city, "Thomson was one of the country’s finest Victorian architects", Edward explains. "He combined, with extraordinary skill, a fresh kind of ornamentalism, avoiding classical pastiche, with a functional efficiency that only the finest Victorian designers could deliver. The combination of his understanding of urban setting, and his ‘kit of parts’ approach to forming his elevations, still provide lessons for contemporary architects today."

Sadly, for the Thomson brothers, the Grosvenor Building suffered a fire three years after it opened making it "a financial albatross around their necks". "By 1866 they had rebuilt it to the same design. It was altered by Clarke & Bell in 1897-99 to create the Grosvenor Restaurant but was gutted by a second fire just two years later.

"When rebuilt in 1907 by James Hoey Craigie of Clarke, Bell & Craigie, a previous winner of the Alexander Thomson travelling scholarship, a two-storey extension was added. To most eyes though, Craigie’s extension was an incongruous fit for the original, with one critic comparing it to ‘a wedding cake on a plinth’. Today, the awkwardness of the combination of styles might be less obvious to the untrained eye."

Quite unbelievably, the building had a third fire in 1967. And today only the original façade of Thomson’s design remains. That characterful concrete waffled slab we mentioned earlier, was delivered by Swiss born Richard Seifert (architect of Centrepoint).

"Light is introduced at the centre of the deep plan through a generous lightwell. Our floorplate reaches from Gordon Street at the south, to Renfield Lane at the north. We’re therefore keeping company with some of Glasgow’s finest architects, with views of the glazed bricks and sculptural bays of Mackintosh’s Daily Record Building (1901) to the north and Rowand Anderson’s Glasgow Central Station Hotel (1879) to the south", Edward adds.

A warm welcome

On entering BDP's reimagining of the space, there is no formal 'reception' but instead an informal campfire-like seating area and immediate views to the café and event space, prominently positioned near the entrance. "This sets up the priorities of the space", Edward says, "one of a social and collaborative practice."

"The café will be used for both internal and outward facing events. (An exciting programme is being put together for 2025). The kitchen island is already the heart of the studio. The kitchen looks superb with its routed handle details, Corian worktops and textured tiles. The black mesh screen hanging above the kitchen, and concealing the cloaks, provides a warehouse-like character to an otherwise ‘domestic’ space."

We were particularly taken with an engaging wall separating the kitchen from the desking with beautiful hand-drawings of schemes by the team - it was like viewing artworks in a gallery - "it provides a talking point", Edward commented.

Space for everyone

Desking areas occupy the two window walls and collaborative spaces cling to the central lightwell. These include furniture options for ad hoc standing meetings and seated pow wows. A quiet room and two generous meeting rooms form a bank of accommodation connecting the north and south of the plan. The astragals and reeded glass of their sliding screens again reinforce a warehouse-like aesthetic. This bank also includes two railway carriage meeting booths, housed in a calming deep orange recess, "already proving popular for internal team discussions", Edward shares.

"The studio fit out, whilst feeling generous for any architectural practice, optimises the space per staff member relative to BDP’s previous space, bringing a benefit to overhead costs. Today all staff have a dedicated desk, with hot desking allowing future expansion", he adds.

Retention & reuse

With both its sustainability ambitions and cost constraints, the BDP team focused on ‘reuse’ as a common theme throughout the specification.

This includes the furniture we mentioned, sourced from the previous studio (it's 20-years old, and stunning), but also elements of the landlord’s ceiling mounted services: "we retained as much as possible, supplementing retained ducting with new only where essential. We carried out an embodied carbon assessment of the flooring options but ultimately decided to reuse much of what was on site, lifting the carpet tiles (installed by the landlord while marketing the space) to store and eventually re-lay to a new pattern. The carpet in the desking areas is supplemented by an area of concrete coloured marmoleum by Forbo around the central light well, a good fit once again for the warehouse aesthetic."

Key design features

From the tall Victorian windows on the south façade – revealing Thomson’s extraordinary stone detailing; the 1970’s lightwell at the centre of the floorplate, or; the characterful concrete waffled slab overhead, a sense of space has been achieved by limiting the material palette and through the use of long sightlines - something our creative director, Darren Clanford picked up on immediately.

Spatial characters vary from large spaces for community to cave-like spaces to retreat to. Texture is incorporated into spaces, such as the kitchen, to provide a visual richness. Considered use of colour ensures a timeless and restful character. One visitor, Edward told us, has already commented “I cannot imagine feeling stressed in this space.” A sentiment shared by us.

The warehouse aesthetic is again reinforced by the specification, with: reeded glass and thin black astragals to the glazed screens; the expansive concrete colour marmoleum floor finish by Forbo, slatted timber wall linings and; a suspended black expanded lath screen defining the kitchen area.

The exceptional quality of the kitchen communicates its importance to the studio, with its Corian countertops, bespoke plywood shelving, routed handles to the coloured mdf cabinetry, high spec stacked ovens and even a large wine fridge, "the kitchen is the centre piece of the dining and event space".

Biophilic elements

Being locked in the middle of Glasgow’s urban grid, planting was always going to be important to the interior. Planting - by Benholm Group - always associated with the central lightwell, is positioned at eye level. Views through the lightwell therefore provide visibility of all plants, maximising their visual impact and value.

"Our lush plants, located around the edge of the lightwell, are housed in bespoke maple ply planters, with material libraries and storage integrated below."

This altogether careful consideration of materials has allowed the new studio to be fitted out at "nearly half the cost of a typical Glasgow fitout", Edward shared.

Social sustainability

To ensure all staff have a sense of ownership over the design, the emerging concepts were presented to the studio cohort for critique. A collaborative artwork has been created in a prominent position: the mosaic of images, reminiscent of an IRL Instagram grid, is built of photos of Glasgow taken by studio staff.

Long term sustainability is assured by making sure the space is suited to the widest range of staff possible. Neurodiverse staff were consulted and their needs accommodated with spaces like the quiet room (with its high performing double glazed door) and good acoustics in a variety of collaborative spaces.

As we mentioned at the top of the piece, the value here cannot be denied. It's clear to see, and to feel, all around.

"Our staff love our new space. One of our neurodivergent staff famously claimed their neurodiversity as their “superpower”. We hope that BDP’s new Glasgow home is a space that allows all our staff to find their superpower – and thrive at BDP."

What a fantastic example of a future-facing workspace. A huge thanks to the team at BDP Glasgow for inviting us into your new home, we thoroughly enjoyed our visit and look forward to seeing you again soon.

BDP's Project Partners include Contractor: GHI and Harvey McLean & Engineer: Hulley and Kirkwood (MEP).