Client: General Medical Council
Location: Manchester, UK
Size: 5,580m²
Skills: Architecture, Interior Design
The General Medical Council appointed Broadway Malyan to design and manage the Category B fit out of their 2nd Manchester Office, located within the partial 2nd and the complete 3rd floor of the BREEAM ‘Excellent’ 3 Hardman Street, Spinningfields.
The new premises provides general office accommodation for 388 GMC staff, 340 of whom relocated from the GMC’s current premises in St. James Buildings, and a new Clinical Assessment Centre. The project programme was demanding, with a series of four phased occupations during the third and fourth quarters of 2009.
The design concept is simple: the primary circulation forms a legible ‘street’ – a vibrant environment off which all activity takes place. The main reception is positioned within the heart of the building at second floor level, off which conference, meeting and interview rooms are readily accessible, as is the Clinical Assessment Centre. The new reception provides a secure, welcoming environment for staff, members of the public and doctors alike. ‘Dark’ spaces are contained within the ‘donut’ defined by the primary circulation; team spaces are arranged around the outside of the building, benefiting from daylight, sunlight and views. Meeting rooms, cellular offices and support functions are contained within a series of ‘pods’ defining teams and positioned on key intersections on the street (corners, floor plate entrances etc). Cellular offices occupy the outside face of the pods against the external wall, with meeting rooms opening onto the street and being accessible for all. Touch down, breakout and refreshment facilities define key intersections on the street, adding vibrancy, legibility and creating a skeleton of informal spaces for non-confidential meetings and interdepartmental interaction.