Inside NHS SBS’ New Bristol Office

NHS Shared Business Services, a joint venture between the Department of Health and information technology consulting company Sopra Steria, providing business support services, recently moved into a new office in Bristol, England, designed by workplace design firm Interaction.

“The NHS Shared Business Services team had found a new home at Bristol’s Spectrum building and needed to create a workspace that would support the company’s evolving working culture. The layout in their previous office separated their teams, impeding their collaborative work; therefore, a key factor in the design brief was to enhance interaction and collaboration through more social spaces. With a series of staff engagement sessions, Interaction ensured that the NHS employees played a role in shaping their new workspace. The sessions provided the whole Bristol team with insight into workspace design and a forum for them to share their experiences of their current workspaces and ideas for new ways of working. A central breakout and meeting area has created a hub for interaction, in addition to enhancing collaboration and providing a flexible variety of settings for meetings, break times and socialising. This includes high benches for spontaneous meetings, cubbyholes for relaxed discussions and training rooms for larger group meetings. These flexible work areas mean staff members have greater choice for their work setting, which is great for productivity. To ensure their new ways of working are supported effectively, new technology has been designed into the workspace. This includes an impressive automated reception interface designed by their in-house IT team, extensive video conferencing and Skype facilities, and a room booking system to improve efficient meeting room utilisation,” says Interaction

• Location: Bristol, England
• Size: 8,800 square feet
• Design: Interaction