Inside Pru Life’s New Manila Office

Michal
Finance
6 months ago

Insurance company Pru Life recently hired architecture and interior design firm Steven Leach Group to design their new office in Manila, Phillipines

“Facing escalating real estate costs against an ambitious growth plan in the region, coupled with the pandemic and hybrid ways of working, Pru Life UK is moving away from multiple traditional agency offices in Manila. To do so, they enlisted the services of The Instant Group to navigate and achieve this change seamlessly. Instant helped Pru Life UK to create a clever and ﬂexible space centred around the needs of its members. The Steven Leach Group were engaged by Instant as the Design partner for this project.

Now known as PRUHouse, the new workspace is a 2,600 sqm fully customised solution accommodating 2,000 average active agents from more than 20 branches. PRUHouse was also designed and built with the younger generation in mind, in a bid to attract Gen Z and millennials to the business through a modern and enticing workspace. It’s Pru Life UK’s first step towards the future of work for their Agency Force, with the Philippines being the first country to adopt this new approach.

We envisioned PRUHouse’s Workplace with an environment that is warm and intuitive, clear and purposeful as well as insightful and dynamic. The concept we intended to bring to PRUHouse was an integration between their Brand, Culture and Community. We also worked with The XMakers to implement experiential workplace as part of the design principles.

To complement the vibrant Brand Environment, we also added in some of Philippine’s colourful local cultural elements where we added some “Igorot” inspired patterns and fabrics. Red is the most symbolic color for the Igorots. It symbolizes bravery, independence, war and blood. Black is associated with godly rituals and is considered mysterious and important. Part of the experience piece introduced to PRUHouse was having Instagrammable spots within the office. One of these areas we built a hammock out of rattan materials which is inspired by “Duyan” which is what they refer to for cradles or hammocks.

The community is also an important element for PRUHouse. The heart of the Workplace or what we call, The Hive is a place where staff and mingle and engage with one another. It creates spontaneous encounters and encourages connectivity.

PRUHouse is a space where advisors can get together, collaborate, problem solve, and brainstorm ideas in an inspiring and energetic environment that fuels both business growth and social connection through community.

With the aim of reducing their portfolio size by 60% and property costs by 40% in the Philippines, Pru Life UK has created flexibility through its agile workspace solution, one that combines physical, human, and digital touchpoints to signal trust and inspire agents to perform at their best.”