Introduction

The Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT) is the leading organisation devoted to the development and support of the Government’s specialist secondary schools programme. Part-funded by the Department of Education, the Trust which is at the heart of 2600 affiliated secondary schools has headquarters at Millbank Tower, South West London.

Panther Interiors have worked closely with the SSAT for a number of years so they naturally turned to us when their offices were scheduled for upgrade.

The brief

The SSAT offices were being expanded to an additional floor at Millbank Tower, resulting in an extra 7,400 feet of workspace. Panther Interiors were asked to submit plans that would maximise the area’s efficiency, based on the existing office’s successful layout. We provided detailed illustrations showing the footprint of all furniture, and how different areas of the office would interact. We were able to demonstrate the optimum office layout to maximise work output and staff convenience.

What we did

Our designs were accepted. The new floor was planned to accommodate 80 staff  with provision for meeting rooms. The plan involved a reshuffle of departments and relocating 50 staff who had been  temporarily housed on another floor of the building. This entailed the relocating and recommissioning of corresponding telephone and computer systems.

Eighty workstations and four meeting rooms were refitted to include:

• Comfortable but practical furnishings.
• An effective cable management system using the existing wall mounted trunking and
  an integrated power supply at each desk.
• Comprehensive storage solutions including full-height storage wall covering 27 linear metres.

The result

Work was completed on schedule with the minimum of disruption and we have since been asked to refurbish and furnish two new regional offices. Works have included offices and a meeting facility for 30 delegates, double glazed partitioning, installation of kitchens, Cat5e network cabling and installation and commissioning of telephone systems.

"A fantastic service that meets all our requirements... We particularly like working with [Panther] because our needs always come first and they never fail to deliver."

Thelma Shields,
F.M. Specialist Schools and AcademiesTrust