DigiCert is a US headquartered company specialising in high-assurance digital certificates, providing identity, authentication, and encryption solutions for the web and the Internet of Things (IoT).

The UK arm of the company had decided to move from serviced offices near St Paul’s in the City of London, into their own office space in Harbour Exchange, Canary Wharf.

The team at DigiCert contacted IRS about their new space. At our initial meetings we discussed:

• The overall aesthetics
• Agreed a concept
• Identified the priority areas

Three principals for the DigiCert office fit out

Working within these agreed guidelines we identified the following three principals for the fit out:

1. Remodel the boardroom to allow for 20+ seated occupants within a dynamic and impressive space for visitors
2. Personalise the workspace and celebrate historical features of the Docklands area by commissioning artwork to bring some of the local landmarks onto the space
3. Re-use as much of the existing furniture left by the outgoing tenant, supplemented where required to increase the desking for staff

The boardroom

During the space planning process, we highlighted the need to expand the current boardroom and provide its own access to refreshment making facilities.

By altering the layout of the existing partitions, we created one large room to fit a 7 metre long tailormade boardroom table, as well as a small breakout area where drinks and light refreshments could be prepared and served.

In keeping with the area, we wanted the furniture to reflect some of the strong elements of the docks. We worked with Steel Vintage who made the 7 metre long boardroom table from recycled oak timber. The oak pedestals sit over floor boxes providing easy access to power, Cat-5e and HDMi.

To accompany the table, we sourced soft caramel coloured leather chairs with bronzed frames.

We inset the 65’’ wall mounted screen into a sustainable bark wall surface, which provided the double benefit of adding acoustic qualities as well as bringing in another natural product into the area.

Special ceiling mounted lights in antique metal finish with exposed large light bulbs now give a really soft level of lighting in any meeting, rather than the sometimes harsh glare of modern office ceiling mounted lighting.

Finally, we commissioned a collection of line drawings of local Docklands artwork from Lis Watkins, which were framed and hung along one wall and a city scape manifestation applied to the glass partitions for added privacy.

Main office floor

On the main office floor, we altered the desk layout to suit DigiCert’s work teams and installed new dividing screens to create a sense of uniformity.

By replacing the existing dark carpet and installing two tones of carpet tile with the same single corporate colour thread in both, we were able to demark the natural flow through the space with the light grey tile and define the working areas with the darker tile laid in blocks beneath the desks.

Tea point and breakout area

We boosted the main tea point and breakout area by making minor repairs to existing kitchen cupboards, fitting a new tiled splashback and adding a selection of soft seating, including new cushions made for the tops of low cupboards to provide additional places to sit and either work informally or relax.

We also allocated space just outside the comms room to provide a quiet area for people to sit and read. To define and create a club feel to the space, we fitted bright library shelving effect wall vinyl and high back leather chairs.