After the fit-out of their Brussels (Vilvoorde) office in 2019, Grant Thornton Belgium, an international audit, accountancy, tax & legal and financial advisory services company, has once again decided to call on Colliers Belgium for their Antwerp (Berchem) headquarters.
After a market analysis, a stay-or-leave exercise and a programme of requirements carried out by Colliers Belgium, Grant Thornton chose to relocate to a 1,800 square metre space in the Onyx building in Berchem, not far from their previous location.
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To maintain a recognisable and coherent brand identity, the look & feel developed by Colliers for Brussels was also applied to Antwerp: a modern and pleasant space, highlighted by bright colourful accents that fulfil both an aesthetic function (recall the brand identity) and a practical function (delimit the spatial organisation).
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Indeed, the overall atmosphere is rather neutral and sober, while certain specific areas are highlighted and emphasised by the brand's colours, i.e. purple, teal, red, orange and green.
This feeling of “coloured volumes” can be immediately perceived upon entering the office. It was indeed necessary to visually separate the public area from the private area, exclusively reserved for employees. In the entrance hall, there is no reception desk, only visual elements that guide the visitor to the waiting room: the path to be taken looks like a purple tunnel, the primary colour of the brand, highlighted by a sort of luminous frame.
After signing in on a tablet at the entrance, visitors enter the meeting centre's waiting area. To make this space welcoming and warm, it is designed like a small park, with a tree and a round bench in the middle. This public space houses several meeting rooms, a creative meeting room and the boardroom, all of course equipped with the latest technology.
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The heart of Grant Thornton's new office is the "eat-meet-work-fun" space where, as the name suggests, visitors and employees can come and eat in the cafeteria, meet, work individually (in the focus booths) or relax in the "fun" area. The furniture and layout have been chosen to promote the flexibility of the space.
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In the private area, there are 80 workstations offering flexible seating, with the comfort of providing home bases for the various functional teams. There, the various classic typologies of the "activity-based working" environment have also been applied. Depending on the activity of the day, or even the moment, there is always a suitable space to perform a particular activity, both in terms of equipment and comfort. For example, individual space reserved for moments that require more concentration, or open space dedicated to brainstorming. A "touch down" space has also been set up to provide Grant Thornton employees coming from other offices with a co-working style working and meeting space.
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In a collaborative and participative spirit, Grant Thornton employees were also able to actively participate in the design and fitting out of their new offices: certain walls, objects and the glazing of certain meeting rooms were personalised with phrases and slogans related to their activity and the firm's values.
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Curious to see more? Check out more pictures of this project on our Pinterest account!
