Galileo International
Location: Langley
Size: 55,000 sq ft
Contract Value: £1.6M
Project Overview
The original design brief was to help Galileo's teams work and communicate more effectively after bringing together 5 different offices into one purpose-built 55,000 sq ft headquarters office in Axis Park, Langley (near Heathrow Airport). To facilitate this, Area Sq interviewed many of Galileo's managers to find out their specific requirements. Armed with this information, they looked at the big picture with Galileo's project team to design and plan accordingly. The fit-out was completed in 2 phases, with the first phase taking 9 weeks and the entire project being completed in just 14 weeks.
Result
Effective employee communication was a major aspect of the office design. Many meeting areas have been created to let staff gather easily to talk about work. Formal meeting rooms are located on each of the three floors and an expansive conference venue fitted with state-of-the-art AV technology is located on the top floor. For more informal gatherings, the Globe Bistro and four open meeting areas on each floor create positive atmospheres for discussion. Elizabeth Harraway, Galileo's director of marketing communications EMEA comments, "Internal communication has improved already. It was very important that we created an environment which encouraged and enabled everyone to work much closer together."
The interior design needed to mirror the corporate image, and this now shows in its signage, displays, colour schemes and an eye-catching sculpture in the reception.
Vital to the finished offices was to consider the Disability Discrimination Act* (DDA), for which Area Sq arranged a full audit to ensure that all complied with new regulations. Galileo's office includes items like visible internal glass windows, corridors with tonal floor coverings to help guide people along, down and up lights, and plug sockets at a better height for disabled employees.
Internal communication was an important part of the moving process. Harraway explains, "Moving is difficult for employees, even if it's just next door, so keeping our employees informed at every opportunity was key to success. We had a special area on our intranet called 'Project Home' to convey that we were moving home together. A strap line of 'all together, altogether better' was used, and we updated the photos weekly to show how the project was coming along. We had internal committees to represent every department and we were as collaborative as possible at all times."
Company Background
Galileo International is a solutions provider to the global travel marketplace, providing electronic distribution services through its computerised reservation systems and innovative Internet-based solutions. The company has its Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) headquarters based in Langley, United Kingdom, and spans more than eighty countries, through a mix of wholly owned subsidiaries and distributors.
*The DDA aims to end the discrimination that many disabled people face, and means employers must make reasonable adjustments to physical barriers by October 2004.
