Practical, Creative, Multifunctional: RentGuarantors London Transformation
Rent Guarantor, London
To support rapid expansion, RentGuarantor needed a versatile central London office to complement their Gibraltar HQ. The brief called for a flexible Swiss army knife workspace: a touchdown hub with luggage storage for traveling remote teams, a executive meeting space for investors, and a brand-focused backdrop for video content creation.
How did this project come about initially?
RentGuarantor briefed us to look at a London base that could work as a multifunctional space to complement their existing office in Gibraltar. The business had been undergoing a rapid growth in the previous months and needed a turnkey solution to support this.
Where did you start?
As ever, we worked with the RentGuarantor team to assess how they would use the space and we discovered that they had a few unusual requirements. With an international team visiting the London office, there was a need for storage for travellers equipment and as a result, there was also a need for the team to be able to just touch down and get to work easily when in town.
RentGuarantor is very active on social media, so the space needed to function as a backdrop for creating content - this impacted the look and feel required. The final requirement was easy access to video conferencing.
What approach did you take?
We took our design cues from the simplicity of the blue RentGuarantor logo and the need to have a soft seating meeting area combined with more standard working desk space. This led us to consider the way we could incorporate the blue as opposed to using the more standard wooden finish desks.
Colour has a definite correlation with mood in the office and we were able to incorporate the blue in a way that was calming but pulled the theme together.
Tell us about the final result!
Storage was a key element, so we used Senators Universal cupboards in Alby blue which we coordinated with a coffee table in the same shade for the meeting area. There were a couple of bespoke touches in the form of a wall mounted logo in acoustic felt and panelling that was created to match the secondary lighter blue colour that the brand uses.
In turn, we then matched the lounge chairs fabric to the acoustic felt its those small touches that pull the whole scheme together.
What led you to working with the East On team?
We had already seen the work that Fernanda and team had created with several media companies. With the design and fit out of the RentGuarantor London office being led by the marketing team because of the need to keep synergy with the branding, it was a natural step to bring the East On Projects team in for this.
Tell us more about the brief…
We certainly had a lot of requirements to fit into the space! The business works remotely from all across Europe, so we had to factor in storage for international colleagues who needed to leave luggage and other items at a central London base.
The London office functions as a central hub for the team to collaborate formally at traditional desks but also as an informal meeting area for board members when meeting corporate and investor partners - we felt like we needed to see this space almost as a Swiss army knife!
We use social media heavily in our day-to-day marketing and the business needed to be able to film content in the space, so the brand colours and identity needed to be to the fore.
CGI
After
Were there any challenges?
The space had some awkward pillars that we had to work around and some difficult areas around HVAC installations that looked like they were perfect to use as storage but in fact didnt work technically. Thankfully Fernanda and team were able to advise us as to how to plan the space and the pillars were simply painted in a neutral colour that it made them feel as if they had disappeared!
How did East On meet your brief?
They say that less is more and that was definitely true here! The key for me was the way that the RentGuarantor logo was created as a felt acoustic panel which was wall mounted and then the rest of the space flowed from the use of the brands key dark blue colour, complemented with a lighter blue panelling that was colour matched to the brands secondary Pantone colour.
Whilst the room is very light toned, with Dulux’ Egyptian Cotton providing the main backdrop, Fernanda and team paired this with a suite of blue cupboards to provide the storage solution. The informal seating area then picked up on this blue theme and matched the chair fabric to the blue logo felt. Its those small details that really made the difference here.
What was also really pleasing was that the final result matched Fernandas CGI designs perfectly. We now have that multifunctional space that works as intended and reflects the corporate positioning of the business.
