Adidas Manchester – A workplace design fit for a global brand
- adidas
- Location
Manchester
- Size
72,000 sq ft
- Services Involved
Strategy & Design
Design & Build
Activation & Engagement
Furnishing
We partnered with Adidas to design and build their Manchester HQ to be fit for one of the world’s greatest sporting brands and their amazing people.
A performance-enhancing HQ for adidas
With a deep-rooted connection to sport, health and wellbeing, adidas has transcended cultures to become one of the most recognised brands in the world. As one of the best sports companies globally, it’s important adidas’ Manchester HQ reflects their mission and they have the right environment to allow their teams to excel.
adidas prides itself on designing and developing the best products for health and wellness, and creating the best experience for its customers. As an organisation, they wanted to offer the same experience to staff and the ethos behind creating adidas’ new UK headquarters in Manchester was to put employees at the heart, energise and inspire the 460-strong team and improve their performance and wellbeing. But while we understood the brand from the outside looking in, we had to go deeper to transform their workplace from within.
Cocreation always delivers beyond the brief
To create a place that truly ‘energises and inspires’ the people at adidas, we needed to understand what moves and motivates them. We worked closely with the adidas team over ten months to co-create a workplace that would encourage communication, and collaboration, drive innovation and boost productivity.
We engaged adidas employees throughout the entire process, with “Design Influencers” appointed from every level of the business, to ensure the space was fully designed around the people using it every day. We connected people and place fuelling the infectious energy that helps give adidas its competitive edge.
Activity Based Working allows people to work at their best.
That’s why everything we created for adidas not only reflects the brand and its products, but the needs of the people working there. As well as quiet places for focussed work, and open areas for creativity and collaboration, we created a huge central ‘arena’ for informal meetings, breakouts, and work scrums. At the same time, we took inspiration from the world of sport to connect people to the brand.
We created change with minimal disruption
We not only planned and managed the project in multiple phases whilst the building was occupied by staff, but engaged teams ahead of the changes and kept communication open throughout. At each stage, anticipation and excitement grew as people could see their workplace being transformed – and enjoy the benefits straightaway.
A place to live and breathe the brand
adidas wanted to transform its Manchester office into a workplace that inspires and energises – where people can live, breathe and experience the brand and its products.
With health and wellbeing at the heart of its proposition, we designed and built an entire workplace that supports its people. At every stage of every phase, we kept this in mind. The end result is a workplace that’s not only fit for purpose, but fit for great people to do great things every day – in lots of different ways. A workplace that could be as iconic as the brand itself.
