Nicolas Tye Architects supports staff with environmentally-friendly office

The environmentally-friendly design specifications of Nicolas Tye Architects’ Bedfordshire headquarters, Long Barn Studio, make it an enviably healthy office space in which to work.

Nicholas Tye Architects office

The glass box-shaped building’s stone flooring and the employer’s footwear-free office policy (staff wear slippers) helps to minimise allergies.

The office optimises its air quality with a mechanical cooling system, which provides comfort cooling in summer and pre-heats cool air coming from outside in the winter. The air is filtered, providing a healthy fresh air balance in the studio.

Non-toxic lacquers and organic white paint are used throughout the building, and workstations feature ergonomic chairs with lumbar support.

Nicolas Tye, owner of the business, says it is easy to achieve an office that promotes staff health and wellbeing. “Employers should start by looking at the key aspects of design by zooming in and zooming out [on details]. Zoom-in detail is the keyboards staff will use; zoom out is the air they breathe.

“Employers should make sure all aspects provide the right holistic goal, which will pay dividends to the working environment in any office.”