GNR8

GNR8, Watford, is an office refurbishment scheme, providing contemporary flexible interior and exterior spaces for communal use.  Indigo have developed the design of the external works, assisting with the planning application, detailing and implementation on site.

The entire site frontage, previously dominated by car parking and cut off from the building by raised planters, has been updated to create an open plaza with bespoke furniture providing a variety of work spaces.  The plaza’s public edge has been redefined by strategically positioned low level planters creating a permeable edge, relinking the building and street scene.  Light coloured paving is used throughout, unifying the plaza and contrasting with the darker backdrop of the building.  Space within the plaza is subtly defined by rectangles of darker paving which create an informal pattern of ‘rugs’, guiding movement through the site.

The plaza is framed by contemporary slat screen fencing and anchored at its north end by a lightweight pergola with bench seating and climbing plants.  Steel climbing frames planted with climbing shrubs subdivide the plaza and disguise drop off parking bays which are discretely incorporated into the southern end of the site.  Planting throughout has been carefully selected to be robust and easy to maintain, softening the space and providing year round interest with good form and texture.  Edible species have also been incorporated as part of the scheme’s Fitwel certification.