Costa Coffee Offices – Essex

Costa is incredibly proud about the history of their brand, and we wanted to make sure that this was reflected in their new, modern office fit out. We designed mock railway arches as a feature wall in the staff breakout area, that mimic their old home on Paradise Street in Lambeth. The exposed brick arches are a great visual feature that also act as a frame for wall graphics that showcase their growth from family business to global coffee house. We even found a space to display the first ever coffee bean scoop used by the Costa brothers! The railway arches reflect their past, but have been integrated into the design as functional elements; housing booth seating for relaxed and informal meetings, a tea point, and one of the arches even leads to a staff games room! We incorporated modern technologies to enhance productivity and highlight the coffee experience. Special consideration was given to creating collaboration and collision zones, which allow for roasting and office staff from two sides of the business to interact. Breakout areas have been introduced alongside the open plan office to provide spaces for informal catch ups, meetings and breaks throughout the day away from the standard workstations. These spaces are intentionally placed between the two different working areas – the office and roasting plant – to encourage different teams to interact more.