Albert Works

When Jaywing decided to look for alternative office space for our Sheffield HQ, we soon realised that our requirements were many and that finding the perfect space wouldn't be easy. The regeneration of Albert Works has proved to be a success beyond anything we could have hoped.

David Wood, Chief Creative Director, Jaywing

Client City Estates / Jaywing
Location Sheffield
Completion 2018
Cost £2.2m

Services

RIBA stages 1-6
Architectural design
Feasibility study

Awards

RIBA National Award 2018
RIBA Yorkshire Award 2018
BCO National Award 2018
BCO Regional Award 2018
AJ Architecture Awards 2018 - Workplace of the Year
Civic Trust Award 2018
Sheffield Design Awards 2018 - Large Project Award
Sheffield Design Awards 2018 - Outstanding Project of the Year
Yorkshire Property Industry Awards 2017 - Restoration and Regeneration Project of the Year
Prolific North Awards 2017 - Most Inspired Workspace in the North

Albert Works creates a headquarter office that sympathetically builds on Sheffield’s industrial heritage. The project involved the conversion of four disused red-brick warehouses with the integration of a new central open plan infill to create approximately 1,600sqm of flexible workspace for brand and marketing agency, Jaywing.

Jaywing’s brief included workspace to accommodate a large design studio and spaces for teams of accountants, data analysts and management. Albert Works efficiently connects these dynamic working groups within a single studio environment with allowance for future flexibility and expansion.

The original character of the existing buildings has been sensitively restored using traditional trades and materials. The form of the new exposed steel infill frame creates three bays that are pulled away from the existing buildings to create an integrated perimeter walkway and service zone. Externally, the new build elements are expressed with the use of bronze-finished aluminium cladding. This clearly differentiates the new from the old in a non-pastiche manner, with the metal cladding also providing a nod to the industrial heritage of metal fabrication within the immediate site and wider city of Sheffield.

"We have collaborated with great teams to deliver a building that has had a huge impact on how we work, our client’s perception of us, the culture within the building, and how we interact both socially and with our neighbours. It’s quite amazing that a building can have such an impact in such a short space of time"

David Wood, Chief Creative Director, Jaywing

Key to the project’s success was strong collaboration across the project team. This collaborative design approach helped achieve 79% Net:Gross efficiency, of which 55% GIA is refurbished structure. The project was completed within a 21-month programme at £112/sqft (including Cat A+ B fit-out).

Rather than demolish a piece of Sheffield’s industrial heritage, the vision for Albert Works was to celebrate its history and sensitively breathe new life into the local area. This is actively achieved through events that are often hosted in the space, bringing economic vibrancy into this once redundant part of Sheffield’s City Centre. The building was recently named Workplace of the Year at the AJ Architecture Awards and has won national RIBA and BCO Awards.

Albert Works sits in Sheffield's regenerated Cultural Industry Quarter of the city, which also includes Cartwright Pickard's award-winning Sellers Wheel scheme.