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the heating and cooling load of the office space. It means that Poots could introduce separate energy-efficient air conditioning units on each floor. External air is drawn into the building through carefully designed grilled vents in the soffits and passed through a heat/coolness exchanger in the ceiling. Floor depths optimise sunlight penetration into the working spaces. “It’s designed to use as little energy as possible,” Poots says. “It
was terribly important to UNISON to have a building that had benchmark sustainability.” And while the open-plan office spaces do have discrete desks,
there are no PCs, only laptop docking stations. The offices, while behind glass, are arranged around the atrium and ‘village green’ space. In fact, about the only thing that is completely fixed in the
UNISON building are the stationery cabinets, loos and cloak- rooms. Striking graphics have been designed by long-term Squire collaborator Mammal. Floors are coded in a palette harmonising with the UNISON colours to drive home ‘brand awareness’. These days, while working on flexi-time is still allowed, staff
members are encouraged to be in the office whenever possible. Partly, this has been achieved by making it somewhere they want to be. A dedicated flexible space for Pilates, evening meetings or other activities leads onto a garden terrace offering views over the historic social housing of Somers Town and the hills of north London, including Highgate and Hampstead. And previously, employees had to make do with the aforementioned curly sand- wiches. Now they flock to a pur- pose-built café emitting, on the day I visit, a dense cloud of baked potato odour. I’m told catering takings are 25 times higher. Anecdotally, the new building
is a great success. Teams have been observed holding cake and tea parties just to celebrate their new- found union, if you’ll excuse the pun. But what about the compari- son between UNISON’s image and its reality? Well, at the rear of the new building are 17 affordable units with 30 more for market sale. Meanwhile, UNISON has hung on to its old home over the Euston Road and is seeking offers. “UNISON has a large portfolio
of buildings,” Poots says. “They are good property managers.” A large, powerful union with capitalist instincts, then. Be afraid.
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© Morley von Sternberg Conference room
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