I’m in Cambridge, UK this week for the internal Global Marketing Week and Level Up Conference. This is my first visit to Cambridge in 2023, and we have a new office. The old one is literally next door, but after the pandemic, it was too large a space for us. We renovated a smaller building and moved in a few months ago.
I wasn’t sure if I walked to the right building, but I saw the smaller logo above the door. We had a large sign on near the roof of the other building that was visible from quite a distance. I had to enter the smaller car park to see this one.
There’s a smaller foyer, and all the doors are automatic. I hadn’t been set up with a key, so I actually waited outside for someone to let me know. The entrance, and inner doors to office spaces are all locked with card or phone access. I was pleasantly surprised how easy it was to activate my phone and get access. True self-service with an app and SSO (Single-sign on). Technology is amazing.
I downloaded an app, signed in with SSO and clicked a clink. Then walked outside and here is me entering the outer door.
Here are the inner doors, which protect everything but the bathroom and shower (and guitars).
Speaking of the guitars, there’s a small foyer below the stairs. It’s not trafficked, and I find it was relaxing place to take 5 or 10 minutes a few times a day to play and chill out. There’s a nice view of the garden outside the office.
Everything is new. It’s neat to see all the decorations around, with imagery and plants. The view is of a business park, but it’s nice to see plants and trees around.
The spaces are mostly the same, all rising desks with two monitors. We use an app called Envoy to sign into the office and book a desk. Very few people have reserved desks, since only a few people are in 4-5 days a week. Most people seem to come in 1-2 times a week or less frequently. I think everyone comes in at least twice a month.
The conference rooms are all new and themed. Each has a name outside, with a default image that reflects the name. For example, the outside of Moreton Island looks like this.
It’s one of our smaller 4-6 person sized rooms. Inside, we see the default images of the island, which I was told were taken by someone at Redgate.
Grant and I were in the Joshua Tree room for a meeting as well, with some great images.
There’s also a small Zoom device in each room. If you look above, there’s a “sharing key” on each the left monitor. This links to Zoom. There is the room schedule on this device, and you can start a meeting from here, so you don’t need a laptop.
What is really cool, however, is that you can just run the Zoom app on your laptop or phone and select “Share” and it will start a meeting and let you share your screen. I was able to show a few pictures and videos from my mobile phone on the monitors. Very handy.
We have a mix of large closed conference rooms, for privacy, like Titan below.
We also have open ones, which are closed off by curtains, which means we can combine a few for a very large space if needed. Notice the Zoom device on a podium on the right side.
We also have pods. Small, single ones:
Bigger ones for a group
And even some open ones, if you don’t need soundproofing.
We have lockers, where people can leave stuff if needed.
And, of course, our high tech coffee machines. One of the things I’ve appreciated at Redgate is that we put these in central places to encourage getting up from your workspace and going to meet others, taking a moment to chat or catch up. I’ve had some great conversations because I run into someone getting coffee.
We got rid of our cafeteria, but we do have a kitchen with some breakfast cereals and snacks. There are microwaves, juices, teas, and more.
We have a photo board in each kitchen, which is a great place to put up memories. There is also a table tennis and billiards table available for breaks.
Various bathrooms
and showers
We even have a recording studio, though it’s not completely set up. Still, we had a meeting in there to plan and record a few promos.
And, we have a roof. I made a quick video of walking around the first floor (second for the US people) and then heading up to the roof.
It’s a nice space, and much smaller than our previous building. However, with the way we work and staffing, this suits us well. It’s not crowded, but not sparse either.
I’m looking forward to more trips to this space, my third office in Cambridge.