This was an immense project, involving thousands of square metres and encompassing the entire campus with five UPC towers. A central concern behind our approach was the social cohesion between employees. In the past, a UPC employee went to one of five buildings and took the lift to his or her work floor. This meant that they only had contact with the people close by, from their floor or even the room. That had to change.

A major problem for the company was the rapid turnover of its workforce. In general, people only stayed for 1.5 years. By renovating and creating better working conditions, we hoped to increase this number of years There is now a new extended kitchen with a self-service restaurant, plus a good coffee bar and a gym.

The ‘New Way of Working’ has been implemented for the office floors. This means an open plan work floor with separate rooms for meetings, making calls or simply taking a moment for yourself. In addition, each floor has its own kitchen/dining/relaxation area. By differentiating these general spaces, we aimed to promote vertical connection.

A big change was the self-service restaurant with kitchen. A lot of healthy choices were added to the menu. Employees walk past different ‘food islands’ and can even choose a meal from a wok! Once they pay, they can turn left into the restaurant or turn right to take a seat in the glasshouse. This glasshouse was newly installed and also connects two buildings. A coffee bar was also added to the refurbished atrium. A new conservatory provides more space and light. Together with a vertical garden ten metres high and a large screen, this is also a nice place for informal talks. A large bridge connects two other buildings to the atrium. This bridge acts as audience seating during events. Finally, on the ground floor, a brand-new gym was built.

A lot of furniture throughout the campus is custom designed. All the kitchens on each floor and the reception desk have custom designed furniture, and there are many other tailor-made pieces.