Ward Robinson

Head Office Interior design and project management for Made for Trade, a North East design and manufacturing company. With increasing numbers and a growing business, Made for Trade needed a larger facility to call their home. We were brought on board to help them develop Wellington House, a large disused factory and 2000-square-meter office unit on Wynyard Business Park. We transformed the tired, dark and dated interior into a light, open and contemporary space. The new facility comprises a large open plan office space, a variety of meeting areas, an exhibition demo room, a spacious canteen, and a staff gym along with showers and toilets. Finished with a simple yet bold colour palette, as well as minimalist furniture and fixtures, the space offers a clean canvas as a background to the daily business activity. Exposed brick and heritage style glass panels bring an industrial feel to the interior, with feature lighting in key areas adding touches of warmth.

Tyneview Events Centre Interior design and project management for DWP on their Newcastle estate at Tyneview Park. The Tyneview Events Centre has been created from the unused creche building to form a suite of meeting and collaboration spaces within an agile working environment. This new Events Centre is used by DWP nationally as well as for their external business customers. The space features first-class professional meeting rooms, fully IT/AV enabled with a flexible modular design, one-to-one interview rooms as well as touchdown and collaboration space. Stunning imagery was used on the walls to emphasise local and historic identity. Referring back to the heritage of the River Tyne, archived ship building images were used to give each room its own individuality but all within a palette of modern materials and colours. The Events Centre is in full use with DWP hosting a number of the national events at their prestigious new venue.

School Redevelopment Project and cost management for Yarm School, an independent co-educational school on the banks of the River Tees in North Yorkshire. This £30million redevelopment of the existing school site has been conducted over multiple phases with varying challenges. Dining facilities, a new teaching block and a nursery, an auditorium and bar, a music school and new sports facilities have been successfully delivered. The redevelopment of the preparatory school site together with new playing pitches and a footbridge over the River Tees (to access the pitches) are part of the next phase in the schools ambitious plans for the future. We continue to support the school with a hands on approach to project delivery, as well as supporting further campus masterplanning activities.

Hotel Refurbishment Interior Design for Northcote, a 19th Century country house hotel on the edge of Lancashire’s Ribble Valley, regarded as a top fine dining venue of the North West. Our initial task was to modernise the public areas of the hotel to reflect the status of the Michelin-star restaurant; following this the owners required a revamp of the plush bedrooms and en-suite bathrooms. A scheme was also designed for the accommodation in their new Garden Lodge. In the public areas we created an inviting atmosphere with warm colours and elegant, sophisticated furniture and fittings including contemporary chandelier lighting, sumptuous leather dining chairs and a leather-clad bar front. In the bedroom suites rich wall coverings and opulent fabrics and furniture were chosen to accentuate luxury and bring an individual ambience to each room.

Sovereign Square Project Management for Muse Developments in the development of a 60,000 sq ft office site for KPMG in Leeds city centre. Close to the city’s vibrant waterfront area, railway station and retail centre, the development was a key part of the Council’s plans to enhance and regenerate the southern part of the city centre, with a striking contemporary building.

Middle Farm Reconfiguration of a converted farm building into an eye-catching show home to relaunch a Northumberland housing development. Our ambitious scheme turned the entire ground floor into a stylish and contemporary open-plan living space, with high-quality finishing touches chosen to lend a rustic ambience, including a wood burner as an eye-catching focal point at the heart of the home.

Jesmond Dene House Interior Design for the conversion of Jesmond Dene House Hotel and restaurant in Newcastle, a magnificent venue in a stunning Grade II listed historic mansion house. The 40-room hotel required a sympathetic design scheme throughout its rooms, suites, dining and reception areas, befitting both its rich history and luxury boutique status. We achieved this by contrasting a contemporary palette of neutral hues with bold splashes of colour. We chose rich wall coverings and fabrics to augment the house’s original features, whilst commissioning bespoke carpets and bedroom furnishings, sourcing original paintings and using both period and contemporary furniture.