Towards easier days at the office

PostNord is currently implementing a thorough change strategy, and it is important for the company to maximise the motivation of its existing employees and find the best new talents through recruitment. The starting point for developing the working environment was to create an appealing head office that reflects the personalities and wishes of employees.

“A user-centered approach has been an important element in our cooperation since our first discussions. The Rune & Berg team exhibited a strong professional vision in their field, and they truly listened to us and our needs. The entire project was employee-driven,” Katja says.

Rune & Berg collected employee insight by interviewing representatives from different teams and reviewing the results of PostNord’s personnel survey. This insight was deepened in a workshop where the participants discussed how the office space can help make daily work smoother. We also analysed the inter-dependencies between teams from the point of view of presence and examined the known opportunities and threats of each location option. In order to determine the spatial needs, we estimated how much of the work would take place at the office and how much remotely. We wanted to gain a thorough insight in order to find the elements that affect the design and eventual location of the PostNord head office. At regular briefings, the employees were involved in the development throughout the spatial design process.

“We have served as the guiding light in this project, steering the team away from pitfalls and in the right direction. The high-quality process yielded high-quality results, and it was rewarding to have discussions with such a well-informed client,” says Raija Mattila, Account Manager at Rune & Berg.

“Is this really our office?” was the comment of many amazed PostNord employees when they entered the new head office in Pasila for the first time.

“Our international colleagues and the property owners have also praised the new office and been positively impressed with the end result,” says Ville Heimola, Head of Procurement and Facility Management at PostNord.

• Modern
• Appealing
• Sustainable
• Energetic

The office was designed to be easy to reach, it has excellent transport links, and it is surrounded by diverse services that make everyday life at the office smoother for the employees. The office features a shared working café that is suitable for both cosy coffee breaks and relaxed team meetings.

The spatial solutions support diverse ways of collaborating, but there are also spaces for quiet, independent work. The space is flexible and adaptable to different uses and needs. The office has been optimised for work, including hybrid work models.

“Throughout the project, Rune & Berg’s experts paid attention to even the smallest details and made sure nothing was overlooked. I would not have thought of many of the things they brought up,” Katja says.

The cooperation is a textbook example of how the process should work: you start by analysing needs and continue with specifying the service level of the lease agreement before proceeding to the actual spatial design. The continuous support for project management from start to finish also played a major role in the successful outcome.

“Katja had a strong vision for the future and the courage to question established practices. This allowed us to think outside the box and achieve an excellent result,” Raija says.

The Planet Company community has selected PostNord’s employee-driven head office re-design as a Planet Act.

PostNord is the leading supplier of communications and logistics solutions to, from and within the Nordic region. It makes everyday life easier through parcel and logistics services in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland, and delivers mail to private customers in Sweden and Denmark. Read more at: www.postnord.com

Photo credits: Mikael Pettersson and Aleksi Tikkala

WSP is a global enterprise that specialises in civil engineering, and whose 700 experts at WSP Finland work together to build a better society. The cooperation between WSP and Rune & Berg dates back to 2016. Over the years, the two companies have, for example, designed and implemented a pre-COVID working environment concept in Jyväskylä and Tampere, and developed and re-designed the Helsinki head office, first in 2017 and again in 2019 when the office relocated to Tripla. Both WSP and Rune & Berg emphasise a customer-centred approach, and involving the employees and customers in the design process was a natural choice.

• collaboration and interaction
• the importance of collaboration, supporting the company culture
• understanding the employees
• the functional needs of different experts
• cost-efficient, creative and flexible use of space.

Rune & Berg has been responsible for the spatial concept and design, graphic elements and helped the client with renovation planning. “Human competence and know-how, in other words, expertise, are at the core of WSP’s business. Our starting point was to ask how spatial solutions can support the growth of competence and the sharing of expertise. The concept we created with Rune & Berg is strong and goes beyond the space itself – it supports the brand and our objectives,” says the Jyväskylä and Tampere project lead Sanna Kulmala, describing the background of the projects.

The underlying idea in all of WSP’s renovations was to upgrade the WSP working environments with spatial solutions that support collaboration and sharing knowledge. Rune & Berg’s main task was to develop ways of working and working spaces with participatory design methods as well as to help in implementing the change. During the project, Rune & Berg used service design methods to analyse the needs of the different experts, including observation, workshops, surveys and sharing information openly. “The greatest value has been change management and support in that. Rune & Berg has had a strong role in managing the change and internal communications”, WSP’s Facility Manager Karoliina Paavola sums up about the Tripla project.

WSP’s projects and the design of new working models started with cooperation and by mapping out and taking into account the tasks of the experts in each field. Areas of analysis at the local offices included collaboration between teams, work-related mobility, and feedback from the people who use the spaces. The Jyväskylä office features a shared working café in the entrance area, while each team has its own working space. The Tampere office chose a more open concept that supports collaboration and multidisciplinary projects. The office space is still divided into private and public areas. The main office in Tripla has shared workstations that help to prevent silos. However, the office is equipped with “home bases” that help employees find one another. Employees have been delighted about the new spaces, even though there has also been some resistance to change, Karoliina mentions. “The first reaction of a new employee moving to the Tripla office was “wow, what a lovely office, I have never worked in such a nice place!”

WSP’s employees were actively involved in the projects as both users and experts in their own fields. For example, the indoor air and acoustics specialists at the Tampere office participated in selecting materials that promote good indoor air quality and testing different sound environments. The Jyväskylä office has a separate laboratory room that was designed in close collaboration with WSP’s experts. The lobby in Tripla showcases an impressive display of WSP’s civil engineering projects, featuring drawings, 3D hologram displays, and miniatures.

The partnership between Rune & Berg and WSP is based on shared responsibility and long-term development: working environments are developed systematically, with the help of a coherent concept and by engaging with and paying close attention to the employees. “Technically, the framework provided by the concept supports scaling for different locations and premises. Adjusting the concept to different cities always requires updating, which means that it makes sense to have the same party both create and implement the concept,” Sanna says, explaining how the cooperation works in practice. “For example starting the Tripla project was easier because Rune & Berg already had knowledge from previous projects on what kind of work we do and the types of spatial needs that we have at WSP”, Karoliina adds.

On the other hand, the partnership gave rise to new practices and wider topics that support the working culture. The key to the project’s success was true participation: together we mapped out future needs at the design stage, visited the construction site and planned the use of the space at the implementation stage. The employees were eager to learn about the new working methods, proud of their new office and ready to embrace the communal practices. “Everyone in the working community learned to talk about working space and its use. We wanted to take the matter from the HR policy level to the level of practice, among the people who actually work in the space. We managed to create a culture where everyone has the courage to speak up if they want to change something,” says Sanna, describing the people-driven change process.

The Tampere project has been covered in an article in Rakennuslehti, and the relocation to Tripla in a news story (both in Finnish).

The Delivery Hero Helsinki office project got its kickstart from the merging of Pizza Online and Foodora and the subsequent move under the same roof. Both companies were already members of the international Delivery Hero group. In early 2020, the companies merged under the Foodora brand in order to provide the consumers with a more cohesive experience and to make it in the highly competitive food delivery sector. The aim of the project was to craft inspiring premises that would both support diverse modes of work and facilitate the creation of a new community. “Delivery Hero is a modern growth company with young personnel – we wanted to offer premises that would support the employee experience and workplace culture”, says Hanna Kontinen, Delivery Hero’s HR Manager at the time, on the objectives for the workspace update project.

• welcoming and playful facilities to support the company brand
• supporting the Foodora and Pizza Online community and different ways of working
• a holistic experience, a work environment that caters to the senses and evokes emotions

The role of Rune & Berg Design was to design the roughly 750-square-metre office facilities located in Rubik in Pasila and help the personnel adapt to the workspace update and shared ways of working. Delivery Hero’s work environment was created together with the personnel to suit them both in form and function. The project entailed interior design, graphic design for the look of the interior space as well as service design. Co-development, which entailed observation, team interviews and workshops, was used to ensure that the voice of both parties moving to the office would be heard and that the facilities would reflect the new community as a whole. “The employees embraced the change with open arms. We had a person from each team participate in the employee group during the project – we wanted to give everyone the chance to have their voice heard”, Hanna explains.

The facilities of the youthful growth company were designed so that they would be comfortable and facilitate interaction, while also giving consideration to the special characteristics related to different roles and tasks. Focus and interaction are balanced: Delivery Hero’s office has spaces suited for work where peace and quiet is needed as well as spaces suited for sparring with coworkers. The kitchen and surrounding lounge area form the cosy centre of the office, where it is possible to eat and prepare lunch, relax, work and have meetings.

The graphical elements and details were also allowed to be casual, even humorous. Restaurant-based themes were designed for the meeting rooms, which showed in the decoration, glass wall tapings and names. “The end result was very successful and reflected our work community. The experience manages to maintain a professional feel despite flirting playfully with the hassle of a food delivery company’s everyday operations. The meeting rooms have very diverse atmospheres – you can choose your meeting room by feel or according to the subject in discussion”, Hanna describes the experience of working in the new facilities.

Premises that support diverse modes of work and the creation of a new community were created for Delivery Hero. The facilities, which were designed together and also support community and working together, had a positive impact on the atmosphere and the work itself. The welcoming common spaces with well-equipped kitchen areas and pool tables brought the employees together and supported the formation of the new community. The unique characteristics of each individual get to blossom in Delivery Hero’s new facilities, creating a rich work community and a sustainable foundation for success.

The cooperation of Rune & Berg and the client was smooth as well. The project provided a chance for direct discussion and creative ideas. “We had a lot of faith in the project right from the start. Communication was easy, and the cooperation went smoothly. We did not have previous experience from similar projects, so it was essential that you took an objective role, gave advice and had conversations with other stakeholders. Overall, we got the sense that our concerns were addressed and we were really appreciated as a client”, Hanna summarises.

Read the furniture supplier Restatop’s article (in Finnish).

The head office of the investment company Rettig Group Oy Ab is located on Bulevardi, in an old brewery warehouse belonging to Sinebrychoff that was originally built in 1880. The building represents the architecture of its own time and plays an important role in the cultural heritage of Helsinki. The 19th century building was converted into a modern and elegant head office whilst ensuring the continuity of the architectural heritage for future generations. Artwork and golden details crown the otherwise neutral space. The new property reflects high quality and long traditions – just like the company that occupies it.

The 3,000 square metre head office of Rettig Group was modernised as part of an extensive renovation. Rettig’s employees moved into the new premises in June 2018. Before this renewal, the Rettig building had last been renovated at the turn of the 1990s. The aim was to create a modern head office that would reflect the Rettig brand, the group’s strategy and the company’s distinguished history. The spatial design was based on the Rettig Group’s values – trust, collaboration, goal-orientation and premium quality – while respecting the original architecture and history. For example, the names of meeting rooms reflect the history of the company and are named after members of the Rettig family.

• design that lasts from one generation to the next
• respect for the architecture, layers of history
• modern technology meets craftsmanship and art
• communality and new ways of working
• usability and quality, polished details

Rune & Berg Design was responsible for the overall concept, interior design and the graphic look of the space. The outdoor and indoor wayfinding system was also designed by Rune & Berg. The space was designed in close cooperation with the Rettig project team. Architects Davidsson-Tarkela was the architect and main designer, and we worked on the layout, building permit negotiations, fixtures, general lighting and lighting principles in cooperation with them.

The atmosphere of the Rettig Group head office is minimalistic without being plain. Strong lines, high-quality furniture and timeless materials are paired with natural stone, art and golden and brass highlights. The space not only looks stunning but also supports Rettig’s employees in their work. We removed walls to create open concept workspaces that meet the needs of the teams. Each floor has a cosy space for having lunch and coffee and socialising with colleagues. The new social premises with showers promote an active lifestyle, such as biking to work.

The technical building system was also renewed. As with the rest of the renewal, the aim was to achieve functionality and a minimalist aesthetic. All technical solutions were discreetly integrated into the historical building. Rettig ICC, which is part of the Rettig Group, supplied the heating and cooling solutions. All the spaces received a new, premium lighting and lighting control system. The new lighting system maximises the amount of natural light, enhances user comfort and highlights the works of art. The meeting rooms have dimmable smart glass walls by HSL Group.

The interactive cooperation between Rune & Berg Design and the Rettig project team ensured that the space meets the wishes of the company. The new Rettig building is a unique working environment that serves the employees and reflects the company’s identity better. As the group’s head office, the elegant building serves as a window to the world and history of Rettig.

Read the ProInterior article (in Finnish).