Who says health and safety means you have to compromise on looking good?

Health and Safety Mentor has been working closely with a client who has just moved their business premises to an old tramshed in London. It’s a beautiful listed building which was absolutely full of character – so the client was keen to preserve as much of that as possible when it came to their health and safety approach.

The client specifically said they didn’t want to be covering up some of the striking features of the building and ideally avoid making modern adaptations that would look out of place. We also had to navigate specific terms within the parameters of the listing status – so we needed to tread carefully.

Not only was it important to keep the character in the building for listing and other status reasons, the whole idea of the design was to create a luxury feel, as the client is a vendor of high end office furniture – so it was important they preserved those unique surroundings.

Health and Safety Mentor got to work with the fire safety program, making sure we incorporated elegant features that didn’t interfere too much with the building’s aesthetics. Things like fire doors and emergency lighting, which we know can visually destroy the look and feel of a building, have been thoughtfully incorporated into the design.

However, as with anything of this bespoke nature, early planning and timeline implementation were key – and the client knew it was important to get HSM involved in an early stage of the planning. We visited them prior to the fire safety officer’s visit and also helped with the snagging issues that came about during the renovation process.

Cerith Brawn, Director at HSM said: “It’s easy to think health and safety will take a one-size-fits-all approach, but just because something has to be made safe it doesn’t mean there have to be compromises”

“This project is a classic example of ways in which adaptations can be made while protecting the originality of the building. The client is expecting a visit from the London Fire Brigade very soon – we are confident that early engagement with HSM has helped, not hinder this clients development project”