UK Hydrographic Office Headquarters, Admiralty Way, Taunton

The UK Hydrographic Office’s stunning purpose-built headquarters’ is the embodiment of the maritime organisation’s ‘one team’ culture. This impressive 120,000 sq ft workplace provides an inspiring setting for collaboration and innovation. 

The project represents a cultural shift within UKHO’s business culture, prioritising agile workspaces and stimulating a modern way of working for the 850 staff now and in the future. 

The design concept took inspiration from the Hydrographic Office’s work, following the theme of ‘Seabed to Surface’ with images of strata, contours and water currents influencing the environment throughout. The brand is instantly recognised as you enter through an off-street landscaped plaza into the main reception space, which leads through to a dramatic 800m2 central atrium. This impressive open space, combined with the generous staircases, connectivity bridges and wide balconies create a physical and visual connection between all parts of the building resulting in an impressive sense of openness for such a large facility. 

This also allows an abundance of natural light to flow throughout which combined with the natural ventilation is a boon for health and wellbeing. What makes this transparency even more impressive is that the intrinsic need to build in high levels of security was never compromised.

The building is remarkably low energy and intuitive to its occupants' needs, with staff being in control of their own environment and having access to fresh air on demand. Sinuous timber baffles hang from the highly glazed roof, which reinforce the visual concept whilst providing perfect acoustic control, diffusing daylight, and eliminating glare.

700 desks are arranged around the atrium, spread across flexible floor plates. These are broken down into ten smaller neighbourhoods with a range of work settings including team tables, scrum areas, height adjustable desks and quiet work zones. There is also a staff restaurant and gym.

Close workforce engagement and a collaborative relationship between the client and its partners through the whole design and delivery process, enabled this complex project with varying aspirations and constraints, to be successfully delivered with a stringent timescale: And all the while day to day operations continued. 

The creation of this bespoke headquarters has certainly promoted a strong corporate image for the UK Hydrographic Office. But the benefits spread a lot further than the organisation itself: Along with adding an impressive architectural statement to Taunton and its wider community, the development will distribute long term economic and social benefits.   

The entire project team made best use of the opportunities offered to them and have successfully delivered a high quality, sustainable building which offers a ‘transformational’ workplace for the long-term future. This stunning HQ is a masterclass in beautifully integrated architecture and engineering befitting one of the world’s leading marine geospatial information agencies.