Matt Osborne, Managing Director AIS
Whether it’s through strategic partnerships, M&A, or rapid periods of growth – things never stand still for long for financial institutions. The focus in times of change is typically on scale, efficiency and speed of delivery. However, there’s another important consideration: how it impacts teams and the physical workplaces they occupy.
In this article, Matt Osborne, Managing Director at strategy, design and construction specialists AIS who recently completed Revolut’s new London headquarters, explores the role of the office in supporting cohesion, productivity and engagement.
Rapid periods of growth are reshaping your workplace strategy. Accept and embrace that fact and you can move towards proper integration of teams and accelerated performance. Ignore it and you will be left with a real estate portfolio that fails to adapt and provide a solid basis for your people and clients.
This fast-paced change often requires business to bring distinct teams together within a single workplace – be that an existing one or new premises. The true challenge for real estate professionals lies in creating environments that support different ways of working while still presenting a coherent brand and visitor experience. This is where flexible workplace design comes in, enabling organisations to accommodate diverse operational needs without compromising identity, culture or performance.
Balancing scale with experience
Decisions around whether a workplace is fit for purpose for a company’s new chapter are often based on speed of adjustment, cost and the ability to deliver at scale. While all that matters and will help define success, if they are the only focus then something more valuable can be diluted: culture and performance.
Consolidating teams into a single location does not automatically create cohesion. In fact, without sufficient thought to how teams actually work, the result can be physical closeness without integration. Different functions sit side by side but continue to operate independently. Productivity slows while people adapt to environments that weren’t designed with their needs in mind. Client experience becomes inconsistent.
The question should not be as simple as how quickly space can be delivered, but what does it need to enable once occupied? Greater collaboration? Aligned processes? Stronger client relationships? Or perhaps improved operational delivery? When workplace strategy is aligned to those outcomes, scale and experience no longer compete. Efficiency remains important, but it is reframed in support of performance rather than as a standalone measure of success.
Flexibility to support diversity
When you consider the broad makeup of a financial institution, the diversity of activity comes into sharp focus. There are client facing teams who need to operate with discretion, analytical roles requiring hyper focus and seamless technology, and leadership teams who need space for strategic decision making. Supporting all these functions isn’t possible through aesthetics alone or furniture-led solutions. True flexibility requires careful consideration and a workplace that operates with intent.
This might mean clearly separating high-concentration areas from collaborative zones to reduce friction or ensuring client-facing spaces maintain confidentiality and professionalism without isolating those teams from the wider organisation. It could require infrastructure such as power, data and acoustics that allows layouts to evolve without major disruption as headcount shifts or functions expand.
Crucially, flexibility also depends on behavioural clarity. Teams need to understand how and why different spaces are used, particularly in newly consolidated environments. Without that clarity, even the most adaptable design can create confusion rather than cohesion. When done well, flexible design reduces the tension that often accompanies integration. It allows diverse teams to operate effectively under one roof while acknowledging that not all work looks the same.
Creating cohesion without uniformity
Following mergers or acquisitions, there is often pressure to present a unified identity as quickly as possible. The workplace becomes a visible manifestation of that ambition. However, uniformity should not be mistaken for true integration.
Consistency matters at key moments in the workplace journey such as arrival points, client areas, shared social spaces and through a core visual identity. This creates a sense of stability and singularity for both employees and visitors. Yet within specific team environments, maintaining a sense of autonomy is vital. Acquired or rapidly growing teams often carry distinct cultures, values and ways of working that contributed to their success. These should be nurtured, not stifled.
A more effective approach is to establish a clear “spine” through shared spaces and design principles that anchor the brand while allowing team neighbourhoods to remain distinctive. This balance supports integration without suppressing diversity. When people recognise and understand both the broader organisation and their own identity within a workplace, engagement is more likely to follow.
Growth is not a one-off event. It is ongoing and often cyclical and can quickly render a rigid workplace strategy obsolete. Future-ready environments are designed with that uncertainty in mind and rely on continuous data capture and analysis through Permanent Occupancy Evaluations to assure performance. If a workplace can only operate effectively under one set of conditions, it is unlikely to support sustained growth. Designing for change as a constant, rather than an exception, creates resilience in both people and place.
