Queen Mary Enterprise Zone Building, QMEZ Whitechapel London, QMUL Photos, UK Higher Education Design
Queen Mary Enterprise Zone Building, QMEZ Whitechapel
7 May 2021
Queen Mary University of London Enterprise Zone Building
Design: NBBJ
Light-filled University Enterprise Zone Designed by NBBJ for Queen Mary University of London Completes
Photos by Gareth Gardner
A new University Enterprise Zone hosted by Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) and funded by Research England has just opened at the QMB Innovation Centre in Whitechapel, London. Designed by international architects NBBJ, the space provides a range of flexible and adaptable workspaces for digital health, med-tech and AI start-ups in the QMB Innovation Centre, a building also designed by NBBJ which opened in 2011.
The Queen Mary Enterprise Zone (QMEZ) provides space for start-ups and small businesses to grow whilst strengthening collaborative ties between Queen Mary and businesses. The refurbishment across the lower ground and mezzanine provides dedicated workspace for each tenant, as well as shared office spaces, meeting rooms and amenities fundamental to creating a collaborative and inclusive environment. Large glazed openings provide excellent visual connectivity from office desk, meeting rooms as well as between floors.
Occupant experience and wellbeing are the main focus of the design. NBBJ chose a green planting strategy to ensure the breakout spaces are visible and in close proximity to all working in the space. Breakout spaces have clusters of planting, seating and access to natural daylight.
Choice is provided with different workspaces to select from, to suit the task they are doing and the level of social activity needed, including pods, meeting spaces and breakout spaces. There are a variety of tenancy sizes to suit start-ups straight out of university: from individual workstations to two, three and four person offices.
The design is inherently flexible: meeting rooms have been designed to flex to offices should additional office space be required, and the offices on the lower ground are changeable to laboratory/maker space.
Jayne Kelly, NBBJ Interior Design Director said: “We have designed a bright and calm space for young professionals, making the most of natural daylight and selecting light and natural tones to complement the elements of nature incorporated in the design.”
Dr. Ramsay Richmond, Executive Manager of the QMB Innovation Centre said: “The new QMEZ space will provide an incubator opportunity for many start-ups in a flexible, light-filled space, in close proximity to QMUL, a Russell Group university renowned for its research intensity.”
Queen Mary Enterprise Zone, QMEZ London – Building Information
Project team
Interior Design: NBBJ
Project Manager: Queen Mary University of London
Service Engineer: NDY
Contractor: Clive Graham Associates
Cost Consultant: Fusion
Photographs: Gareth Gardner
NBBJ
NBBJ creates innovative places and experiences for organisations worldwide and designs environments,
communities, and buildings that enhance people’s lives. Founded in 1943 and celebrating 77 years of practice in
2020, NBBJ is an industry leader in designing science, education, corporate, healthcare, commercial, civic and
sports facilities.
The firm has won numerous awards and has been recognised as one of the largest firms in the
annual BD WA survey. NBBJ has more than 750 employees in 11 offices worldwide.
Consistently recognised by
clients for a creative and professional design process, NBBJ has partnered with many top research institutions,
corporate and tech companies, including the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, King’s College London, Stanford
University, the University of Cambridge, Amazon, City University, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Boeing,
GlaxoSmithKline, Microsoft, Salk Institute, Samsung, Telenor, The Royal Liverpool University Hospital and
Tencent.
www.nbbj.com
@NBBJDesign
QMB Innovation Centre, London
The QMB Innovation Centre is located in Whitechapel close to the research campus of Barts and The London
School of Medicine and Dentistry. The QMB Innovation Centre opened in 2010 to provide 39,000 sq ft of modern,
semi-bespoke laboratory and office space for science and technology start-ups, including life science, clinical,
environmental, clean-tech and nanotechnology companies.
www.qmbioenterprises.com
Queen Mary University of London
At Queen Mary University of London, we believe that a diversity of ideas helps us achieve the previously
unthinkable.
Throughout our history, we’ve fostered social justice and improved lives through academic excellence. And we
continue to live and breathe this spirit today, not because it’s simply ‘the right thing to do’ but for what it helps us
achieve and the intellectual brilliance it delivers.
Our reformer heritage informs our conviction that great ideas can and should come from anywhere. It’s an
approach that has brought results across the globe, from the communities of east London to the favelas of Rio de
Janeiro.
We continue to embrace diversity of thought and opinion in everything we do, in the belief that when views collide,
disciplines interact, and perspectives intersect, truly original thought takes form.
www.qmul.ac.uk
Queen Mary Enterprise Zone Building, QMEZ images / information from NBBJ
Queen Mary, University of London
Design: Wilkinson Eyre Architects
images from architect
Queen Mary University London
Location: Queen Mary University London, London, England, UK
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