Pinsent Masons cuts desk space in Edinburgh after moving to new offices
Pinsent Mason’s has cut the number of desks available to staff in its Edinburgh offices, after moving in to new premises, in a bid to free up space and adapt to the future of hybrid working.
The London headquartered law firm is set to cut its desk space by 20 per cent, in seeking to adopt an “agile” approach to remote working, after moving into new Morrison Street offices.
Speaking to City PM a Pinsent Masons spokesperson explained the firm does not require its staff to be in the office. “There’s no set requirement for people to come in to the office, people are trusted to consider what is best for clients, teams and themselves, whether this be working from home, the office or a mixture of the two,” the spokesperson said.
The move will see Pinsent Masons take up new premises on Morrison Street, at the heart of Edinburgh’s financial district, near to the city’s Haymarket Station.
In its new Morrison Street premises, Pinsent’s will occupy 25,500 sq ft of space, compared to the 24,300 sq ft it occupied in its previous Edinburgh headquarters. However, the new office will have a fifth fewer workstations, creating more space inside the building.
Pinsent said 200 of its Edinburgh staff will have access to the new headquarters, as it claimed the new offices have been designed to promote wellbeing.
Speaking to City PM a Pinsent Masons spokespersons explained the decision to move came after Pinsent’s lease on its Early Grey Street premises expired, after the firm had been in the building for two decades.
The office move is also aimed at furthering Pinsent’s environmental targets, and boosting the law firm’s ESG credentials.
Partner and Head of Office Edinburgh, Ewan Alexander, said: “We have long-established agile working practices across the firm’s international locations, but we felt it was necessary to review how the pandemic had changed staff attitudes to hybrid working and how we could best maximise the space available.”
“As a result, we dialled down the number of physical workstations by more than 20% and freed up space to introduce more collaboration zones and meeting spaces within the new office.”
“The design team put a lot of thought into the aesthetics, moving away from the older and colder office styles, to create a warmer more welcoming environment.”