Among the office projects recently carried out in Italy by Agilité Solutions, QBE offices in Milan can certainly be considered an “excellent case study” not only for the final result, but also for the very short construction times, organized in two phases to allow QBE employees to continue working.
The project was illustrated by Maria Luisa Daglia Country Manager and Sara Lapointe, Executive Project Manager at Agilité Solutions Italia, during a convivial and informal meeting, also attended by Kirsty Shearer, Development Director at Agilité Solutions.
Agilité Solutions is a young company in the expansion, founded in France in 2018 by Neil Coales and specialized in integrated design services, from the preliminary stages up to project delivery and turnkey setup. It is mainly focused in the Office & Retail sectors (75%) but also operates in the Hospitality and Food & Beverage sectors (25%).
Last year it opened two new offices: one in Luxembourg and one in Italy, in Milan, supervised by Country Manager Maria Luisa Daglia who well summarizes the group’s approach “Offering innovative and ad-hoc solutions that guarantee our customers the best value for money in the realization of their expansion projects”.
Despite the unhappy period and the difficulties due to the health emergency, the increase in turnover of Agilité Solutions Italia has been exponential: from 4 million euros in 2020, to the forecast growth of 5 million euros by 2022; with an estimate of 7.5 million euros for 2023.
A growth in line with the total growth of the group which estimates € 35 million in revenues for 2021 with an increase of up to € 45 million expected for 2022.
Among the office projects recently completed in Italy, those of international brands such as Neosperience, indeed.com and QBE Europe should be mentioned.
Refurbishment of the QBE offices in Milan.
The QBE Europe Insurance Company has chosen Agilité Solutions to renovate its offices of the General Representation for Italy in Milan.
The location is definitely a privileged starting point, 600 square meters on the eighth floor of the building in via Melchiorre Gioia designed by Marco Zanuso and masterfully redeveloped by Park Associati; in Porta Nuova area, almost in front of the Amazon building designed by GBPA and the Unipol Tower in Cucinella, still in progress.
The main goal of the interior design and fit-out was to optimize the interior spaces to make the environment more functional to the new needs of the workers; the design approach was aimed at reducing the number of workstations, while at the same time allowing a more agile use of spaces for employees.
All in full compliance with the structure, already LEED certified, with efficiency solutions and the adoption of models based on sustainability and circular economy that respect the already high standards of the building (for example, use of recycled materials and donation or reuse of pre-existing equipment and furnishings).
Another important challenge was to complete the construction site within the two months scheduled and respect the budget while operating in stages so as to allow people to continue working in the office even during the execution of the works.
Weekly meetings with the local QBE Italia team and the projects design coordinator guaranteed the customer’s involvement in the selection of finishes, as well as in the creation of models and finishing samples.
Angela Rebecchi, General Manager of QBE Italia, commented: “The refurbishment came at a particular time featured by a strong desire to restart. The decision to reorganize the environments of our offices in Milan was born from the need to create a space that is more functional to the new working needs in favor of a greater wellbeing of our employees.
The Agilité project responded exactly to our goal of enhancing and redeveloping the entire area of our structure to create a modern work environment but, at the same time, suitable for accommodating the need for more spaces dedicated to social interaction and collaboration.”
The layout includes the integration of open plan areas, individual offices and ancillary in-between areas (phone booth, informal meeting, hot desk, break & relax area).
The design of the surfaces has a strong impact, with finishes and graphics in tune with the new image and corporate identity.
In addition to some tailor made pieces of furniture, Agilité Solutions team has also selected a range of standard furnishings, acoustic solutions and lighting systems to guarantee environmental comfort, proposing high-level suppliers such as Sedus, Universal Selecta, Anaunia, Zumtobel.
Photo by Marco Jetti
