Childhood First
a workplace with care at its centre
When Childhood First took the third floor of 91–95 Southwark Bridge Road, their brief was simple: a homely office fit out for their charity.
For an organisation whose work is rooted in care, relationships and emotional support, the new workplace needed to feel professional without becoming clinical. It had to welcome staff, visitors and collaborators into an environment that felt calm, practical and reassuring from the moment they arrived.
We were appointed to design and deliver a 3,035 sq ft office that would improve both the client and staff experience, giving Childhood First a warm, functional base for their London team. The original floorplate was largely open, offering the opportunity to shape a more considered workplace around focus, connection, privacy and shared moments.
Understanding the charity’s brief
The success of the project lay in understanding what “homely” needed to mean in a workplace context.
Rather than creating a space that felt overly domestic, the design response focused on softness, familiarity and balance. The finished office combines open-plan desking with enclosed meeting spaces, training facilities, phone booths, informal breakout areas and a small meet-and-greet lounge, creating a workplace that feels composed, accessible and easy to use.
This was particularly important for Childhood First’s culture: professional but warm. The office needed to support focused work and sensitive conversations, while still giving the team places to come together, pause and feel at ease.
A layout designed around people
The new plan introduces a clearer rhythm across the floorplate, with spaces arranged to support different modes of working throughout the day.
The open-plan workspace accommodates 18 desks, supported by nearby copy/print facilities, storage and collaboration settings. Meeting rooms and a boardroom provide more formal spaces for discussion, while a training room gives the team flexibility for workshops, presentations and group sessions.
Two new phone booths were introduced within the breakout area, giving staff a place for private calls and focused conversations without having to leave the social heart of the office. This small but important addition helped the space work harder, supporting hybrid working and day-to-day privacy within a compact footprint.
The breakout area as a social anchor
One of the most well-received areas of the finished office was the breakout space.
Designed as more than a simple tea point, it became a relaxed shared setting where staff can step away from their desks, talk informally and reset between meetings. The oak-effect flooring, planting, soft seating and residential-style details help this area feel warmer and more personal, while still being robust enough for everyday workplace use.
The two phone booths within this zone add another layer of flexibility, allowing the breakout area to support both social connection and quiet retreat. It is a practical workplace feature, but one that also responds directly to the emotional tone of the brief.
Warmth through detail and materiality
The finished office uses a calm, welcoming palette to soften the existing commercial space.
Sage green accents, neutral walls, timber slat details, artwork, planting and textured soft furnishings bring a residential quality into the workplace. A teal sofa, patterned rug and circular feature window create a memorable arrival and meet-and-greet moment, giving visitors an immediate sense of warmth.
New partitions, single-glazed frontages and glass doors were installed to create defined rooms while preserving light and openness across the floor. The works also included decoration to new partitions and disturbed areas, flooring modifications to suit the new layout and oak-effect vinyl flooring to the tea point area.
Balancing reuse with new investment
Sustainability and value were considered throughout the design.
Childhood First were able to reuse all 18 existing desks and 18 task chairs, along with meeting room chairs, storage cabinets and other items. This allowed the project team to reduce waste and make thoughtful use of the charity’s existing assets.
At the same time, new furniture was introduced where it would have the greatest impact, particularly in the breakout, lounge and support spaces. The result is a workplace that feels refreshed and cohesive without losing sight of budget, practicality or responsible reuse.
Delivered with clarity and care
The fit out was delivered within a tight timeline, bringing together construction, joinery, glazing, flooring, decoration, mechanical and electrical works, IT infrastructure, lighting adjustments and fire alarm modifications. The scope also included new glass doors, power to TVs and work settings, floor boxes to meeting spaces, presentation connections and improved control of meeting room environments.
For Childhood First, the completed office provides a more supportive base for their team and a better experience for the people they welcome into the space. For Constructive Space, the project reflects the value of listening closely to a brief and translating it into a workplace that feels considered, useful and genuinely human.
