Cripps relocates its London office to Victoria

Top 100 law firm Cripps is relocating its London office from Chelsea to new premises in Victoria in May 2021. The move is part of the firm’s growth strategy as it continues to build its London and international client base.

The firm’s new office, at 80 Victoria Street, has undergone complete refurbishment and has been designed to embrace evolving working practices post-pandemic. With people working more from home, and this trend expected to continue, there will be fewer desks and more collaborative working spaces for clients and staff alike.

The firm has been consulting staff on how they would like to work going forward and a recent staff survey suggested just 10 per cent of staff wanted to return to the office five days a week. Therefore, the new office has been designed to be a vibrant, flexible and collaborative working environment where clients as well as staff from the Tunbridge Wells head office can come and freely enjoy the ‘business lounge’ space.

The firm worked with office design specialists Dthree Studio to create a flexible hybrid office space.

Commenting on the relocation, Gavin Tyler, Cripps’ managing partner, said:

“This is a hugely exciting time for us and the move marks a significant milestone in our development. We chose the location because it’s close to our previous base in Chelsea, where many of our clients are based and the excellent nearby transport links and surrounding amenities suit both our international and other London-based clients. Increasingly, our people are working between our London and Tunbridge Wells offices making this location ideal for them. In addition, the flexibility of the work space and the building’s green credentials also really chimed with how we’re working as a modern law firm and our ongoing commitment to reducing our environmental footprint.

“The new London office will have a similar open-floor environment to the one we developed in our Tunbridge Wells office four years ago and we have been able to learn from that experience to make this even better. By polling staff, we were able to make informed decisions about how much space we needed and what it should be used for and everyone is very excited about the future.

“Despite all the challenges brought by Covid-19, as a fully-functioning remote working team, we were able to put in place whatever measures were necessary to help our clients, including commercial and residential landlords, tenants, businesses and private individuals, to weather the storm. Looking beyond that, we are now in a great position to continue to expand our presence in London and our ambition remains simple – to help our existing clients to grow and grasp the opportunity to support more clients like these as they adapt and change. “

“Our new office opens on 17 May and we are looking forward to welcoming clients to our new home as and when Government guidelines allow.”

Tom Aird, Project Director at Dthree, added:

“We were delighted to be appointed to deliver Cripps’ new London office and by working closely with the firm we have designed an inspirational space, that will flex and change in the coming months and beyond, as staff return to the office and adapt to more flexible working habits.

“The office provided to Cripps employees as its London hub really fits in with the trends, we are seeing to support staff in the new hybrid working practice that forced its way to the top of everyone’s agenda thanks to the pandemic. Greater emphasis has been, and must be placed on well thought out, future proofed design that will allow staff to safely interact and collaborate as and when the physical office is required.”