Matt Bell, a Marine Biology and Oceanography student studying at Plymouth University, will embark on the challenge to reach the last significant place on Earth yet to be achieved by humankind, all in the name of environmental research. Matt has teamed up with a group of explorers trained and led by Jim McNeill – one of the World’s most respected and experienced explorers – to set out on the expedition to The “Northern Pole of Inaccessibility”. The ‘Northern Pole of Inaccessibility’ is defined as the furthest point from land on the Arctic Ocean (the very centre) and 270 miles from the Geographi ..read more

The rivalry between leading South West businesses is set to take on new twists and turns in a bigger than ever Bristol Bears Community Foundation tag rugby tournament, sponsored by Paramount. Teams of men and women from across the business community will be swapping the workplace for the rugby field to raise money for the foundation which supports local communities in and around Bristol. Over the next few months 36 teams from across the property and construction, finance and legal, and business service sectors will be lining up to do battle under the floodlights of the Bears’ Ashton Gate home ..read more

This year we welcomed Helen Bartlett into her new role as Managing Director at Paramount. We recently sat down with Helen to take a look back at the last 12 months and discuss the forecast for 2023. How was 2022 for Paramount? “Post Covid saw huge challenges for our industry and the general business landscape. The positive news however is that whilst some businesses have looked to downsize their workplace, this has still created movement within the market, thus creating opportunities for the likes of ourselves. What people want out of a workspace has also changed. Businesses who have remained ..read more

A blog from Steelcase – Workspace: what people need and expect now Since the onset of the pandemic in 2020, Steelcase has conducted 12+ global studies with over 57,000 employees and business leaders to understand the impact it’s had on how and where people and organisations will work in the future. The latest quantitative study, conducted in 11 countries with 4,986 participants, was designed to measure the current mindset of office workers and their expectations. From this research we have gained an understanding about what people need and what they expect now following a shift in working patt ..read more

A blog from Steelcase – Workplace Design: Building a Neighbourhood Despite employers’ best efforts to entice people back to the workplace with free snacks and fun events, people are dragging their feet. Their reluctance isn’t about COVID or about flexible working either – with hybrid work being embraced by 71% of global leaders (research from Steelcase). Theories about why people are hesitant to return to the office range. But maybe the most obvious reason is being overlooked: Do people believe anything has really changed if everything simply looks the same? In workplaces around the world, com ..read more

Another new recruit to the Paramount team, Nathan will be based in our new Bristol Office, further bolstering the expertise and creativity of our award-winning team Hello Nathan. What do you do at Paramount? I’m a Senior Designer, which means I deliver all stages of the design process from the initial brief through to project completion, creating inspirational but functional environments. What did you do before you joined Paramount? Most notably, my experience to date has been as a designer working on a variety of interior and architectural projects within the commercial sector. I’ve worked ma ..read more

A very warm welcome to new Paramount recruit Beth who will be based in our Bristol Office when it opens later this year. Hello Beth. What do you do at Paramount? I am Lead Designer for Bristol. I design and oversee the creative process and design proposals of our projects located in Bristol and the South-West. What did you do before you joined? I worked for a large architectural practice designing and delivering interior design projects across the UK within the living and hotel sectors. What’s been the highlight of your career to date? Having the opportunity to guide and mentor many young inte ..read more

Following a break of 2 years, due to the pandemic, we were delighted to invite into our office again the 2nd year Interior Design degree students from the University of South Wales. For a number of a years now Paramount has supported students from the course in a mentoring role. Recently the students visited our showroom to see how a live design studio works and to present their work to our design team. This year two of our Designers, Beth and Gareth, listened in to each of the student’s work and offered their comments and thoughts about the projects and presentation techniques from both ..read more

As we reach the end of what has been yet another challenging year for so many, we look forward to 2022 and provide our thoughts on how the change we’ve all experienced is likely to translate into the shape of the future workspace.   From Workplace to Collaborative Hub  We’ve seen already that workplaces are certainly not dead. They’ve just evolved. They’re now often referred to as hubs, places where people can collaborate in person and connect again. This is likely to continue over the next year as people are given greater ownership as to how they work to suit the needs of the task ..read more

The pandemic forced many companies into an experiment with agile working they might otherwise have resisted. For many, it has been an unexpected success, improving productivity and the work life balance of employees. As such, broader adoption of agile working now seems inevitable, but this means offices will need to adapt. Forward-thinking landlords are well-aware of the need to reconfigure office space. They know that that the new generation of office space will need to facilitate collaboration. They recognise the need for buildings to be ‘green’, using renewable energy where possible, reduci ..read more