Background to Project: A major refurbishment of a three storey building in Festival Park, Stoke-on-Trent but owing to delays with the lease signing there was only 2 weeks to carry out a full refurbishment, yet we still managed to get the customer fully moved in on time.  In the service industry we do a lot of unconventional things in unconventional ways but to strip-out and furnish three floors, totalling 500 sq. m, with electrics, partitioning, decorations, air-conditioning, kitchen fit-outs, and toilet fit-outs in two weeks was a tough challenge especially with constraints such as a narrow staircase but Accolade relished the challenge and got the job done.

Sam: What prompted you to use Accolade for your fit-out?

Jeremy: Well actually Accolade was the first of four quotations to come back and we were very impressed with the quotation – it was clearly laid out in unambiguous language, split into sections and we could work out exactly how much each floor was costing. And as a matter of fact, we got exactly what the quote told us we were going to get.

In some areas we needed to make cost-savings and this clear, transparent quotation made the process simple.  We found Sam to be easy to work with and very prompt and helpful with the detailed costings.

Sam: Were there any points that you could highlight?

Jeremy: Yes, there are a few.  Firstly, we found Accolade very helpful with the pricing options, for example, how much per item for electrical and how much per metre for different partition options, which made the decision making very simple.  Secondly, we found Ian to be a great asset to us, his help on layouts has been invaluable.  He clearly had in-depth experience which he was happy to share with us and we are delighted with the layout we now have although it wasn’t exactly as we originally envisaged.  Ian’s thorough approach and thoughtful use of space made our offices much more user-friendly.  He went above and beyond to help us adjust the layout.

Sam: if you did anything different in the next time you did a refurbishment what would it be?

Jeremy: Well, for one thing we would probably get Accolade to do everything, Accolade did most of the work but we handled some items ourselves like air-conditioning which would have been better handled under one project team.

Sam: What aspects of the refurbishment do you really love?

Jeremy: We love the flooring, there’s a variety of different patterns which flow into the workspace together with our Pace Ward logo.  Again we have found Constance and Thomasen to be most helpful providing an endless number of different samples together with costings which made the process much simpler.

As brokers, we offer a bespoke and personal service to all of our customers and felt that we were offered this same service by Accolade.  We would have no hesitation in recommending them and will continue to use them for our future work.