WPP Manchester

WPP’s global campus strategy brings together its people and agencies in inspiring workspaces. Collaborating with BDG and WPP since 2016, we have supported the WPP team across multiple campuses in the UK, Europe, and North America by providing comprehensive furniture services for each project. This includes coordinating furniture audits, sourcing, and supplying products for co-working, conference, hospitality, and agency spaces. We meticulously analyse specifications, ensure quality assurance, and maintain budget compliance to exceed client and agency expectations.

Located on the site of the former Granada Studios in Spinningfields Quarter, the WPP Manchester Campus is an open-plan workspace designed to connect multiple creatives and foster industry-leading work. Inspired by Manchester’s history and resilience, BDG’s design for the building’s layout symbolises a buzzing beehive to encourage collaboration and community. The office features a variety of workspaces, including sit-stand desks, diverse meeting areas, a tranquil roof terrace and social hubs across multiple floors, emphasising flexibility and connectivity. Art and brand agency Acrylicize created digital artwork for the campus, reflecting Manchester’s heritage with elements like cotton looms, iconic album covers, and the Manchester worker bee symbol.

To address the need for privacy for each agency while maintaining flexibility across the working floors, we supported BDG in specifying products that embrace agility and varied work needs, including individual focus work, meeting rooms, phone booths, and creative spaces. This included a system for demarcating spaces using flexible screens and whiteboards—an elegant, adaptable solution that partitions space without building walls, allowing for growth and change. The result is spaces that support each agency’s varied needs without compromising the communal spirit of the campus as a whole.

In collaboration with Acrylicize, BDG envisioned WPP’s Manchester Campus as a single cohesive space. While each of the individual agencies needed to represent their own distinctive brand, their designs had to fit within the vision for the building, in which each floor has its own overarching colour palette. As such, we worked with each agency to personalise their spaces through distinctive furniture finishes, while still remaining within the tonal parameters of the wider development. We collaborated with BDG to specify furniture that could represent the character of each agency, while still knitting them together within BDG’s overall design.