Christopher Ward's Maidenhead HQ takes BCO national fit-out award

A 10,079 sq ft headquarters for watchmaker Christopher Ward in Maidenhead, fitted out by Curve Workplaces to a Spratley & Partners design, has won Fit Out of Workplace at the British Council for Offices awards.

The British Council for Offices (BCO) presented its National Awards on 6 October in front of about 1,000 senior office-sector figures at the JW Marriott Grosvenor House hotel on Park Lane, London.

According to the BCO, the Christopher Ward scheme brings the company's administration, design studios, logistics, repair facilities and customer showrooms together under one roof. The BCO gives the floor area as 10,079 sq ft; Spratley & Partners' own project page records it as 12,000 sq ft.

The judges said the fit-out "has been a key enabler in doubling revenue for the business and increasing shipping from 500 to 800 watches a day since moving in." They also singled out the pickable walls in the showrooms, which let customers handle the watches directly.

The project

Spratley & Partners said it delivered the scheme as a Cat B fit-out, with Curve Workplaces as contractor. Christopher Ward opened the headquarters in Maidenhead in November 2024, according to the architect.

The practice said the building includes three customer experience showrooms with the pickable walls, and that its process-driven layout increased the company's distribution capacity by 50%. It said 92% of construction waste from the job was recycled or reused.

The scheme reached the national final as the Fit Out winner for the BCO's South of England & South Wales region. The London regional Fit Out winner, announced by the BCO on 15 April 2026, was Rabobank at 60 London Wall.

Other winners

Fit-out contractor Overbury, a silver partner of the awards, won the Projects up to 2,500 m² category for its own northern headquarters on the 13th floor of Chancery Place, Manchester. The judges said the detailing produced an office that was both calming and dynamic.

Deutsche Bank's 21 Moorfields took Corporate Workplace. The judges said staff satisfaction had risen 10% since completion of the scheme, which sits above a National Rail interchange and adds new public squares between Moorgate and the Barbican.

Best of the Best, together with Commercial Workplace, went to 71/72 Kingsway in Swansea, which the judges described as a catalyst for regenerating the city centre. The Swansea Bay City Deal said the building, built by Bouygues UK, provides 114,000 sq ft of commercial floor space with flexible co-working, is carbon zero in operation and is worth £32.6m a year to Swansea's economy. It is part-funded by the £1.3bn City Deal and the European Regional Development Fund through Welsh Government.

Pixel in Penzance received the first Judges' Choice Award, a new category that allows the national panel to recognise a project outside the established categories. Cornwall Council said in October 2024 that the creative and start-up hub, managed by shared workspace operator Forward Space, was expected to be fully open to users in January 2025.

Elsewhere, The Renold Building in Manchester won the Innovation award after a 71% cut in embodied carbon from refurbishing rather than demolishing, and TBC.London took the ESG award having retained more than 70% of its existing structure and used 40 tonnes of salvaged 1930s steel beams.

Civic Millgate in Wigan, a refurbished 1960s Brutalist civic centre, won Refurbished/Recycled Workplace. The 900,000 sq ft 40 Leadenhall in the City of London won Customer Experience, Commercial Landlord, and GSK's London HQ, which brings about 3,000 staff into central London, won Customer Experience, Corporate Occupier.

Professor Janice Kirkpatrick OBE, co-founder of design studio Graven, received the President's Award.

Nicola Gillen, BCO national judging chair, said: "This year's winners demonstrate the growing role of the workplace as a driver of regeneration and social value."

Gold partners for the awards were 8build, AET Flexible Space, Redworx MEP, Saint-Gobain UK and Troup Bywaters + Anders, with Morgan Lovell, Overbury and Quantem as silver partners. The BCO, founded in 1990, has more than 4,000 members.