Eco Cafe for Capital Space at Milton Keynes Business Centre

Capital Space, the owners of Milton Keynes Business Park undertook research amongst their customers to find that they wanted somewhere to get out of the office and chill out. They have 100 businesses working in offices, studios and workshops on the site so they wanted to provide a space for people to get out for some private contemplation, to sit with their laptops or just have a conversation in a different setting. TG Escapes have created a bright space that is cosy indoors with access to an outside decked area. Woodside Cafe will be run by Sue Stanbridge and her team who have designed the interior with biophilic elements which help to bring the outdoors in to create a relaxing and peaceful space.

We asked business centre manager Matt Roberts;

Why did you want to develop this additional space?

We wanted to provide our customers and the local community with a good quality communal space where they can meet, work and relax, whilst enjoying pleasant surroundings. It was also important for us to build in an ethical and sustainable manner.

What made TG Escapes stand out from other providers?

The quality, flexibility and style of their designs, the efficient manufacturing process as well as their eco-credentials.

What are the biggest benefits you have noticed or are hoping for?

We have already received positive feedback.

Speaking at the opening, Capital Space MD Peter Boam said;

“The major concern we and our customers had, was to avoid disruption. We have all been involved with building sites and know how much commotion, banging, drilling and vehicles there can be. We hit upon TG Escapes and what they are able to do is construct much of the building offsite then bring it onto the site to put it together. So, we started on March 8th and by May 28th, 12 weeks later, it was completely finished. The disruption was minimal, but we got more benefits than that.
Because it is built in a factory environment, you don’t have issues like tradesmen spoiling other tradesmen’s work, or the rain spoiling the materials, so the quality is very good.
And the best news of all was that we actually built it within budget. Normally the end of a building project is associated a great many variations which push the price up hugely, but in this case that didn’t happen.
Another benefit is it has given us a chance to experiment with an air source heat pump. The device sits on the back wall and it draws in warmth from the air outside the building and distributes it to the inside. Why is that a good idea? For every £1 we spend on energy with the heat pump, it provides us with the same amount of heat that would have cost us £4 in electricity for a standard panel radiator. If this does work as we hope, then we will be looking to replace the radiators in all our offices and studios with air source heat pumps.”