Northamptonshire designers create vibrant central hub for school
Added by Love Business East Midlands | 7 May 2025
An award-winning group of schools is benefitting from the creation of a central hub for its staff, students and parents.
Queen Ethelburga’s Collegiate (QE) wanted to relocate its school shop to a more accessible building near its entrance and to create a dedicated reception and a coffee shop with internal and external spaces for students, staff, parents and visitors to use.
With support from expert workplace designers at Northamptonshire-based Verve Workspace, QE transformed several former mathematics classrooms across two floors into new open spaces for the central hub which also features an outside seating area with lighting.
Joe Colannino, of York-based QE, which was named Independent School of the Year for Academic Excellence North in the Sunday Times Schools Guide 2025, said:
“The central hub has been a huge success since its launch and is being used a lot for business meetings, personal catch-ups and as somewhere for people to get lunch or have a quick barista coffee.
“The positioning of the reception and school shop at the entrance to our site has also proved very successful with direct access from our main visitor car park.
“Verve Workspace was very helpful during the planning process. They provided us with a series of options based on our brief and sent us examples of furniture to help us achieve what we wanted to with our internal and external spaces.
“Verve was also very helpful when it came to delivering our items when they were needed.”
QE is one of a growing number of organisations that are choosing to make the most of their external areas as more businesses are beginning to appreciate the positive impact that access to fresh air and sunshine can have on their employees’ health and wellbeing.
Steve Allan, Managing Director of Verve Workspace, which has showrooms in Northamptonshire, London and Glasgow, said:
“We really enjoyed working on this project for QE and we’re thrilled with how well the central hub’s spaces are working for its community.
“External spaces can be overlooked by organisations but when designed right they offer employees a flexible work area and provide more options for collaborations or even quiet zones for neurodivergent people.
“They can also be a great tool for enticing new employees, increasing recruitment and retention and provide wonderful spaces for guests and networking events.
“Organisations looking to make the most of their outdoor spaces this summer are welcome to get in touch with us to find out how we can turn their ambitions into a reality.”
To find out more about Verve Workspace, visit www.verveworkspace.co.uk
