Bene Office Furniture

PearsonLloyd uses Bene PARCS furniture programme at the heart of Hackney House design

Design consultancy PearsonLloyd, also based in the London Borough of Hackney, has designed the interior for the Tech City showcase. Here is a relaxed networking space which reflects the mix of the technology and creative industries that characterise the area. At the heart of Tech City, the studio has specified a range of furniture – from the PARCS programme that it previously designed for Bene – to provide a range of meeting and communication environments. An informal café area adjacent to the main space serves both visitors and the local community. As a temporary venue, housed in a large tent, the design makes use of as much low cost, reusable materials as possible: a shingle floor; industrial cages for the product showcases; recycled floorboards for the meeting spaces; welding curtains to define the perimeter walls. To define the perimeter space, PearsonLloyd has placed a wall of cages that contain a diverse range of products, from lighting and bicycles to hydroponic gardens to showcase local creative enterprises under the banner of ‘Made in Hackney’. The showcases have been curated by Dezeen.

Comment from Tom Lloyd, PearsonLloyd: ‘Hackney Council and UKTI have shown real leadership in creating Hackney House as an alternative venue for the Olympic Games. There is a huge creative and entrepreneurial talent in Hackney, which is a great asset for both the local and national economies. PearsonLloyd is delighted to have worked with both Tech City and Hackney in creating the Tech City Space.

Bene, Austria’s leading office furniture manufacturer, will be furnishing Hackney House with its award winning PARCS programme that facilitates new working practices, digital applications, and social networking. PARCS was introduced in 2009 to enable communication, collaboration and interaction.
Throughout the summer and the Olympics, UK Trade & Investment - the Government Department that helps UK-based companies succeed in the global economy and assists overseas companies to bring their high-quality investment to the UK - will be inviting senior business people and influential partners to visit Hackney House and meet with new and established technology companies.

Hackney House is an architecturally designed temporary structure built in the heart of Shoreditch to create a dramatic and dynamic urban venue that captures the borough’s unique character during the Olympics. The venue is a business expo and media centre by day and an event space by night with performances by local artists such as Paloma Faith and the Guillemots. An estimated 5,000 global business leaders and dignitaries will pass through Hackney House during Games time and, in addition to this, some 10,000 non-sport journalists will also have access to Hackney House as a media centre. The Council is working closely with local businesses to showcase the unique creativity of Hackney, with the Games presenting a once in a lifetime opportunity to market Hackney as a great place to live, work, learn and invest. High quality local products are showcased in Hackney House, including locally designed furniture and locally produced food and ingredients for the café.

Wolfgang Neubert, executive board member, Sales and Marketing of Bene AG commented, "Bene is delighted to be a partner for Hackney House. The PARCS programme is ideal for this venue, where visitors from around the world have the chance to experience and see so many of Hackney’s ingenious entrepreneurial products and services. PARCS is designed to facilitate networking and communication. On 14 June, Bene is hosting a one day preview of ‘Docklands’ which will be officially launched at Orgatec. This is PearsonLloyd’s latest addition to Bene’s portfolio."

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