The space planning, interior design, and service coordination for the new Sage head office in the Gateway West building in Waterfall, Midrand has been carried out successfully by interior architecture company Paragon Interface, part of the Paragon Group.

“We conceptualised all of our designs based on how we understood Sage as a global client, but developed a uniquely South African flavour for this organisation,” Paragon Associate Dale Friedman comments.

The team also comprised Paragon Interface Director Claire D’Adorante and Interior Designer Jessica Self. The client was Sage Global Real Estate team, based in France, that together with local Sage representatives collaborated towards this successful project outcome.

The timeframe from concept development to final completion was a year, from end 2017 to end 2018. The size of the fit-out itself was 5 500 m2, consisting of three floors. The design incorporated different features within each meeting room.

This created excitement throughout the floorplates, and to get the staff to move around the building, sharing different spaces within the fit-out. The colours also varied per floor to assist with wayfinding and design differentiation.

“As Sage has global space-planning guidelines for all of its projects, this made the planning process very streamlined,” D’Adorante highlights. The fit-out accommodates 550 desks, based on a desk-sharing philosophy, all in an open-plan environment.

The success of the project, and the well-being of all the employees, is linked largely to the types and number of support spaces included within the fit-out, ranging from private phone booths to formal meeting rooms that enable Sage staff to work according to their daily needs. The fit-out also accommodates a meeting suite, cafeteria, coffee pause areas, agile spaces, and a data centre.

The bold use of colour and texture played an important role in the overall design. A custom-designed iconographic signage system was developed specifically for Sage that aligns workplace functions with the applicable workspaces.

The primary driver was using robust materials that are aesthetically-pleasing, and that suit the Sage brand. “As it is a global organisation, it is able to leverage off global agreements, and therefore it was a mixture of local and imported materials,” Friedman elaborates.

“We have worked successfully on many projects with globally-based clients, and believe we can offer design solutions that suit the needs of our clients within any constraints. This project was successfully completed, on time and within budget, with a very satisfied client at the end of the day,” Friedman concludes.

Sage began as a small business in the UK 30 years ago, with over 13 000 colleagues now supporting millions of business builders across 23 countries as they power the global economy. Sage reinvents and simplifies business accounting through brilliant technology, working with a thriving community of entrepreneurs, business owners, tradespeople, accountants, partners, and developers.