Staff from global professional services firm KPMG have moved into its new flagship office in Bristol’s Queen Square – a stone’s throw from its first base in the city nearly 200 years ago.
The 450 staff relocated this week from the firm’s former regional office at 100 Temple Street, concluding one of the biggest office deals in Bristol of the past few years. 
KPMG is occupying 52,000 sq ft on four floors of the five-storey building at 66 Queen Square, close to the office, also in Queen Square, occupied nearly 200 years ago by John Moxham – one of KPMG’s many legacy firms.
The new office, developed by Skanska, combines the Georgian elegance of Queen Square with an adjoining new, open plan office.
It is at the forefront of environmental design and has been built with recycled and green construction materials, and solar energy capture will lower CO2 emissions.
Staff and clients will be able to make use of the building’s hi-tech features, including the latest video conferencing facilities and electronic collaboration screens.
It also has an enterprise space – an area for clients to use as a drop-in space to work when visiting the building.
There has also been a significant investment in the office’s dining facilities. KPMG says visitors can expect a five-star dining experience and the staff restaurant has quadrupled in size. 
KPMG Bristol senior partner Andrew Hodgson said: “The building combines the best of old and new. To be back in the location where KPMG started in Bristol is fantastic.
“While Bristol has grown from a bustling port to a thriving cosmopolitan melting pot of industry, culture, food & drink, our commitment to the city hasn’t changed.
“We take our responsibilities to our local community seriously. Our ambition to always be at the heart of the city goes beyond the physical location of our office and extends into every area of the business community, the public sector, charities and the region’s rich cultural and social scene.
“Our business has changed hugely over the past 25 years to meet the changing needs of our clients. We needed a space to work in that reflects how we work today.”
KPMG engaged London-based architects ID:SR Sheppard Robson to design the interior and fit-out with the objective of creating an innovative and flexible space to enhance staff interactions with clients and each other.
The firm has worked with KPMG on other regional offices and also designed the interior of law firm Burges Salmon’s Bristol headquarters as well as high-profile buildings such as Channel 4’s London HQ and BBC North’s base in MediaCityUK at Salford.
Staff and clients were consulted which has resulted in an increase in the size of the office but has reduced the number of individual desks and replaced them with open spaces, booths and meeting rooms for staff to collaborate better together across departments and with clients.
The building’s feature picture walls are the product of a staff photography competition, taking inspiration from the local area – from Clifton Suspension Bridge to Corn Street.
ID:SR Sheppard Robson’s design makes the most of the variety of spaces created by the meeting of old and new architecture, with the open, larger spaces of the new building complemented by the more focused and contained areas found in the listed structure.
This allows the design to cater for the specific work settings required to support KPMG’s clients and create an environment that helps continue to retain and attract the best staff.
At its heart is a dramatic cantilevered staircase, which bridges the internal atrium and connects the listed building with the new structure and is designed to add drama to the space while promoting physical movement, collaboration and connectivity.
ID:SR Sheppard Robson partner Helen Berresford said: “This is our fourth project in four years for KPMG. It has allowed us to engage with the organisation, working in partnership to create flexible and collaborative ways of working that directly support the culture of the company, celebrating the dynamism and character of the people, incorporating subtle design features, soft colours and textures, drawing from Bristol’s urban fabric.
“The merging of an international outlook and local knowledge is a feature in our work with KPMG.
“As with the building itself the atrium at the heart of the building draws together the KPMG neighbourhood, clients and their people, with the feature staircase connecting all elements of KPMG’s new home.”
