Take a sneak peek at Social Chain’s new ‘out of this world’ office expansion
By Bruntwood Works
New York subways, an indoor jungle and a space-themed floating boardroom are just some of the amazing sights to behold at Social Chain’s new office expansion.
The social media gurus have also incorporated seven new creative studios at their HQ in Manchester, based in the heart of Bruntwood Work’s digital and tech community in West Village.
From starting out in co-working space at 127 Portland Street for four people just four years ago, the masters of social marketing have undergone phenomenal growth and have now expanded in to 15,000 sq. ft. of office space in the building and employ over 250 people worldwide.
The new designs, overseen by Atul Bansal of Sheila Bird Group and worked on in partnership with Bruntwood, are centred on providing a mix of collaborative workspaces creating the ultimate creative playground for millennials.
A new indoor jungle, complete with soothing rainforest soundtrack, has been designed as a quiet, zen zone for workers. While, a huge new tiered seating area is the perfect space for teams to gather for meetings or presentations.
It has even taken inspiration for its NYC offices and installed New York style subway meeting pods to reflect the journey their overseas colleagues take to work.
Taking centre stage is a huge, floating, ‘out of this world’ boardroom decorated to reflect outer space and guaranteed to wow guests. Alongside which is a chilled coffee shop area and a ‘secret passage’ filled with colourful beanbags.
The agency also now has a total of eight show-stopping studios, including facilities for podcasts, photography and filming, which are all available to hire by external companies.
The cool office features, which baffled middle-aged Adam when it appeared in series 7 of ITV series Cold Feet last year remain, including the slide, adult ball pit, bar, cascading waterfall and modern day mural of The Last Supper.
Steve Bartlett, CEO of Social Chain said: “We love the new space. Our team led the design ideas and it’s a great reflection of us. We’re massive on making sure everyone gets a say so we can give people what they want from their work environment.
“Our new all singing, all dancing studios are incredible too. There’s nothing like them in Manchester, so it really is a big first for the city.
“Social Chain’s whirlwind journey has been amazing and we want to thank Bruntwood for all they’ve done for us. We never wanted to split the team up across offices and Bruntwood has been instrumental in making this possible - extending spaces and doing everything in their power to keep us all together and help us grow with them. We look forward to continuing to work together for further expansion plans in the coming months. Watch this space.”
Adam Selka, Senior Asset Manager at Bruntwood, said: “It’s been extraordinary to work with Social Chain from the very beginning and see them grow from four people huddled round a co-working desk to a global business within just four years.
“They are such an exciting, vibrant agency and it’s very rewarding to work in collaboration with them to create one of the city’s most incredible workspaces. In today’s millennial-led marketplace, creating cool collaborative spaces is essential at helping increasing employee enjoyment, talent attraction and retention and boosting creativity. Being asked for an office jungle was definitely a first for us, but we’re always willing to let our customers go a little wild to create an impact.”
Social Chain Group was founded by University dropouts Steve Bartlett and Dom McGregor in 2014. It has two divisions within the same building, its social creative department Social Chain, and Media Chain, its online media publishing company, which was launched in Summer 2018.
127 Portland Street forms part of a creative cluster of Bruntwood Work’s buildings known as ‘West Village’. These buildings include 113 - 115, 117 and 127 Portland Street, as well as Oxford Place. West Village is building a thriving digital community in the centre of Manchester. Social Chain’s neighbours include like-minded businesses such as award-winning PowerPoint presentation design agency Buffalo 7.