Thirdway Interiors presented a design and build solution to the Cat A refurbishment, assisting in further planning permission to redevelop the site now known as The Aircraft Factory.

When John Waring and Robert Gillow set up their furniture business in 1903, they can’t have imagined their factory would one day help Britain win both world wars. The building in West London was used to manufacture cabinets and other high-end furnishings but all that changed at the outbreak of the First World War when they started producing aircraft instead. It then transformed into the Alliance Aeroplane Company.

We fell in love with the story of this building and set about reviving it in a way that would truly celebrate its past. Strip out works began immediately to maximise build-ability. Design meetings, design workshops, samples, mock-ups, technical reviews and cost review meetings all took place on a regular basis with weekly contractor and client meetings keeping us on track as we stripped back and recreated the factory and brand in its new form.

Directed by our own research, and comments made by the instructed agents, HNG and Frost Meadowcroft, we focused on:

• Rebranding the building as a whole
• Creating a campus feel to the building
• Focusing on the approach to improve first impressions
• Landscaping the grounds to provide separate cycling and car parking areas
• Rebranding the reception
• Creating a scheme for the Cat A refurbishment of the building
• Providing flexible demise configurations to appeal to a range of tenants.