By the 1970s, Herman Miller was an international furniture brand. It’s Bath factory had been established in 1970, employing 160 people, and supplied products to the company’s markets in the UK, Benelux, France and the Middle East. In 1975 the decision was taken by Herman Miller to build a new facility in the United Kingdom in order to expand its operations in Europe, and move into manufacture rather than concentrating on the assembly of components.

With high standards in the design and manufacture of its own products, the client gave the architects a very clear brief for the design of the factory. The requirement was for a high quality low cost building which offered maximum flexibility to accommodate any change in scale or form of manufacturing process. They also specified that, in-line with its own product development philosophy, that long term efficiency stemmed from the use of materials that can become an inherent part of the working environment with minimal maintenance, and a reduced necessity for future resurfacing and repainting.

The choice of steel played an important part in the realisation of the client’s brief, providing a low cost, low maintenance solution for the frame, decking and cladding supports. It also allowed a large uninterrupted floor area permitting flexible planning of space for the machine processes and storage of materials. A ‘mobile toilet unit’ was also designed and, through a flexible service run in the roof zone, the unit could be moved to 16 specific areas of the building.