In pictures: Redgate Software’s Cambridge office move is celebrated with Parkour flashmob
Parkour, a flashmob and a stunt inspired by Arthurian legend marked the opening of Redgate Software’s new custom-designed offices on Cambridge Business Park.
The company, which specialises in database DevOps solutions, has switched from Newnham House to Cavendish House on the park to fit in with its flexible-hybrid working model.
With capacity for 240 people, but only 128 bookable desks, it is smaller than its former HQ but designed to suit the way its team is working post-Covid.
It features informal workspaces, booths and pods for taking calls, meeting rooms and collaboration spaces where teams can get together to work on solving challenges.
It is also Redgate’s most sustainable, accessible and inclusive office space yet. Free from natural gas, it makes use of rainwater harvesting for all water needs except drinking water.
Power-assisted doors and an all-needs bathroom are featured on each floor. It also features both single-sex and gender-neutral bathrooms, while a new wellbeing room offers a quiet, private space for visiting parents to nurse, pump, or change a baby, for prayer and meditation, and as a place to decompress if needed.
CEO Jakub Lamik said: “We’re a growing company. We’ve designed our new Cambridge office space based on the principles of our strong collaborative culture and the lessons we’ve learned about what is needed to combine this with the new, more flexible ways of working Redgaters are now looking for.”
CFO Steve Mitchell added: “It’s an investment that enables us to scale our business in the context of our growth ambitions and projected headcount.
“We’ve seen a lot of businesses struggling to make do with pre-pandemic workspaces, or spaces they commissioned before working practices changed so significantly over the past few years that are now too big.
“We felt it was important to understand how our needs would evolve following the pandemic, and we’re confident that we’ve created a fantastic, modern space to support employees over the coming year.”
And its opening last Tuesday (March 21) was a lively affair, with a flashmob of parkour dancers and a DJ Hummer truck.
The CEO - who at one stage threatened to get in on the parkour action - even recalled Arthurian legend as he pulled a sword out of a stone, then used it to cut the ribbon. Previous CEO - Redgate co-founder Simon Galbraith - put a sword in a stone in 2012, with the aim of pulling it out when the company reached a certain valuation.
After cutting the ribbon, Jakub handed the sword back to Simon, who replaced it as the company continues its drive towards that valuation.
Food vans and mini golf entertained staff, while a charity auction, in which plants from the office and pieces of office décor were sold off, supported the Turkey/Syria earthquake appeal.
Redgate, which employs 390 people in the UK, now plans similar designs and functionality at its other offices worldwide, beginning with its US headquarters in Austin, Texas, in May.
Jaime Doig-Bowles, facilities manager, said: “It’s been a really exciting time for Redgate’s office space. We’ve had exceptionally positive feedback about the experience of working in the new office from our Cambridge employees, and we’re looking forward to creating an equal experience in Austin later this year.”
