39 – 41 Corn Street

“AMH worked collaboratively with us and the different stakeholders to present design options that resulted in a refreshed, bright and clean appearance. Where issues arose during the project, AMH worked with their supply chain to present effective solutions, enabling us to deliver some fantastic clean and modern workspaces the client can bring back to the market.”

Gareth Scott MCIOB   Associate Director, Watts

Few addresses carry the weight of Corn Street. Bristol’s most famous commercial address, a street that has sat at the heart of the city’s business life for centuries. So when we were appointed to work on not one but two buildings here, we knew this was a project to get excited about.

The brief came through Watts, acting on behalf of their client La Francaise. The previous tenant had sadly gone into administration, leaving both buildings largely as they were. The task was to bring them back to market, ready for new occupiers, and to do so in a way that positioned them at the very front of Bristol’s growing demand for high-quality, ready-to-go office space.

This was a competitive process, where five companies were initially shortlisted, then narrowed to two, and winning it came down to design.

Our head of design, Melody, led the creative response. We came with a clear point of view: a reception concept that was considered, distinctive, and a long way from the generic. In a competitive tender, the quality of that thinking really showed.

Savills and Knight Frank, the real estate agents managing the building, were involved throughout. They shared their knowledge of what was currently working across Bristol’s commercial market: the colours, the finishes, the look and feel that serious occupiers were responding to, and we built our response around it.

With fourteen years of design and build experience in the office fit-out sector behind us, and a submission that gave the client genuine confidence in what the finished spaces could be, we were appointed.

At 30,000 square feet across both properties, this was a substantial project. And with two buildings on the same street, it required two distinct approaches.

39 Corn Street was a collection of smaller, modular offices. The fabric was sound; what it needed was care and intention. Existing furniture was assessed, cleaned and reused where it remained fit for purpose. New pieces were introduced where they were genuinely needed. The result was a refreshed, market-ready space achieved without unnecessary expenditure or waste. A practical approach to sustainability that saved the client money and kept good materials in use rather than in a skip.

41 Corn Street was a different proposition entirely, with floors five and six fully stripped back to a clean, bare canvas. The remaining floors took a more considered approach, with room configurations adjusted where needed, tea point doors and exposed surfaces replaced while the carcassing was retained, and new decoration and flooring applied throughout, refreshing the building without unnecessary expenditure. With that scope and a clear understanding of what Bristol office tenants were actively looking for, we had both the space and the ambition to do something genuinely useful with it.

To understand the thinking behind 41 Corn Street, it helps to understand the difference between the types of office space that landlords bring to market.

A Cat A fit-out takes a building back to its base condition. Mechanical and electrical systems are installed, the space is clean, compliant and structurally ready. But it is, by design, a blank canvas. An incoming tenant will still need to commission their own fit-out before they can move in. For some occupiers, that freedom is exactly what they want.

A Cat B fit-out goes all the way. It is a fully finished, tenant-specific workspace: designed, built out, furnished and ready to occupy. Everything from the meeting rooms to the kitchen has been delivered to the tenant’s brief.

Cat A+ sits between the two. Sometimes called a plug and play solution, it takes a Cat A space and adds a layer of design-led readiness: furniture, considered décor, wayfinding, power and data already connected, kitchen stocked and ready. An incoming tenant can walk in, plug in, and get to work. No fit-out project to commission, no months of decisions and disruption. Just a workspace that is already working.

The Bristol office market was pointing clearly in this direction. Tenants in demand were choosing spaces they could occupy quickly, and landlords who offered that were filling their buildings faster. With this in mind, we took four of the six floors at 41 Corn Street to Cat A+ standard.

Each floor arrived fully fitted and ready to occupy. Reusing the existing desking and seating wherever possible kept costs down and the sustainability story strong, with new furniture and fittings introduced where they were genuinely needed rather than simply because they could be.

The top two floors were completed to Cat A standard, offering incoming tenants the freedom to design something entirely their own.

Projects of this scale, across two buildings and multiple floors, with landlords, an asset manager, administrator and two of Bristol’s leading real estate agents all involved, require close coordination and genuine trust.

We held regular on-site meetings throughout the process. Finish selections were worked through iteratively, with samples reviewed and refined until everyone was confident in the result. Communication with Watts, La Francaise, Savills and Knight Frank were consistent and transparent at every stage.

When issues arose during the build, and on a project of this history and complexity some always do, we worked through them with our sub-contractor partner network, and brought practical solutions back to the table quickly. That responsiveness matters. It is the difference between a project that stays on track and one that doesn’t.

The completed spaces at 39 and 41 Corn Street were delivered within a three to four month programme. Two buildings on Bristol’s most storied street, brought back to life and positioned exactly where the market needed them to be.