University of Exeter
“AMH completed an internal refurbishment of academic office space for us over the summer, and they were fantastic to work with from start to finish. Their design work was excellent, fully aligned with our budget, aesthetic goals, and functional requirements, and they took the time to genuinely engage with us to understand our needs. The construction team was equally impressive: proactive, collaborative, and committed to delivering on time despite a few challenges along the way. Highly recommended.”
The Kathleen Booth Building had a problem common to many academic spaces: a long central corridor with locked rooms branching off either side created separation and left much of the space underutilised. The University of Exeter knew it wasn’t working, but the challenge was understanding how to unlock its potential within the constraints of an existing building and a tight budget.
Through a series of vision workshops, we worked together to articulate what they wanted the space to become and, just as importantly, why. These sessions revealed a strong desire for openness, equality of access and connection, values that would shape every design decision.
We challenged the traditional corridor-led layout and rethought how the space could be experienced. Our strategy focused on removing physical and psychological barriers, creating a workplace where all areas were shared and intuitive to use. Enclosed rooms were retained but redesigned to be open and accessible to everyone, while quiet working pods were carefully positioned to support focused work without isolation.
A key move was introducing a generous social breakout space and tea point at the heart of the floor. Rather than treating this as an add-on, we designed it as the anchor of the workplace, encouraging movement, interaction and informal collaboration throughout the day.
The result is a workspace that feels open, social and balanced. The space now supports collaboration, focused work and downtime in equal measure, with no areas locked away or assigned to specific people or teams.
What was once a disconnected layout is now a shared environment that reflects how people actually want to work. The transformation has encouraged the University to rethink other academic spaces across campus, showing what’s possible when you listen to how people work and design around their needs.
