Neat: new functional office space brings employees together in the hybrid era
Neat is a company that designs elegant and simple video devices made for Microsoft and Zoom. Neat makes the use of video devices easier by creating accessible and user-friendly cutting-edge products that bring people together no matter where they are. As the company grows, they need a bigger and more functional space that is designed to meet the needs of the hybrid era and employees. Read how Technopolis found Neat a new office space and renovated it to match their needs.
Challenge
Neat, a Norwegian-founded company that designs pioneering video devices, is growing and needed more space. Their wish was to find office space that would serve as a home base for all the employees and also serve additional needs, such as showcasing and testing their products.
Solution
Technopolis found a new office space for Neat which was fully renovated and customized to meet employees’ and the growing company’s needs.
“Fornebu was a natural place for us to start in 2019 since there are a lot of tech companies in the area and it’s a great location to have an office. As a small startup, we also needed a place where the facilities were managed well and where it would be easy to grow as a company”, Simen Andresen, Industrial Designer at Neat tells.
Wanted: a modern office space with lots of meeting rooms
Neat set up its headquarters in Technopolis Fornebu when the company was founded in 2019. Now the company has grown from the six people who back then moved into Technopolis to 300 employees who work from multiple international locations.
“We simply outgrew our old space once again. We needed more space for work and more meeting rooms where we could also test our devices in realistic office environments”, Andresen says.
In addition to the need for a bigger workspace, it was important for Neat that the new space would serve the employees working in Norway and those who visit from other locations. Even though the greater part of the employees work from other locations, the office is an important part of Neat’s company culture and they wanted to put real effort into its renovation.
“Office gathers people together and is a place for us to meet each other, so a big priority for us was functional social spaces for employees. It’s important to us that people are happy in the office”, Judit Weisz, People Generalist at Neat tells and continues:
“After such a long time working from home, we needed to think about how to convince people to come back to the office with a smile on their faces. We find it extremely important to keep our great culture at Neat and for that, we would like people to have face-to-face interactions as well, even though we fully respect and support working from home too. We believe in a good balance between these two, something that works for the employee and Neat as well.”
"This is already our fourth office space in Technopolis. They assured us that the office spaces are adaptable, and we can grow with them, and we are so happy that we could, since we love it here."
Adaptable workspace caters to every need
When the right space for Neat was found, Technopolis Fornebu started the planning of the use of the space and renovation. Neat uses the meeting rooms also to test and demo their products, so the rooms needed to have the highest level of soundproofing possible in an office building which meant that almost everything had to be built from scratch.
“Technopolis was fantastic both with cooperating with us at Neat but also with the interior designers from IARK. We had one of the greatest interior designers from IARK (Lars Olav Dybdal) to help us plan the layout of the office and frankly, we changed the plan every other day when we came up with even better ideas than the previous ones. We had a lot of special requests, but Technopolis was always super supportive, and if something wasn’t possible, they always came up with a plan B”, Laila Semenza, People Officer at Neat tells.
On top of the high-quality meeting rooms, it was important that there are different workspaces for different types of work and a welcoming social area.
“The heart of the social area is our fantastic kitchen. We wanted a cozy kitchen that brings everyone together around a huge table. It needed to be a space that you really want to come into. We had so many ideas and wishes, but Technopolis still managed to run the project extremely well. The communication was clear throughout the project and even with our changing plans and creative ideas, there were no surprises”, Judit Weisz says.
Neat’s new office space answers to the needs of employees
Technopolis created exactly the office space that Neat wanted
Neat’s new office space is the answer to their needs. There is a lot of room for different types of work, space to hide and have a private chat, but also open space where you can run into others and socialize.
There were quite a few challenges to overcome in the process, but the team is grateful to Simen Teigre, the CEO of the company, who gave them the opportunity and the trust to work on this project.
“The office really supports our good Neat culture. It’s a home away from home and we are very happy with the final result. Technopolis did extremely well, and I really admire their problem-solving attitude”, Laila Semenza tells.
Neat is a growing company and has no intention of slowing down – quite the opposite.
“This is already our fourth office space in Technopolis. They assured us that the office spaces are adaptable, and we can grow with them, and we are so happy that we could since we love it here”, Semenza concludes.
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