Balancing style and function across four London workspaces

Soho Works is a global network of workspaces created by the prestigious Soho House group. It provides modern and collaborative workspaces for individuals and businesses and has four sites in prime locations across London. Tateside, an AV and IT specialist also based in the capital, led the recent upgrade of AV technology at multiple sites.

“Tateside has been the preferred technology partner of London’s Soho Works sites for several years now,” explains Jack Cornish, Technical Director at Tateside. “Before the pandemic, the technology didn’t need to be focused on videoconferencing, but the working environment has since shifted, and the client requested an update that would enable better bring-your-own-device (BYOD) and plug-and-play capabilities as well as a system that could support their preferred Zoom room functionality.”

The post-pandemic workspace

With high-end interior design and a focus on maintaining immaculate aesthetics across all sites, Tateside needed to honour the unique identity of the various Soho Works sites whilst rolling out a solution that we could replicate to provide a consistent user experience across the brand’s workspaces.

“Our team provides both IT and technology integration for Soho Works,” explains Cornish. “The new meeting room standard is a Neat Bar Pro bundle housed within a Leon Tonecase to hide the technology and improve the overall room aesthetics, plus a Samsung screen. Based on a Zoom Room system, this standard has been rolled out across all Soho Works meeting rooms, with adjustments made for specific sites.”

A simplified Zoom Room standard

The chosen Neat Bar Pro bundle provides crystal-clear audio via three full-range loudspeakers, while the advanced microphone array ensures clear vocal pick-up, with Neat Audio Processing built in. Thanks to the wide-angle lens and image depth sensor, Neat Bar Pro can detect, enlarge, and follow all in-room participants, resulting in more lifelike engagement during video meetings. Furthermore, seamless integration with Zoom ensured a Neat Bar standard, which was the ideal solution for the Soho Works project.

Ashton Bentley USB-C hubs, which can be neatly mounted under desks, are integrated to support network connectivity and provide fast device charging. The Neat Bar Pro bundle provides built-in camera and microphone functions plus a Neat Pad for easy-to-use room control. Each site required a slightly different configuration and solutions for other room styles, including a podcast studio at the Dean Street site and subdivisible meeting rooms at 180 The Strand.

Out with the old, in with the new

“Overall, Soho Works are aiming for systems that are easy to use with minimal technical knowledge,” continues Cornish. “During these recent updates, we’ve completely done away with Crestron controls for input switching and have implemented a complication-free standard with auto-switching and bullet-proof BYOD connectivity.” 

“Working with the Soho House group is always a great experience,” concludes Cornish. “Finding that balance between function and aesthetics can be a challenge, but with the solutions available from Neat and our bespoke integration, Soho Works now have an easy-to-operate, future-proof set-up suited to the modern working environment.”

Looking to upgrade your workspace with post-pandemic requirements? Contact us to find out how we can help!