IressStage 3 Design for a Cape Town office designed from the UK
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Category
Interior Design
Location
Cape Town, South Africa
Type
Workplace, Workplace Strategy
Crux was appointed to lead the design of Iress’s Cape Town workplace, with design leadership and project oversight led from the United Kingdom. This allowed the client to maintain clarity, consistency, and confidence, while delivery was undertaken by a trusted local contractor with strong regional expertise.
This model enabled Iress to benefit from UK based design leadership alongside empowered local delivery, ensuring quality and intent were protected without limiting local ownership on site.
Iress required a workplace that reflected its global identity while supporting a growing team in Cape Town. The office needed to balance client experience, operational security, and everyday usability, with clear distinction between public and private zones.
From the outset, the client prioritised design continuity and quality, choosing to retain UK based design leadership while empowering a local delivery partner who understood the regional context, construction practices, and culture. The strategy was to combine strong direction with local expertise through close collaboration.
Crux focused on establishing clarity early through spatial planning, adjacencies, and experience definition. The workplace was structured around a clear front of house and back of house strategy, ensuring visitors and staff experienced the space appropriately and securely.
“We drew it with clarity. They built it with care.”
— Heather Saunders, Founder | Principle
Key Features
UK based design leadership working in close collaboration with a locally appointed delivery partner
Strong collaboration across continents built on trust, clarity, and shared ownership
Clear separation between client facing and staff focused environments
Front of house designed to support hospitality, professionalism, and brand confidence
Back of house spaces planned to support collaboration, wellbeing, and daily rhythm
Demonstrates a scalable global delivery model grounded in clarity and partnership
Design decisions were reviewed regularly with the client team, allowing alignment to be maintained across geographies. This clarity ensured the design intent was fully resolved before handover, reducing ambiguity and risk during construction.
Collaboration across continents was central to the success of the project. Crux worked closely with Iress’s UK based project team while forming a highly positive and productive relationship with the Cape Town delivery team.
The design was handed over as a clear and considered package that enabled the local contractor to take ownership and deliver with confidence. Ongoing communication across time zones ensured questions were resolved quickly and collaboratively.
“Designed in London. Delivered with pride in Cape Town”
— Former Customer
The relationship between teams was open, respectful, and highly effective. This shared commitment to quality allowed the local delivery team to execute the design with care and pride, resulting in an outcome that fully realised the original intent.
The completed workplace delivers a confident and welcoming front of house experience, including a meeting suite positioned to take full advantage of views toward Table Mountain. Behind the secure threshold, staff benefit from a balanced environment that supports collaboration, focus, and culture.
The project stands as a strong example of how international teams can work together successfully when leadership is clear and partnerships are built on trust.
This project demonstrates Crux’s ability to lead international projects through clarity and collaboration. By maintaining strong UK based design leadership while working closely with local delivery partners, we help clients achieve consistent quality across regions.
The earlier Crux is involved, the greater the positive impact we can have on coordination, decision making, and delivery outcomes. Early engagement allows roles, responsibilities, and intent to be aligned from the outset.
At Crux, success is measured by the quality of the outcome and the strength of the partnerships that deliver it.