Monday the 7th of September. The venue has let Workpattern in a day early, on one condition: they can deliver, but not build. Seven wagon loads of furniture go in, laid out on a floor marked up in blue tape.
Every office you've ever worked in was designed by somebody. But at the point of order, the baton gets passed on. To order furniture, chase delivery, and manage that install. This episode is all about the 'back end' of workspace design - and we finally meet the two people at Workpattern who turn a design into a delivery.
Helen Henshaw started as maternity cover in 2007, found a hole and filled it, and now takes over every project at the point of order, working remotely from Liverpool. John Lennox left school at 15 for a joinery apprenticeship, spent 14 years as the junior, and used to call into the Boiler Shop when it was a builder’s merchant. Helen likes a plan. John likes a problem. A perfect match, or recipe for disaster?
Then the get-in itself: approaching 30 manufacturers building their settings side by side in a single day, a spiral staircase that became the bane of John’s life, a cracked panel on a very expensive pod, and a very healthy registration count.
Also: the back end of a pantomime horse, a quick tutorial on the iron triangle of project management, why there’s a plant in a slightly odd place in your office, a live radio interview about a podcast that ends up in the podcast, the Great North Run needing the building back, and Bongo's Bingo.
Featuring Helen Henshaw, John Lennox, Hannah Naylor-Skeats and Philippa Lobb (Workpattern), Mark Catchlove (MillerKnoll), Jacqui Martin (Consult North), Terry McStea (RTC / Design Network North), Will Easton and Paul Glaister.
Work Beyond Walls took place at the Boiler Shop, Newcastle, on 9 and 10 September 2026.
workbeyondwalls.uk
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Work in Motion, series 1: The inside story of Work Beyond Walls, is written and presented by Ian Ellison, and produced by Dave Crackles, for Workpattern.
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