Our latest work for UK real estate investor Create. The challenger property developer tasked Run For The Hills to develop the brand identity and interior design for its latest workspace development which reflects its mission to push the sustainability agenda in real estate and society by reconnecting the urban landscape with the natural world.

Coal House, which launched summer 2023, is an inspiring and progressive workspace in the heart of Cardiff. It’s undergone a stylish industrial-chic refurbishment to give sustainability-conscious businesses the opportunity to thrive in an ultra-green environment, with all the perks.

Our branding brief was to work up the visual brand identity, graphic language and to design a stylish website for prospective tenants.

Central to the creative work was to give the development’s branding an urban sustainable heart, making sure all of the key eco-benefits of the new workspace were prominent on the website and messaging.

For the brand palette, we used a stylish charcoal and green mix, to appeal to the environmentally conscience target demographic. We designed an urban deco graphic language for illustrations within the brand world, loosely based on the building’s architectural fenestrations, animating a series of these patterns for the website, which were also used on interior architecture details.

The side scrolling website is full of motion graphics and video, bringing the project to life for prospective tenants.

In terms of the building’s physical transformation, Coal House has a dramatic new dark façade, softened with lush planting and atmospheric lighting diffused behind the warmth of corten architectural cladding. The new reception lobby is signposted by an illuminated canopy and hero signage beckoning to the airy atrium space styled by our interiors team.

The interiors brief was to create a showstopping lounge-style atrium space in Coal House. To infuse the design scheme with eco-stylish touches and an urban twist, but first and foremost to create a warm and inviting, buzzy shared lobby which workers and guests would love to use. Featuring a help-yourself coffee bar, café seating, comfortable lounge areas, Zoom Rooms and bookable meeting space.

Using biophilic design principles, the eco-friendly design maximises the sense of light, using a natural materials palette of materials, botanicals and colourful art, giving an informal, stay-for-a-while hospitality feel.