PRESTON ROWE PATERSON

Tauranga Property Valuers who REALLY Value their Team

This team of property valuers already had an awesome company culture, but their existing premises did NOT reflect the progressive nature of their growing business, or support their team in productive work practices.

PRP Tauranga came to us knowing they needed to move. Their existing premises were dated and uncomfortable - threadbare baggy carpet, sloping floors (not ramps; the building seemed to be literally sinking in one corner), and their landlord had no appetite to fix any of it. The layout split the residential and commercial teams across what felt like two separate tenancies: one reasonably spacious, one cramped and makeshift, with part of the team stuck in internal rooms with no access to natural daylight.

The shared kitchenette with the neighbouring tenancy had been supplemented by a second makeshift one, built into the boardroom shelving. And my personal favourite detail: DIY standing desks, made from lengths of 2x4. Classic Kiwi ingenuity - but no one should be running a growing professional services business like this.

The reception + waiting in their old tenancy, both internal with no daylight…

and internal office spaces with no access to natural daylight for the team.

“We didn’t really appreciate how bad the old space was - as you tend to get used to and put up with what you have.”

— PRP Directors

Getting clear before going looking

Before PRP could commit to a new tenancy - or know how much space they actually needed - they needed a clear picture of what they were looking for. So we started with a comprehensive briefing process: online surveys across the full team, followed by workshops designed to surface what wasn't working, what mattered most, and what the business needed to future-proof for.

The management team were deliberate about this. They wanted staff to know their concerns had been heard, and they wanted to make decisions they'd still stand behind years later.

What came back from the process was clear: the single biggest priority was bringing the teams together. Not just physically, but in terms of how they communicated, learned from each other, and felt as part of one business. Everything else - the finishes, the furniture, the layout logic - would follow from that.

The cramped boardroom come staffroom before the move

The boardroom in the new tenancy before the refurb.

The spacious new PRP boardroom off the informal waiting area, looking out over tree-lined Cameron Road.

The moment the brief shifted

One of the most useful things to come out of the staff workshops was something nobody had expected to question: reception.

The assumption going in was that a professional services office of this size needed a formal reception desk. But when the admin team actually talked through how visitors worked in practice — minimal foot traffic, mostly couriers, a robust four-person phone cover system already functioning perfectly — it became obvious that a traditional reception setup would solve a problem they didn't really have.

More than that, it would create one: isolating a team member from the rest of the group, when the brief was explicitly about bringing people together.

"Design for how you actually work - not what you think an office is supposed to have."

So instead of a receptionist behind a desk, we developed a different kind of front-of-house: an informal meeting and waiting area at the entry, with the boardroom, meeting room, and staff café all opening onto it - approachable, welcoming, and forward-thinking, without the formality that didn't suit them.

That single insight reshaped the entire planning logic.

with open staff cafe beyond, and more formal conference room able to be closed off for privacy as required.

What changed - Front of house

The entry now reads immediately as a business that's confident in itself. Clients arrive into a generous, light-filled space with a sense of openness — meeting rooms visible and accessible, café beyond. It's warm without being casual, professional without being stiff. PRP went from a reception they were reluctant to invite clients to, to a front-of-house they're proud of.

The shared kitchenette in their old tenancy

The new PRP staff cafe, with different settings to be used for informal meetings

The team workspace

This was the biggest transformation. The fragmented, split-tenancy layout - with its mix of mismatched desks, DIY solutions, and internal rooms…

…became a clean, open, light-filled workspace with full-height perimeter glazing.

Electric height-adjustable desks for everyone. Adjacent collaboration tables and informal meeting points. Two quiet rooms for focus work and private calls. Closeable offices for the two directors, positioned so they're accessible without creating distance.

The adjacencies were designed around how the teams actually worked - who needed to be near whom, where the natural communication flows happened, where friction had been building. Less needless walking. Less raised voices across the room. More of the easy, daily rhythm that good office planning makes possible without anyone noticing.

“Instead of being physically separated, we all now have logical positions in the office that are related to the tasks that we complete which makes us more efficient; and makes for less needless walking and/or raised voices. It has also improved team culture.”

— PRP Directors

The final layout… allowing for 20 in open plan, with room to add another 4 with growth in the coming years.

What it's felt like since

Five years on, PRP are still in the same space - and still feel the same way about it.

"I think it's fair to say that we all felt a lot of pride and enjoyment in the space, and we still do nearly five years on. Staff appreciate that we have invested in their work environment, which has enhanced their feeling towards the business."

And the shift wasn't just internal. PRP had always been well-regarded in the market for the quality of their work - but the office had been quietly working against that reputation without them fully realising it.

"Our offices were always something of a detraction. Now they are a source of pride." — PRP Directors

That line has stayed with me. Because it's not really about the carpet, or the glazing, or the height-adjustable desks. It's about what happens when the environment finally catches up with the business inside it.

“It was so important to have someone with firstly an obvious knowledge as far as a functional layout goes, but also design flair; and the knowledge to combine these to achieve affordable procurement of the elements to bring it all together.

We would use Bubble again in a heartbeat. We love the space, and still get positive comments all the time.”

— Alex Hayden + Dylan Barrett, PRP Directors

Reading nook off the main open plan workspace

BUBBLE INTERIORS’ SCOPE:

Full strategic + functional briefing facilitation
Test fit space planning + feasibility reviews for potential new tenancies
Space Planning, Concept + Developed Design for selected tenancy
Detailing of custom boardroom credenza, copy + staff kitchen cabinetry
Key interior plans + specifications for Base Build Consent (co-ordinated by iLine Construction)
Procurement of full FF&E package
Site Observation

PPROJECT TEAM + SUPPLIERS:

Main Fit-out Contractor: iLine Construction
Kitchen + Built-in Cabinetry: Verkart
Lighting: Enhance, Social Light
Furniture: Mobel Group, Harrows, ISSA Furniture
Photography: Amanda Aitken

Project Completed November 2020

See more Case Studies:

Ray White Papamoa | Base Up

If you'd like to read more about why the briefing process is the most important part of any office project, I've written about it over on the Workspaces That Work Substack.