King is a leading, global interactive entertainment company for the mobile world. Their franchises include Candy Crush, Farm Heroes, Pet Rescue and Bubble Witch and have 355 million monthly active users across web, social and mobile platforms.
King was acquired by Activision Blizzard Inc. (Nasdaq ATVI) in February 2016 and operates as an independent unit of the company and have game studios in Stockholm, Malmo, Barcelona, Berlin and Seattle, along with offices in San Francisco, Malta, Tokyo, Bucharest and London.
The King studios in the heart of London’s West End is a veritable cathedral to side-ways thinking. Once inside, it’s a sensory experience, featuring vibrant coloured rooms and unqiue office layouts, together with small ‘thinking cubicles’ for those creative minds and larger spaces that house the engine rooms of their gaming production. They’ve also got a soundproofed room with instruments, a drum kit and on-site fitness suite and gym to encourage wellbeing amongst staff.
Project Manager Brondie McNamara has been at King, in London for three years now. It’s a big job with responsibilities that encompass everything from flooring through to interior design, right down to choosing light switches.
“We had problems with the acoustic qualities of our old floor at the previous building in London and it was hard to find a decent colour range. I opted for Gerflor’s Taralay Uni Comfort range in orange and white Pearl. They offered such stunning, vibrant colour contrasts and were hugely eye-catching”. said McNamara.
“It’s all about how we use the space. We must always enhance the experience for visitors and staff alike. We really plan a building before we move in. Right down to ensuring that the underfloor cabling can accommodate multi-moves with desks and workstations as staff migrate from area to area. It’s all about being agile and the Gerflor products facilitate this”. Said McNamara.
“We would have also specified Gerflor for our new reception here in Wardour Street, but the building has some constraints on it due to being considered an area of ‘public art’. In a sense, its listed. So, alterations to that area could not be made” McNamara continues.
When the new King building was being conceived, it was always going to have a gym and fitness facility for the staff as part of the overall project included in the initial design. In providing the very best sports and gym equipment Brondie McNamara also wanted to ensure the staff got the very best flooring for the gym, which could provide comfort, safety and performance,whilst remaining aestheticall pleasing.
Brondie McNamara would once again specify Gerflor, choosing some 210m2 Gerflor’s Taraflex® Sport M Performance vinyl sports flooring in three pulsating colours; Pink, Silver Grey and London Light Blue.
Taraflex® vinyl sports flooring has been used in many international and local sporting events and is available in 17 colours and three wood-effect designs.
The Sport M Performance product offers a P2 category shock absorbency 25% to 35% and meets the EN 14904 Standard for indoor sports surfaces. Taraflex® is recognised for providing durability, safety and comfort without impairing performance. The range also offers greater than 45% force reduction, making it unrivalled in the marketplace in terms of offering comfort for users. Taraflex® meets the EN Standard of 22196 for anti- bacterial activity (E. coli - S. aureus - MRSA) (3) returning >99% levels of growth inhibition. The product is also treated with Protecsol®, which renders polish redundant and is triple action meaning no polish is ever required, it contributes to easy maintenance and is anti-friction burn and slide/grip. Taraflex® has a double density foam backing and with another bonus, it’s environmentally friendly.
