DesignBefore moving to a new HQ, solicitors Matheson Ormsby Prentice asked staff what they wanted and then ensured their wishes were built into the design, writes Emma Cullinan

Solicitors Matheson Ormsby Prentice has moved a good few times in its history - once quite suddenly when its offices in Sackville Street (now O'Connell Street) were ruined in the Easter Rising - and so when the time came to change offices again recently, managing partner Liam Quirke had a good idea of what was required.

Yet he didn't just impose his own ideas; instead he formed focus groups among all levels of staff in the firm and then called in designers Gensler which has been responsible for the creation of offices for many of the top 100 US law firms, as well as a good smattering in the City of London.

"I have done a lot of travelling, in the US and London [where MOP has offices] so I have a good idea of what a modern law firm requires," says Quirke, "but by finding out what people want and giving it to them you show them how important they are."

Armed with the staff wish list and Gensler's research, they came up with the four key things that are important to people: a sense of personal space; an ability to control your own environment; daylight; and design.

Addressing each of these, Quirke says that every employee gets a feeling of having a personal space, each member of staff can control the air conditioning in their own area, all parts of the office have a choice of lighting, and everyone has natural light beaming onto them (some through frosted glass).

In terms of design, there is the building itself, a seven-storey glass fronted block - comprising more than 1,000 panes - that lines up beside and opposite the other law firms in the Docklands. At its centre is an impressive glass topped atrium with balconies running along one edge on three of the floors.

The straight lines and clarity of the building reflect the business, says Quirke, and to reinforce the company's presence there are chairs painted in the corporate colours of red, while those looking down into the atrium will see black and white tables (more corporate colours) configured in chequered patterns.

The ground floor will be a sort of village square centred on this atrium. Around the edges are the places where people congregate, such as the library, training rooms, tech support and even a state-of-the-art gym that will come complete with instructor.

Convening will be encouraged in the atrium through the provision of food; both proper meals to one side of the space and, on the other, coffee, smoothies and bagels from a space-age pod, still under construction, that promises to be so sculptural that it will negate the need for a 3D artwork here. Coloured light globes are destined to dangle from the atrium apex.

The firm doubled its office space with this move (to 12,356sq m/133,000sq ft) which has been four years in the planning.

Once the focus groups and Gensler had come up with the list of requirements, which also included a proviso that the office could expand if necessary and - "because lawyers will look at the downside as well as the upside we wanted the flexibility to downsize too", quips Quirke. The result is another (6,503sq m/70,000sq ft) building to the rear that MOP has an option on should it expand further.

MOP took its requirements to around a dozen developers. "About half a dozen sent in their own stuff with no regard to our wishes while the other half were very good," says Quirke. The process gradually came down to this building, by architects RKD, and developer Sean Dunne.

As well as state-of-the-art audio visual facilities, a case room for the storage of files for large legal cases, and a business centre for visitors to work in (complete with changing room, showers and a place to lie down), the individual offices are specifically designed to encourage certain ways of working.

"Current best thinking is that law firms are not good at training people," says Quirke. In this building offices are designed to take two people - a senior member of staff, acting as a mentor, and a junior. Secretarial staff sit just outside the office linked via a portal.

"We have an open-door policy here," says Quirke, so while the office isn't exactly open-plan, all of the doors remain open and tall glass panels offer views into neighbouring offices and all the way along the building.

As junior staff increase their knowledge they will move into a different office to work collaboratively with someone else at their level.

"At the beginning of their career people will need to ask lots of questions and then when they have more experience they get more collaborative," says Quirke, "and through the physical form of the building we enable that to work."

Clients have the joy of being dealt with on the sixth floor with its wonderful views along the Liffey, from the front, and out to the bay and mountains from the atrium walkway. This could well be used to test clients', or lawyers', nerves because, with the rail height meeting most people's midriffs, you do get that wobbly-tummy feeling.

"It's a fear of falling rather than a fear of heights," says Quirke as I back away from the edge. I didn't really consider the distinction before - perhaps it takes a lawyer to get down to details - but apparently we wouldn't be on the balcony at all if high anxiety was the issue. For those who can bask at altitude, a roof garden is planned soon.

The building, as was intended, is supporting its staff and clients, and expressing MOP's values. "It is understated, elegant and contemporary which is what we were looking for to reflect the style of the firm. Finding out what people want and giving it to them let's us show people how important they are. If you asked someone whether people were important of course they would say 'yes' but it's what you do to substantiate it that is important. Some companies think about a building as a cost but that is the wrong way.

"If you seek the best commercial deal and try to shoehorn your company into it you will never realise your potential. You need to see the building as an asset that will attract people and keep people."

Now that staff have just moved in, they will be the test of the building's success.