Standard Chartered Bank Shanghai Headquarters

Client: Standard Chartered Bank

The new Standard Chartered Shanghai Headquarters comprises 5 floors providing an exclusive experience to employees and visitors. The journey begins in an eclectic winding alleys of Shanghai’s Longtang (L16), moving through to the dynamic Huangpu Promenade (L18), the modernity of Shanghai’s architecture (L25), and finishes with the serenity of Shanghai Skyline (L28). 

To adopt the client’s “Future of Work Now” vision and “One Shanghai Bank” long-term strategy of consolidating numerous offsite workspaces into one single workspace, the interior design of the new Headquarters achieves space optimization by releasing excess capacity and adapting a hybrid working model in China market. 

The project offers the design team an opportunity to accomplish the Property’s “Twice the Experience, Half the Space” commitment.

Following the client’s playbook as a solid design guideline and supplementary information on local special needs, the design team divided the headquarters into specific zones serving different purposes and needs.

The new office space consists of desk layout for task-orientated work and information confidentiality on L18 & L25. L16 houses a café for connection and collaboration, a library, an activity room, flexible workspaces and an innovative think tank lab for startups within the Bank. It is the community area for the employees and also serves as a F&B solution in the headquarters. 

While a new guest relation experience is offered on L28 with a brand-new front-of-house reception area. Guests are greeted at a tea bar. Serving tea to important guests is a tribute to the Chinese ritual. With the peace and serenity environment, the design creates an elevated hospitality experience for the Bank’s guests.

The new workplace is a well-balance of individual work, collaboration and social space. It delivers an engaging, inclusive, and safe environment that aligns with the bank’s ambition to create a “great place to work” to reward their employees.