Recently our front-end and design teams worked with popular Bristol-based business hub, Engine Shed, to create a brand-new website.
What is Engine Shed?
Based within one of Bristol’s most iconic buildings, right next to Temple Meads train station, Engine Shed is a hub where businesses, entrepreneurs, academics, social innovators, and corporates collaborate. By creating spaces for meetings and events, or simply providing a desk to work from, Engine Shed is a collaboration between Bristol City Council, the University of Bristol, and the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP).
Engine Shed showcases the strengths and innovations of the region. Over 30,000 people visit Engine Shed every year, hosting over 1,200 events such as conferences, dinners and training sessions.
Associate Director and Scale Up Business Enabler, Briony Phillips, explained: “Engine Shed is committed to ensuring the Bristol and Bath economy is growing, inclusive and sustainable. To achieve this mission we have made our grade 1 listed building into a home for organisations, businesses and incubators, a venue for events and workshops and a hub for conversation between all sectors. We reinvest the revenue and intelligence that we generate to pilot, promote and run projects that help deliver our mission.”
Why did they need a new website?
To keep up with their rapid growth and reputation, Engine Shed’s website needed a refresh to modernise their existing online presence and reflect their innovative values and lively brand identity.
Briony continued: “Engine Shed reached its fifth birthday in 2018 and this presented an opportunity to restructure our digital front door (our website!). In doing so, it was vital that we made it easier for visitors (whether online or in person) to use the building and work with us to deliver against our mission. We’ve set ourselves some ambitious goals for the next few years and our best chance of achieving them is by working in partnership with others, and as openly as possible. The new website enables us to advertise opportunities to collaborate and creates a chance to share our progress more openly.”
What did Storm create?
Together with Tom, our Creative Director, we created a website designed with customers in mind, whilst complementing the experience of visiting and working within Engine Shed’s unique building.
Tom explained: “The process of working with Engine Shed started with heading down to their buildings, chatting with the team, and spending some time working in their creative spaces alongside their clientele to get a real feel for the company, away from the written brief.
“After visiting the premises, it was clear that Engine Shed had a really strong, unique visual personality and it was key that this featured heavily in the designs. My perfect situation was for a new client to visit the website, easily book a room or find out about Engine Shed’s long and successful history, then arrive at the building and be presented with exactly what they were expecting. I really wanted there to be a seamless transition throughout, both for brand experience and a perfect customer journey.
“The new website now has a vibrant, energetic feel whilst remaining clean and professional to match the excellent collaborative working environment of Engine Shed.”
Celebrating 5 years of Engine Shed
Engine Shed recently turned five years old, so Alice and Dave joined in the celebrations by attending their fifth anniversary party. Over 200 people from all walks of Engine Shed life came along to reflect on the past five years of achievements and progress, and to find out what may be in store for the hub over the next few years.
Briony continued “On this project Storm became an extension of our own team – they challenged us constructively and offered ideas to help us to create a vision for the website and then they provided the energy and expertise to make it a reality for us. From the design (and colour palette inspired by the building) to the website structure, and a lot more in between, the team were professional, friendly, and super capable. We’re very pleased with the finished article and know that it will help us deliver against our mission for the next 5 years and beyond.
“And they provided great bagels!”
Why not check out Engine Shed’s new website and have a look around?
If your website needs a refresh, or you have a great new digital idea, come in for a chat or drop us a line via hello@stormconsultancy.com. We’d love to meet you!
