As we wrap up another remarkable year, we're celebrating how far Layrd has come since 2019. From transforming premier league stadiums to designing innovative workplaces and award-winning gyms, 2024 has been a year of unprecedented growth and achievement.
Projects
Our stadium portfolio reached new heights this year with our largest-scale projects to date. At Ipswich Town Football Club, we transformed seven spaces and four executive boxes at Portman Road, including the new Gamechanger Suite and a state-of-the-art Press Conference Room. Our expertise extended to Old Trafford with the TeamViewer Suite, and we're proud to have completed the Pavilion Lounge at Sheffield United's Bramall Lane.
The fitness sector saw exciting developments with the completion of London's brand-new boutique facility, Instagym, and the revitalisation of East Grinstead Sports Club. December marked the reopening of Everybody Health & Leisure's Macclesfield site, bringing a vision for luxury, accessible community-focused fitness spaces to life.
In the workplace sector, we've reimagined Stirling House at Cambridge Innovation Parks, creating a dynamic multi-office hub with innovative social and coworking spaces. Our own studio is expanding too, reflecting our team's continuous growth and evolution.
Events
Future Spaces 2024 at Jesus College, Cambridge, was our biggest yet, bringing together industry leaders to explore sustainable and wellness spaces. With speakers from Cushman & Wakefield and Orangebox and partnerships with industry giants like Tarkett and Solus, the event embodied our commitment to forward-thinking design and sustainable innovation. Throughout the year, we extended the Future Spaces experience with pop-up events, including a yoga session at the Forma5 and esPattio showroom and a creative lino printing workshop at the Tarkett showroom.
Future Spaces Cambridge returns to Jesus College on 1st and 2nd October 2025 as an expanded two-day event. We're currently seeking innovative speakers and forward-thinking sponsors to help shape the future of commercial spaces. Get in contact if you'd like to partner with us at Future Spaces 2025.
In 2024, Sketch & Social, our free sketch club, expanded beyond Cambridge to Ely, now hosting monthly events at The Yard. From speed portraiture sessions that challenge quick-thinking creativity to cityscape sketching that explores architectural detail, each event offers a unique opportunity to develop new skills and connect with fellow creatives.
March saw us host our first BCO Talk & Tour Event at Riverlane, showcasing human-centric design at this innovative quantum computing facility. Eleanor Penny, our Head of Workplace Design, led an insightful session exploring the design process, while wellbeing expert Jim Taylour shared valuable perspectives on ergonomics and inclusivity in modern workplaces. Together, they demonstrated how thoughtful design can support cutting-edge companies and their employees.
2024 also saw us strengthen our presence across key industry exhibitions. At PerformX and Elevate, we shared our vision for the future of fitness spaces, engaging with gym owners, PTs, and industry leaders about creating environments that inspire achievement. The International Sports Convention and Stadium Business Design & Development Summit provided platforms to showcase our growing stadium portfolio, connecting with sports venue operators and sharing insights from our work with sports clubs.
Awards
2024 brought recognition across all aspects of our work:
At the Cambridgeshire SME Awards, we won the Gold Sustainability Award, recognised for our commitment to responsible, forward-thinking design and we were put through as national finalists. In May, we were awarded the SME of the Year award at the COCCEC
annual lunch and awards ceremony, which is an amazing achievement for the team. December saw East Grinstead Sports Club win South Gym of the Year at the National Fitness Awards, where Instagym was also shortlisted in the Newcomer of the Year category.
For the 2024 SBID Awards, we were lucky to have three of our projects nominated as finalists, with Riverlane in the Office Design Under 2,000 SqM (UK) category and both East Grinstead Sports Club and Instagym up for the Healthcare & Wellness Design (UK) category. Layrd’s CEO and Founder, Will Mayes, also entered the Allica Bank Great British Entrepreneur Awards where he was named as one of the finalists in the Creative Entrepreneur of the Year category. Just before Christmas, we were also shortlisted for the ISC Awards as Sports Agency of the Year.
Team
May 2024 marked Layrd's 5th birthday, celebrating our evolution from Will's vision of a bold, collaborative design studio to the dynamic team we are today. We’ve also experienced some exciting team growth over the past year, welcoming Junior Designer Bethany Coulter and Technical Designer Karolina Zielińska to the team. We’re currently hiring again for another Junior-Mid level Interior Designer.
We were lucky enough to go on multiple team trips this year, notably spending three days with Actiu at its headquarters in Alicante with Showcase PSR. Actiu’s Technology Park is home to both factories and offices, designed to create a positive environment for both staff and the environment. As a team we also visited the Senator and Allermuir factories in Accrington, looking around their desking, seating and Sustain facilities, where Senator takes both used packaging and furniture to extend its life. Altro showed us around its flooring factory, where we got stuck into a hands-on welding workshop and expanded our knowledge of safety flooring.
Looking Forward
As we enter 2025, we're excited to continue pushing boundaries in commercial interior design. Whether you're planning a workplace transformation, reimagining a sports facility, or creating a new fitness space, we'd love to hear about your project.
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