Exceeding Expectations at Northwest

Northwest Bank has been serving Erie and Niagara County for more than a decade. They wanted to broaden their presence in Western New York by moving their regional headquarters to Amherst. MidCity helped to create Northwest Bank’s unique office layout in an atypical fashion – putting the bank employees’ health and wellbeing first. With a hard working staff, Northwest and MidCity focused on ergonomics as much as aesthetics. Productivity and performance can only be enhanced with the right thought process up front.

Northwest envisioned an office with low panels allowing for as much natural light and collaborative opportunities as possible. The design incorporated neutral tones for a clean environment with a vibrant orange and stunning green to provide some fun colors.

With the MidCity design team’s help, Northwest chose to use sit to stand desks throughout the private offices and open plan workstations. MidCity selected the Allsteel Altitude tables for the workstations and the Allsteel Approach for the private offices. Each look is pleasing to the eye and helps to differentiate the levels of the organization at the headquarters without affecting the level of ergonomics each associate enjoys. The desks change height with the touch of a button to allow for the ability to sit or stand. The key to working long term in a job is the ability to change positions and keep your body in motion throughout the day and not create the atrophy of the body that can happen over time.

The Allsteel Relate chair was chosen for its ergonomic benefits as well as its sleek design. The break area uses Mindshare benches and bistro style tables to give the associates a different feel than your standard office space, while creating an opportunity for collaboration outside the typical conference room setting.

Carolyn from Northwest facilities acclaimed, “Sara and her team from MidCity helped explore and implement new ideas and layouts that went outside the norm of a desk/return/credenza layout. The end result is a clean layout that maximized use of small spaces. With the addition of monitor arms and sit stand surfaces for everyone, I believe we hit the mark for employees’ satisfaction while staying within budget. Not only were countless hours spent on typical office layouts, but Sara went above and beyond to make sure upholstery, carpet and finishes were attractive. Finally, we could not have asked for a better install.”

The ultimate goal of this new space design was to take care of the employees and expand the number of available offices. According to the client and their past experiences MidCity exceeded expectations and designed the ideal space for Northwest’s Regional HQ.

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