Go behind the big red doors at Virgin Red HQ

The Virgin Red office
Virgin Red
Natalie Clarkson
by Natalie Clarkson
30 December 2019

2019 has been a busy year for Virgin Red - and 2020 is set to be even busier.

Among all the competitions and deals that they've brought you, Virgin Red has also completed a total refresh of its office and there are some details in here that Virgin fans will love...

Peak through the red doors at Virgin Red and you might just spot the office zebra - because who doesn't have a resident safari in their workplace?

Each of the areas of the Virgin Red office takes design cues from the Virgin companies. And this room, complete with seven-foot tall giraffe has been inspired by Ulusaba, Virgin Limited Edition's luxury safari lodge.

Michael Buffham-Wade, Virgin Red's director of experience, said: "We wanted to bottle the essence of the Virgin spirit in the new office and to bring the brand to life through our colour palette, installations and the artefacts we curated in the space. The space reflects the breadth of Virgin's initiatives over the last 50 years."

The inside of an office at Virgin Red showing desks and chairs and a large model of a giraffe
Image from Virgin Red

Virgin Red is all about living a life more Virgin and what better way to do that than bringing all the companies together in one place?

Around the office, you'll spot some memorabilia from Virgin history and artwork celebrating our newest companies. Take a look at the Virgin Voyages and Virgin Galactic-inspired meeting rooms...

Virgin Red office hallway and conference rooms
Image from Virgin Red

Rupert Bramble, the project lead from Virgin Red, said: "We took a very deliberate decision to re-use and recycle as much of the furniture as we could from our previous office to ensure the refurbishment stays true to our principles of sustainability. And, when it came to selecting new pieces, we turned to second hand items of mid-century craftsmanship that has not only stood the test of time, but reflected the era in which Virgin was first founded."

Virgin Red is also celebrating Virgin's heritage in the music industry with the Music Room, which showcases the first ever Virgin logo.

The inside of a meeting room called the Music Room showing a table and chairs as well as instruments hanging on the walls
Virgin Red

Many of the walls in the office also feature vinyl from Virgin Records' artists from over the years, including Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells.

Other artists that make the wall include Roy Orbison, Culture Club, Phil Collins, UB40 and The Who.

Many of the meeting rooms have record players in too, so employees can enjoy listening to some of Virgin Records' artists while they work.

Kailee Lane, the programme designer from contractor Morgan Lovell, said: "Working with the team at Virgin has certainly been the highlight of my year - the challenge of bringing such an iconic brand to life in this space has been fun, a stretch, sometimes uncomfortable but the end result is something we are all tremendously proud of."

The idea behind the office was to celebrate everything Virgin - and you couldn't do that without referencing the iconic uniforms that Virgin people have worn through the years. Outside the kitchen area stands six mannequins sporting some of the most exciting uniforms and kit sponsorships from over the last five decades of Virgin. There's even a dog mannequin modelling Virgin Trains' unique dog uniform! 

How many of the other uniforms do you recognise?

Mannequins wearing Virgin uniform and clothes with Virgin sponsor on
Image from Virgin Red

Other meeting rooms celebrate Virgin Trains, Virgin Cola, Virgin's travel companies, and Virgin's connection with sports and wellbeing.

Now they've moved into their new offices, Virgin Red has lots planned for 2020 so make sure you're following them on InstagramFacebook and Twitter to be the first to know.