Retail fit-out: tech transformation on Harrods's 5th floor

The 5th floor at Harrods department store has a global reputation for showcasing the world’s finest technology. MPL was appointed as lead product placement and space planning consultants by our client NuConnect Retail, who were taking over the concession and who required a total refit of the shop floor. MPL was responsible for the display layout and the placement of hundreds of individual electronic items from over 12 of the world’s leading technology brands.

The thought of working with high-end tech and the most recognised retail brand in the world was an exciting challenge for shop fitters MPL Interiors. Having previously worked on stand-alone Bang & Olufsen stores across the UK, and on a concession in London’s Selfridges, MPL was the natural partner when our client, NuConnect, were appointed at Harrods.

CLIENT:	NuConnect Retail and Harrods, Knightsbridge
COMPLETION:	10 months
TOTAL AREA:	14,000 sq ft
SECTOR:	Retail Design Projects

The brief

While many of our refurbishments concentrate on labour-heavy aspects and reaching a target audience via aesthetics, the focus of our brief from NuConnect was to meet the exceptionally high standards set by Harrods. While the department store prescribed its own catalogue of fixtures and fittings, MPL was responsible for the display layout and placement of hundreds of individual electronic items from over 12 of the world’s leading technology brands.

Our approach

Our first site visit saw us arrive on the 5th floor with the refurbishment already partway through. This put us under time pressure, so we set about creating all the documents for Harrods’s tough design approval processes, which ensured all the elements met with Harrods’s exacting vision and house standard.

After taking measurements of the retail space, MPL created highly detailed 3D plans to show the proposed layout. To accurately populate the designs and ensure consistency, our team reproduced every item in Harrods’s fixtures and fittings inventory.

The second phase of the layout approval processes saw us submit a set of comprehensive technical and working drawings, supported by fire certificates for all the items we would be supplying or specifying.

Wired for sound and much more

The most involved aspect at Harrods was working to ensure each of the zones - vision, audio, mobile, smart home, drone, imaging and a dedicated Bang & Olufsen area – were serviced with enough power and data supplies to ensure the correct operation of every product.

We worked closely with NuConnect and Harrods, appraising each of the different display units available. A combination of tables and cabinets – some with internal illumination and glass-topped drawers - modular wall bays and booths that created a ‘headphones forest’ formed a complex job for our design team. In addition, the displays featured security cabling and this was an additional factor when planning positions and providing power. MPL drew on its past department store experience and work fitting out mobile phone centres for Samsung to compile a set of plans that Harrods approved.

Room for manoeuvre

While the open floor set up was dominated by pre-set fixtures, MPL was given almost carte blanche to plan the electrical layout and placement of three ‘experience rooms’. We enjoyed specifying a sealed ‘listening’ room with soundproofing and fine acoustics, a media room and a cinema room, with surround sound and reclining chairs.

On brand

Harrods’s 5th floor brings together a number of prestigious technology brands together with the amazing interior design talent of architecture, design, planning and consulting firm Gensler. Within this refit, MPL was tasked with commissioning and installing different sized branded panels, lightboxes and table wraps. This involved liaising with multiple companies and ensuring different guidelines were adhered to.

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