Co-​working plant design: Uncommon

Uncommon are London-based flexible office provider built around three core principles: ‘Show Uncommon care’, ‘Push for better’, and ‘Be sustainable’. These values shape not only their culture but the environments they create. Their thoughtfully designed, people-focused offices across London prioritise wellbeing, productivity, and community. We brought their sustainability pillar to life through the design, installation, and ongoing maintenance of the plants, transforming these spaces into truly green environments and supporting our mutual commitment to environmental responsibility.

Uncommon set out to create workspaces that go beyond the traditional office, blending creativity, wellbeing, and sustainability into a singular experience. For their design focused workspaces across London, with locations now including Borough, Fulham, Highbury, Liverpool Street, and Holborn, their vision is to deliver a biophilic environment where plant life is central to work life.

We have worked with Uncommon since 2017, beginning with their sites in Fulham, Borough, and Highbury. Since then, we have continued to work with them on large scale retrofits of their sites in Liverpool Street and, most recently, Holborn. Our approach to each site was to create planting schemes that were not only visually impactful but also practical, adaptable, and easy to maintain across multifunctional workspaces.

As a B Corp certified company, Uncommon carefully selects the brands and suppliers it partners with to ensure alignment with its ethos and commitment to responsible design. With this in mind, we worked closely with Uncommon throughout, combining our mutual expertise to ensure the most effective and sustainable delivery of each project.

Our Design Consultancy team collaborated with Uncommon’s architect and lead designer on layouts, planter integration, and species selection to ensure the planting scheme was consistent with the overall interior design objective for each office. This included visiting nurseries to personally select key specimens as well as a dedicated tree selection trip to our suppliers in the Netherlands, where we helped key stakeholders to handpick large specimen trees to suit both the design intent and environmental conditions.

Installation was meticulously phased and coordinated with other trades to ensure a seamless process, particularly surrounding the installation of larger species. This involved managing access times, minimising site disruption, and protecting plant health by ensuring plants were not left in dusty or unregulated building conditions.

Each Uncommon site promotes ‘activity-based working’, wherein a range of workspaces are available to suit users with different working styles and needs, and to accommodate the nature of the task they are working on. A combination of fixed joinery, movable planters, and freestanding or tabletop pots allows greenery to adapt to private and shared areas for work or downtime while maintaining design consistency and plant health.

Here’s how flexible planting solutions were introduced to complement the distinct workspaces within each building.

Across all Uncommon locations, co-working spaces are used to provide flexible, open-plan environments that support both individual work and collaborative activity. Designed to accommodate everything from focused desk work to events and larger gatherings, these spaces work with a balance of openness and functionality.

Strategic planting was used throughout these areas to introduce structure without compromising the openness of these spaces. Carefully positioned planters containing broader leaf species such as Spathiphyllum sensation and Monstera deliciosa create natural divisions between different working zones, helping to define quieter areas for concentration, informal meeting spaces, and communal seating. By softening the divides, dampening ambient noise and introducing biophilic elements, the planting contributes to a more comfortable and productive environment while maintaining the open, connected feel that characterises these co-working spaces.

Uncommon's cafés and kitchens are areas for socialising and downtime, where members can step away from their desks, connect with colleagues, and recharge. In these spaces, planting needed to feel like a natural extension of the interior design while allowing for the practical needs of these busy, high-traffic environments. We used trailing species such as Scindapsus pictus to cascade above the seating and bar areas, providing an unintrusive, relaxing backdrop for users enjoying their downtime. Smaller succulent species in handmade ceramic pots were used as centrepieces to brighten each table.

Unique to Uncommon Liverpool Street is its dedicated auditorium, used to host conferences and presentations. Plants like the glossy Zamioculcas zamiifolia, broad-leafed Asplenium nidus, and variegated Aglaonema christina were carefully positioned around the auditorium to soften the space and create a natural transition to the surrounding work areas.

Beyond their visual appeal, plants can also contribute to a more comfortable acoustic environment. Research suggests that planting and living green walls can help absorb and diffuse sound, reducing reverberation, and improving speech clarity in surrounding spaces. By integrating greenery throughout the auditorium, the design supports a calmer, more balanced environment for presentations and collaboration.

The Uncommon sites in Borough, Liverpool Street and Holborn benefit from open rooftop gardens, offering members a unique outdoor setting against London's skyline. These spaces provide an incredible backdrop for informal meetings, social events, or simply for taking a moment to step outside for a breath of fresh air.

Our planting was carefully designed to frame and enhance the surrounding city views without obstructing them. The open nature of the rooftop gardens allowed us to introduce a broader planting scheme, including larger feature specimens such as Oleo Europaea, and more diverse species than would typically be possible indoors. The result is a series of vibrant, green spaces that soften the urban landscape and encourage members to spend more time outdoors.

Long-term success was a key consideration throughout the project. Each scheme was designed with maintenance in mind, accommodating the evolving needs of multifunctional spaces and the unique conditions of each location, including lighting and spatial constraints, to ensure the ongoing vitality of the planting. With significant investment in both time and budget, it was important that the designs upheld the original intent in a sustainable way, allowing the schemes to establish and continue improving as the planting matures.

To support this, we incorporated carefully considered plant positioning and a bespoke plant lighting system, developed in collaboration with lighting specialists, for areas with limited natural daylight. This ensures all plants receive the light levels they need to thrive.

Ongoing maintenance is fundamental to the long-term success of each scheme. All Uncommon sites are visited regularly (more so than the industry standard) allowing our team to closely monitor plant health and implement preventative, chemical-free pest control where needed.

This proactive approach supports healthier planting while being safer for people and better for the environment. Delivered by a locally based team travelling to site via public transport, the maintenance strategy also helps minimise environmental impact.

Collaborating with Uncommon has been a rewarding experience, defined by a shared commitment to thoughtful design and sustainability.

Our work with Uncommon to retrofit their site in Holborn won an award at the Workspace Design Show in February 2026 for ‘Best Workplace Retrofit Project of the Year’.

If our work with Uncommon and their flourishing London offices has inspired you to add greenery to your space, check out our office plant services. Or, if you're planning a large-scale fit-out and want plants to be integral to the design from the outset, read more about our design consultancy.