Delivered for MR Q, this ambitious retrofit offers a top-tier co-working environment and commercial amenity across three beautifully designed floors in St Albans.

Queens House called for the restoration and retrofit of a former straw hat manufacturing warehouse in the heart of St Albans. The ambition was to deliver best-in-class commercial space that could balance the performance demands of a contemporary workplace with a textured and characterful aesthetic.

The client’s needs were multifaceted: a ground-floor coworking hub for local workers and sole traders, a subdivided first floor for multiple tenants, and a top floor headquarters for MrQ, complete with a private terrace. Supporting these was a suite of high-quality lower-ground amenities – showers, vanities, and secure cycle storage – to promote sustainable commuting and enhance wellbeing.

The challenge for Anomaly was to achieve all of this within the fixed envelope of a locally listed building, respecting its historic character while introducing a new narrative of colour, texture, and community. 

Our retrofit transformed Queens House into a layered workplace ecosystem that caters to a wide spectrum of users and working styles. Purpose-built podcast rooms, call booths, meeting spaces, and flexible tenancies offer choice and adaptability. Shared kitchens, breakout areas, and a landscaped courtyard encourage chance encounters and foster a sense of community, while retreat spaces provide balance and focus.

The design elevates everyday experience, with lower-ground end-of-journey facilities that support active travel. At the same time, the ground floor provides a social and entrepreneurial hub, and the top-floor headquarters enjoys a sunlit terrace overlooking the city.

In collaboration with Interior Address, the interiors achieve warmth and depth through richly painted tones, soft furnishings and playful art. The result is a workplace that feels less like a corporate office and more like a home for ideas.

The developed concept design has made several references to the company’s recently completed Malta office, particularly the versatile workspaces and playful moments, which are set against a backdrop of more muted colours and natural materials. Similarly, we have also created pockets of space for planting, knick-knacks and socialising, allowing for informal moments and personalisation, which contribute to creating a sense of home.

The project was delivered on a fast-paced programme through a highly collaborative design and build process with Griggs Homes. The technical complexities of working within a protected structure were met without compromise to design quality, ensuring the outcome feels both contemporary and rooted in place.

Queen’s House stands out as a bold reinvention of a heritage asset that is also an owner-occupier venture. The building’s industrial past in printing and straw-hat manufacturing inspired reinterpreted motifs, tactility, and pattern throughout. The Mr Q brand identity—colourful, expressive, and confident—finds direct translation in timber panelling, patterned tiling, and curated music and art zones. The project was delivered on a fast-paced programme through a highly collaborative design and build process with Griggs Homes. The technical complexities of working within a protected structure were met without compromise to design quality, ensuring the outcome feels both contemporary and rooted in place.

Queen’s House is extraordinary not by scale alone but by its ambition: it transforms a locally listed warehouse into a destination workplace for the city of St Albans—one that embodies its client’s brand, celebrates its context, and creates a benchmark for adaptive reuse in the region.