FlightSafety International

With 600 courses, and forty locations, our client trains more than 75,000 pilots and other key aviation staff every year. For their 92,000 sq ft Farnborough, Hampshire facility, they decided there was little difference in cost if they commissioned bespoke furniture which Saracen would make in their own workshops.

Comments by our client:

“There are always difficulties with new buildings and many changes of plan and requirements, but Saracen has always risen to the challenge and provided a complete service. In particular, your ability to provide drawings showing a variety of layout options in advance is very useful and enables us to make the most effective choice for an area. The build and fit of all items has been to an excellent standard.”

Paul Hewett, Centre Manager, FlightSafety International

The furniture supplied was designed to be shared and bespoke lockers were produced to reflect the client’s ethos. “We didn’t want instructors bringing in accumulated manuals and journals and taking up residence at a particular desk,” explains Centre Manager Paul Hewett. “We’re fanatics about looking professional as well as being professional.”

“The lockers had to look like office furniture rather than the kind found at a gymnasium. Each of the 120 instructors will have his or her own locker, but we’ve discouraged having names on the doors for the sake of appearances. Instead, the lockers have a small round disc with a number.”

For the customer support offices, Saracen made storage units to be fixed seamlessly to the existing rosewood veneer desks and furniture. The centre manager reported “You can’t see the join, which says something about their attention to detail.”

“Office furniture is a very competitive market and Saracen are fully aware of that. After they price a project for us, they go back and sharpen their pencils if necessary. They are always there for us, no job is too small, and we feel that we are getting looked after and that we are getting a proper deal.”

More recent projects have included:

• The fitting out of an examination room at the Farnborough facility, which required FAA (the US licensing authority) approval
• A gantry barrier system to cover the opening for a future simulator
• Purpose built units for training modules
• Purpose built podiums for the flight simulator room
• Acrylic display systems.
   

Flight Safety Case Study