Signbox Ltd

Signbox supplied a bespoke tenant directory sign for the reception area at 12 Arthur Street, near London Bridge. The project formed a key part of the extensive reception refurbishment in this prestigious office building. Signbox manufactured the directory sign on a Tekcel EXR router using 20mm thick acrylic and 6mm thick aluminium, which was then finished with a tarnished brass metal effect to give the directory sign the look and feel of solid metal. The surface edges of the sign were bevelled with a pencil round router bit and sanded to a specific grit finish to achieve the optimum surface.

Signbox aided in the renovation of the entrance and the ground floor reception of multi-tenanted building, 165 Fleet Street. To refresh the two-storey entrance exterior and give it greater visual impact, the company created a uniform aluminium dressing by folding 10 swg aluminium over a powder coated, fabricated framework. A white LED-infused flexi strip was also installed along the edge of cladding, with the numerals ‘165’ visible along the top. For the reception area, Signbox developed and installed oversized LED-lit numerals ‘165’, which were set behind vertical bronze slats and a visitor seating area.

Signbox printed and installed 39 graphic artworks at Cardinia Real Estate’s new headquarters in London. Signbox bought the London ‘vision’ of five prominent, selected artists to life across its buildings using digitally-printed permanent wall art onto Digimura 2:1. Interactive wall art was printed using Teslaflex while self-coloured tinted window films and tough laminated high-tack vinyl wall wrapping film were all printed by Signbox in-house. A glazed link rising through seven floors between the two buildings was decorated to create a multi-coloured, back-lit display with night and day impact.

Signbox’s powerful signage solution at the Dakota Building in Weybridge was designed to reflect the area’s aviation heritage. Inside, Signbox installed a backlit, painted glass reception directory with polished aluminium frame. For the exterior, Signbox constructed and fitted skyline signage for the top of the entrance portico and to each elevation while, at street level, a fabricated perimeter sign and car park entrance monolith was installed. The side elevation signage was manufactured from the same powder-coated, stainless steel as the portico cladding it was mounted on and a highlight LED strip was applied to lettering edges to provide halo illumination.

Signbox worked closely with Expedia's appointed architects, EDGE Architecture + Design, to manufacture and install a tailor-made signage package for their UK headquarters; including branding signage, wayfinding, large format digital wallpaper, extensive manifestation applications and a feature ‘postcard’ wall, for the reception area. All the signage was bespoke, with materials manufactured in-house, predominantly using the Durst Omega 1 UV inkjet printer, which can print to a resolution of 1728dpi at fine art quality. Environmental graphics utilised fire rated Digimura wall covering, digitally printed on HP Latex with glazing manifestations printed on an optically clear polyester film with white ink.

Signbox, with the Graphic History Company, delivered a stunning mural in the shape of the River Thames and incorporating 3,500 iconic authors’ names for book publisher Hachette UK. The award-winning Thames mural, which was digitally printed using HP Latex 360 printers on Class O fire retardant LG 3880 high tack vinyl – 450 linear metres of it in total, was installed at Carmelite House, the publishing group’s headquarters on the north bank of the River Thames. The vinyl was matt laminated, CAD-cut and weeded for application before being applied to the acid-etched glass wall.

Leading global airline organisation, International Airlines Group (IAG), commissioned Signbox to devise a signage scheme for its major rebrand project, incorporating external signage, wayfinding, environmental graphics, manifestation and safety signs at its Heathrow base and overseas hub spaces. External signage comprised direct-to-surface ACM trays with laminated vinyl graphics, internal signs were printed on scratch-resistant Metamark high-tack and manifestation graphics were created using Metamark digital frost. Fire-certified high-tack wall vinyl with a durable over-laminate was used for environmental graphics while statutory signage and secondary wayfinding were formed from direct-to-surface printed acrylic.

Signbox completed architectural internal and external signage work for the London Fire Brigade at nine fire stations across the capital. The task required the delivery of a robust signage package that demanded long-lasting, quality materials. External work included the installation of post and plank-mounted signs finished with a vitreous enamel coating, marine grade stainless steel lettering and red enamelled aluminium trays. Internal signage work comprised an elegant modular sign system with the flexibility to change to reflect organisational adjustments. Manifestation graphics were installed on glazed partitions and bespoke statutory fire signage was made to complement each building.

Signbox transformed the London base of one of the world’s leading management consultant and professional services firms using an innovative wayfinding and environmental graphics solution. The scheme incorporated floor level directories, secondary wayfinding, suspended directional signs, room numerals, manifestations, desk signs and environmental supergraphics. Premium materials were utilised throughout, including laser-cut acrylic with embedded LEDs, aperture-cut metal trays with push-through lettering, scratch-resistant, Lintec opti-clear manifestation film, Digimura supergraphics a digitally printed wallcovering, fire rated to EN13501 and compliant to EN15102, internally-illuminated LED light sheets.

Signbox was appointed by Microsoft to undertake a full signage audit across their site at Reading’s Thames Valley Park. As a result, the company was tasked with redesigning over 200 signs with a brand refresh issued by Microsoft’s corporate communications in the USA. The brief included external high-level signage, numerous wayfinding totems, internal reception branding and an LED illuminated 8 x 2 metre monument sign. Working for a global brand as well-known as Microsoft, Signbox had to ensure that all signage satisfied the requirement for vibrancy as well as for functionality and precise on-brand consistency.

When the Metropolitan Police moved from St James’s Park to Victoria Embankment in 2017, Signbox was tasked with replacing the iconic sign that had been seen steadily rotating outside the building and to supply and install bespoke LED illuminated stainless steel lettering for the new HQ’s pavilion roof. For such high profile signage, everything had to be designed and engineered to exacting detail, specified to be highly robust and durable. Fabricated from stainless steel and clad in anodised aluminium, the sign is halo illuminated and rotates at an optimal speed, to avoid blurring or distortion on television screens.

This unique installation comprised a series of vertical neon lighting panels that spelt out the building name, One Bartholomew, in barcode. Since the lighting raft had to be lightweight and capable of thermal management, it was fabricated from aluminium in five sections of three metres that could be transported and assembled on site easily. Each face element of the barcode was fabricated from Perspex® Spectrum opal white acrylic, which is specially formulated to give optimised colour performance with both transmitted and reflected light using white LEDs.

The Charter Building in Uxbridge extends to five floors, each over an acre in size – as part of its refurbishment project, Signbox was commissioned to deliver an internal wayfinding solution and external illuminated signage. The icon-led wayfinding scheme utilised high-tack, self-adhesive Mactac films; the fire retardant, laminated graphics were applied to various surfaces including plasterboard, doors, brick and concrete walls and car park floor. The main external illuminated signage was installed at height, drilling through the distinctive façade’s tiled cladding; 30mm deep opal acrylic letters were manufactured on concealed rails to obscure cables and fixings.

As part of a full 5-month refurbishment, Signbox delivered a range of signage solutions to 12-storey West London office building, The Mille. This landmark, visible to thousands of motorists every day, is located on the A4 and adjacent to the elevated section of the M4. An important and challenging part of the refurbishment was the installation of imposing LED illuminated lettering on top of the building, which required specially designed scaffolding. Signbox also delivered directory listings, illuminated reception signage, reverse-decorated glass panels, wayfinding totems and carpark signage as part of the refurbishment.

Signbox delivered external signage for West London based building, Vantage London. Occupying a prominent location towering over the M4, the landmark building needed signage that would powerfully reflect the modern and vibrant interior. Signbox replaced the existing gantry sign with aluminium cladding over a new, structural steel framework with large LED illuminated lettering. Further external works required the design of a special bracket system to attach a reinforced flex-faced box to a curtain wall at the 13th floor level, while bespoke fabricated letters were designed and installed to ensure the fittings took the load back to the building structure.