Sign 2000 right for Douglas Allen
Douglas Allen (formerly Douglas Allen Spiro) is one of the most recognised names in residential estate agency in the South East.
From roots in East London, the branch network now extends to cover North London and South Essex, with over a hundred associated offices throughout the South East of England via parent company Arun Estates.
Douglas Allen’s history can be traced through many generations during which time the property market has seen many changes.
From a modest single office beginning to a major expansion in the 1980's and 1990's Douglas Allen have been at the very forefront of innovation and commitment to customer service.
In early 2006 the management team decided that while their existing image reflected well enough the values of a traditional estate agency, the current operation offered buyers and sellers so much more. Seeking to reflect the modern, dynamic and sophisticated service levels the agency offered nowadays, Douglas Allen commissioned a leading West End design team to recreate their entire corporate identity.
As part of this process an architectural sign manufacturer needed to be appointed to manage the changes to the group’s built-environment. A few years earlier Sign 2000, of Paddock Wood in Kent, had undertaken the previous brand update of the then Douglas Allen Spiro network.
As Jon Holden, Douglas Allen Managing Director comments, “From working with them previously we were aware that Sign 2000 could complete such a project successfully in terms of speed of operation, maintenance of quality of work and bring it in according to budget. We were happy to use them again.”
The existing corporate style was constructed of an aluminium shallow back tray painted cream with the text ‘Douglas’ and ‘Spiro’ being individually mounted acrylic painted red letters. The text ‘Allen’ was made up of individually mounted acrylic painted cream with shaped detail and secondary text being face applied, self-coloured adhesive vinyl. All was externally illuminated by overhead trough painted cream.
The new, modern and vibrant corporate identity changed this style. An aluminium shallow backtray was painted white. The text ‘Douglas Allen’ (‘Spiro’ being dropped) was made from individually mounted 20mm acrylic painted dark blue letters flush mounted to the fascia. The new logo - built-up metal creating overlapping circles and painted three colours was halo illuminated with LEDs. All was then externally illuminated by overhead trough painted white.
Jon Holden was particularly pleased with Sign 2000’s practice of providing them with visuals of how the sites would look before commencing manufacturing. “It was good to see the artwork of how the finished site would look before committing to manufacture.”
Sign 2000 surveyed each of the 18 different locations before preparing the visuals for approval. Once this was given a prototype was made and the final go-ahead obtained. Manufacture at Sign 2000’s Paddock Wood factory took place and teams of installers completed the project in December 2006. It was necessary to work in close co-operation wit Douglas Allen’s fitting-out contractor so that all parties could maintain their busy work schedules without conflicting with each other.
The Douglas Allen project is still ongoing and both they and Sign 2000 are delighted at the success achieved to date.
