After Rs 800 million makeover, Bombay House set to reopen on July 29

A Starbucks outlet and a Tata Experience Centre will soon welcome visitors to the newly refurbished Bombay House. The 94-year-old iconic building, the headquarters of India’s largest corporate house, the Tata group, is set to reopen on July 29, which will mark the 114th birth anniversary of JRD Tata and 150 years of the group.

Top executives of the group are scheduled to cut the ceremonial red ribbon. Close to 600 employees of Bombay House will step into a hi-tech new office that promises to have more open spaces and fewer cabins. The heritage building, which was shut in November 2017 for the first time, has undergone a thorough makeover of its interiors at an estimated cost of Rs 800 million, even as the façade retains the Edwardian neo-classical look. 

Sources said the interiors boasted plenty of natural light and an open-seating arrangement – a reflection of the cultural change that has been sweeping through the group under the leadership of Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran. Chandra, as he is popularly known, is a Tata-lifer who took over the reins of the salt-to-software group in February 2017. A Tata Sons spokesperson declined to share details on the new office.

Another highlight of the new building will be the kennel on the side entrance meant for the canines, which have been indispensable to Bombay House for decades, according to a source. 

Overall, the earlier dull interior with low technology has given way to a lot more colour and vibrancy. For instance, the central spine of each floor has its own digitally-controlled, Wi-Fi-enabled meeting rooms, fitted with touch screens and other gadgets. The number of cabins on each floor has been reduced, encouraging open space work culture in line with modern smart offices, said another source. The removal of ledges from top and bottom of the windows allows plenty of natural light to come on the floor, said the source. 

“The whole Bombay House has been going through a cultural shift. The shift also comes from the way you work,” said the source. The change is part of Chandra’s plan to give those working out of Bombay House a nicer and livelier workplace. Over the last 94 years since the building came into being, a lot of changes were made but most weren’t thought through, added the source.

The renovation project has been executed by Brinda Somaya, founder of Somaya and Kalappa Consultants (SNK), who is no stranger to the Tata group, having designed Tata Consultancy Services’ Banyan Park campus as well as the group’s housing project. 

The iconic Bombay House building was built by the then chairman Dorabji Tata, elder son of group founder Jamsetji Tata. 

In 1921, he bought a 21,285-sq ft prime plot in south Mumbai from the municipal corporation for Rs 36 million as the group was not able to accommodate its growing ventures at its previous office at Navsari Chambers. 

At that time, the group comprised six businesses — textiles, steel, power, hotel, cement and a bank. In 1924, Scottish architect George Wittet designed the three-storey Bombay House. In 1942, an additional floor was added when JRD Tata became the group chairman.

The makeover

• Open, collaborative workspace with lesser cabins

• Smart, technology embedded office with flexible seatings

• Tata Experience Centre and Starbucks on the ground floor   

• Modern well-designed kennel on the side entrance 

• Makeover done at an estimated Rs 800 million