Leading architectural practice remodels remote working.

Adding a new dimension.

Founded in 1953, Stride Treglown is an employee-owned architectural practice and a Certified B Corporation. Its multi-disciplinary team of over 300 people works in a collective of studios across nine regional offices, providing a comprehensive range of architectural and design services focused on transforming lives and rejuvenating places.

The challenge

With effective communication and collaboration central to their success, in 2019, Stride Treglown wanted to review remote working options to promote business agility, flexibility and employee wellbeing. As an architectural practice, their team needed to render 3D graphics quickly, wherever they were working. With that in mind, achieving the right technical, cultural and commercial balance was crucial.

The solution

Already Stride Treglown’s trusted partner for its business-critical WAN and voice services, Bistech put forward Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD), an emerging product from Microsoft at the time. A Proof of Concept was swiftly initiated, even before the service was publicly available. And after a successful evaluation, the solution was rolled out to 30 users — just before the pandemic took hold.

The benefits

The service’s inherent flexibility rapidly came into its own. When the pandemic hit, it scaled up overnight from holding 30 to 250 users, placing the practice in a very strong position.

Another key benefit was Bistech’s proactive approach to managing the cloud consumption model, with a customised scaling script that immediately saved 50% of the running costs. The tailored configuration also gave the practice’s IT team the visibility to closely monitor and fine-tune settings, enabling them to stay in line with their budgets.

Over time, the collaborative partnership has continued to thrive, with Bistech helping Stride Treglown evolve its entire IT environment through a cohesive strategy — establishing a firm foundation for the future.