Tata Sons has reopened Bombay House, its global headquarters, following a nine-month-long restoration process at the heritage building that was built in 1924. It is for the first time that the 94-year-old building has undergone restoration.
The reopening on Sunday also marked the 114th birth anniversary of former Tata Sons Chairman, JRD Tata. The group’s Chairman Emeritus Ratan N Tata inaugurated the iconic building in presence of Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran,.
While the facade of the building remains unchanged, retaining its Edwardian neo-classical look, each floor has been redesigned with agile workspaces and semi-formal collaboration zones for teams to work together, a statement from Tata Sons said.
“We have built an experience centre that captures the rich heritage, the history, the social good as well as the current and future offerings of the group,” Chandrasekaran said.
“The endeavour behind this is to inspire and remind the future generations, and all of us, [of] the values and ethos with which this group was set up and has been functioning for the last 150 years,” he added. The changes to Bombay House include enhanced natural lighting, with paintings, photographs and art installations adorning the walls. In a first, the building also houses a kennel. The ground floor has been converted into a shared space having a coffee lounge, informal breakout places, and the Tata Experience Centre (a digital museum).
The four floors of the building houses offices of major Tata organisations. The boardroom on the fourth floor has been retained, with technology being the only addition.
Bombay House was built on the two plots of land that Dorabji Tata, the group’s second Chairman and Jamsetji Tata’s elder son, bought from Bombay Municipality in 1920. The building was designed by well-known architect George Wittet, who was also the architect of the Gateway of India and the Prince of Wales Museum (now called Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya), among others.