Project Overview

Westpac’s new 12,000sqm Melbourne Headquarters encourages a more efficient and effective workplace proposition enabling swift response to change. It delivers on Westpac’s design brief and key business imperatives: to focus on their people, making them an important part of their business advantage and reinforce their leadership and sustainability focus.

Situated in an iconic location at 150 Collins Street, the Paris end of Collins Street, the new Melbourne headquarters allows the company to have a high profile city location that differentiates itself from competitors. The new working environment was to provide flexibility in how and where Westpac people work and the design was to align with the new workplace model guiding principles, WorkSMART, and create a flexible and innovative environment that would empower and inspire their people to reach their full potential.

The new workplace accommodates 900 Westpac people housed in dedicated neighbourhoods in an agile working environment with work settings and tools to enable different types of individual and group work. Customer centric, the tenancy includes exceptional client hospitality experience as well as a workplace concierge and a range of informal and hub areas across the floors linked by a continuous stair, visible from the façade.

Project Commissioner

Westpac

Project Creator

Geyer

Team

Project Director/ Lead Design - Simone Oliver
Lead Strategist – Sally Finlay
Base Building Integration – John Lenagan
Senior Designer - Joe Danese
Designers – Iva Durakovic

Project Brief

Initially, Geyer was engaged to complete a time-utilisation study to understand the level of activity based working that would be appropriate for Westpac. The business and cultural readiness of Westpac for agile working, indicated in the Study, lead to the adoption of a transformative workplace model.

Westpac’s new workplace is a human centred environment with intuitive space planning based on natural human choices/behaviours. Our approach involved translating Westpacs internal WorkSMART strategy into the physical workplace. After rigorous engagement with stakeholders, employees and analysis of their working style, a kit-of-parts was developed by Geyer responding to the WorkSMART principles and specific employee needs.

Based on the principle that ‘work is a thing you do not a place you go', a 1,000sqm pilot workplace was constructed to facilitate, critique and review the proposed adoption of agile working and to support the change/communication program associated with this transition. The pilot site was a live environment occupied by select business groups and underwent iterative revisions, product changes and technology trials to rigorously test and achieve the right solution. It was a key tool in the 12 month cultural and behavioural change management strategy for the adoption of Westpac’s’ WorkSMART principles.

Project Innovation/Need

Significant focus on health/wellbeing has enhanced performance/effectiveness while creating a sense of community and belonging. Alternating between collaborative environments, private and niche areas, the central stair offers a diversity of destinations which promotes movement/wellbeing.

The design is based on a Melbourne centric concept of home and regional uniqueness between Westpac's locations which is signified through casualness and textural approach to community spaces, a diversity of richness, tone and graphics was achieved. Geyer collaborated with Melbourne firms Fabio Ongarato and 2B Designed to integrate a graphic/lighting overlay seen in glazing, ceiling and flooring patterns as well as lighting design.

Providing flexibility, the agile working environment is designed for how and where Westpac people work. A breadth of spaces providing a wider selection of work space choices with every space and setting considered "another place to work", this includes; meet/exchange and a range of informal hospitality suites for meeting and socialising.

Each designated neighbourhood adopted 100% non-designated seating providing a diversity of places to work, reflect, share knowledge, socialise and connect.

The central stair encourages movement between floors, supports mobility, facilitates innovation/flexible working and provides a visual connection while anchoring the workplace to Collins Street.

Design Challenge

The incubation period for Westpac Melbourne was 3-4years from building selection to project delivery. Well into the duration of the project, significant projects such as Westpac Barangaroo created shifts from a static to agile work model. The design team overcame the challenge of an accelerated programme due to the late adoption of the agile work model through local product selection, early ordering of long lead-time items and application of intelligence in design/documentation.

Due to the introduction of a user controlled underfloor air handling system by the building architects as a sustainability initiative, the design team overcame the challenge of the coordination of floor ducts and air distribution within the built environment by working as a connected project team. Both the design team and project team worked cohesively to overcome coordination hurdles.

Geyer collaborated with ergonomist Professor David Caple across all bespoke and proprietary furniture/technology settings to ensure comfort, useability and a fitout that promotes movement. The design team overcame the challenge of ensuring all work settings applied the same ergonomic principles to ensure users were able to work successfully with a range of technologies without injury, whilst still maintaining design integrity and uniqueness of the solution.

Sustainability

The project team adopted a best practice sustainable approach to the building and Fitout. 150 Collins Street has Nabers 5 Star Energy rating. This was achieved through:
•High performance Building façade
•Underfloor aircon distribution with individual user control
•High indoor air quality- 150 % improvement on fresh air rates and cleaner internal air. The interiors have also taken a greening approach with indoor planting.
•Energy efficiency through programmable lighting control
•End of Trip Bike and shower facilities
•Destination control lifts
•GECA ratings to all furniture, finishes and materials

Interior Design - Corporate

This award celebrates innovative and creative building interiors, with consideration given to space creation and planning, furnishings, finishes, aesthetic presentation and functionality. Consideration also given to space allocation, traffic flow, building services, lighting, fixtures, flooring, colours, furnishings and surface finishes.
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