Healthy Active by Design

Design Feature

Type of Project: Landowner Strategy

State: New South Wales

Location: Urban

In 2016, WT Partnership (WT) moved to a newly renovated office on 45 Clarence Street, Sydney. The project design brief outlined the vision for an office that 'looks nothing like an office'. The final development features a 5 Star Green Star Interiors fit-out of the new office space, which places strong emphasis on employee health and wellbeing. The new agile workplace encourages a connection to the natural environment, through people and place.

The non-office office

WT grew rapidly during 2013 - 2015, and wanted to dramatically change the culture with more emphasis and focus on people so set about a move to a different office space, uprooting from its North Sydney home of more than 50 years to the city. The move from North Sydney to CBD was also driven by WT’s new vision for growth, focusing on workplace culture and environment. Staff consultation was undertaken to identify their needs, interests and requirements, as well as enablers and barriers for them being healthy at work. The WT Management group and design team used these findings, along with additional business requirements, as a matrix to scope a new tenancy. In addition to the established requirements of proximity to public transport and sustainability requirements of locating a five-star National Australian Built Environment Rating System (NABERS) Energy rated building, key preferences from the staff were:

Access to end of trip facilities
Activity Based Working (ABW) workspace
Sit to stand desks and standing meeting tables to reduce sitting time
A multi-functional breakout space with access to views and daylight
More meeting rooms, collaboration spaces, client presentation spaces, with IT/AV facilities

The new work style provides staff with opportunities to change working locations and increase incidental physical activity.

Following staff consultation, PDM International (now Cachet Group) were engaged in early 2015 to develop a detailed project plan, which included the office design. The design and fit-out of the new office space was recognised in the 2016 Masters Building Award category where the project won the Managing Contractors (MPA) award for the Interior Fit-out category between $1.5 million to $2 million.

The design draws upon the holistic environmental sustainability rating framework of Green Star Interiors and marries health and wellbeing strategies using the WELL Building Standard framework. The result is a fit-out designed with biophilic principles which meets the innate and psychological needs of humans to be around nature and life-like processes. This is achieved by including a generous proportion of indoor plants around the office, ivy planters on top of windows, recycled materials and reclaimed wood, the first installation of a moss wall in the southern hemisphere, natural timber workstations and a blue-stained timber floor in the breakout areas emulating the ocean. The new fit-out fosters project-based collaboration across a variety of work environments and features an undulating ribbon which crosses through the social heart of the floor, representing the organisations’ desire to encourage collaboration and create a positive workplace culture.

Staff interaction and connection is encouraged through breakout and collaboration spaces.

To evaluate the effectiveness of the Project, WT worked with the University of Sydney in assessing employee comfort, health and productivity through enhanced Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) by measuring the key IEQ dimensions through the Building Occupants Survey System Australia (BOSSA).

The new office provides employees with a workspace where they can thrive professionally and personally.

The office fit-out outperforms the BOSSA benchmark in all categories. Additionally, WT’s overall performance, health and productivity was rated as 40% higher than the BOSSA benchmark and demonstrated a 70% improvement from 2015.

No project can achieve success overnight. It requires a vision, goals and objectives and numerous champions to drive and coordinate the project. The following lessons may be useful for companies considering an office relocation/new fit out:

Set targets around office design and outcomes
Undertake a needs analysis and consult with staff to understand the enablers/barriers of office design
Good design can cost less

Project team

WT Partnership, Owner and Sustainability and Wellbeing Consultant
Cachet Group (formerly PDM International), Interior Design and Management
MPA, Builder
Aston Consulting, Services

Project cost

$1.5 - $2 Million

Gallery

In selecting the office location, WT chose a building in proximity to public transport to enable and encourage staff to travel to and from work, via active and mixed mode transport.

The building has good end of trip facilities, including bike storage, a bike maintenance station, lockers and showers as well as wardrobe facilities located within the tenancy, all encouraging active transport.

The fit-out of the workspace was designed to suit Activity Based Working (ABW), which encourages staff to work in varied locations which optimally suit the type of activity or work they are conducting. This workstyle provides staff with opportunities to change working locations and increase incidental physical activity.

Pre- and post-occupancy evaluations show that staff are more active in the new fit-out; the evaluation showed a 6% reduction in sedentary time and a 20% increase in activity time.

Additional strategies include:
- Locating amenities such as waste and recycling bins in communal areas, rather than at individual desks, to encourage movement and interrupt prolonged sitting.
- Providing sit to stand desks, standing meeting, presentation and collaboration tables.
- Substituting carbonated sugary drinks and unhealthy snack food with healthy snacks such as fruits, nuts and seeds.
- A policy for all catering to follow WELL principles for health and nutritional value.
- Conducting yoga, Pilates and boot camp in and outside the office for staff.
Sustainability does not always cost more. This is evident in the design of the breakout space where a clever use of diversity in mechanical design removed the need for two additional packaged air conditioning units, a saving in the capital and ongoing operational costs.

WT hosts and delivers lectures to university students. These seminars have resulted in several applications from the students to work at WT, from which a select few are chosen each year. With the addition of new service streams, and ongoing growth in existing teams, the number of staff has grown from 74 to 119 employees, after the move to the new office.
By embedding sustainability and health-centric design initiatives into the design, WT has demonstrated responsible corporate citizenship, by applying Green Star, NABERS and WELL Building Standard frameworks. Some of the key sustainability initiatives incorporated in the office design, construction and operations include:
- Extensive use of sustainable materials to minimise the carbon footprint by sourcing used or vintage furniture, recycled products (e.g. timber flooring, timber workstation tops, brick for masonry, vintage door, etc.), furniture with high environmental credentials and purchasing pre-owned lateral filing cabinets from a tenancy in the CBD moving to a new office.
- Recycling and reuse of construction materials, which diverted 93% of construction and demolition waste from landfill.
- Very low volatile organic compounds in paints, finishes and furniture, to enable high quality indoor air for occupants.
- LED lighting, designed in small zones, and controlled by occupancy sensors.
- High energy-efficiency electronic appliances and equipment.
- High water-efficiency taps and appliances.
- Energy efficient boardroom air conditioning controlled by CO2sensors and an economy air cycle.
- 100% of electricity is Greenpower sourced.
- The breakout space is used to host industry and networking events for organisations such as the National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC), CoreNet Global, and others.
- Staff interaction and connection is encouraged through breakout and collaboration spaces, well equipped kitchen/lunch room facilities, wellness classes, including mindfulness, Yoga and Pilates.
- Activity Based Working encourages collaboration and fosters social interaction.
- As part of their corporate social responsibility, to minimise waste from the previous tenancy, WT ran a charity auction of the existing bookshelves, tables, chairs, small artwork and other loose furniture items, which raised over $3,200 for charity.
- Provides employees with a workspace where they can thrive professionally and personally, in an environment which promotes health and wellbeing.
- Encourages employees to access active and mixed mode transport.
- BOSSA survey results indicate a significant increase in employee perceived productivity and satisfaction in all Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) variables.
- Demonstration of an environmentally responsible design which produces environmental, economic and social benefits for the organisation, its employees and the broader community.
www.wtpartnership.com.au/new-sydney-office/

www.bossasystem.com

Candido et al. (2017). Can Activity-Based Working spaces increase worker’s physical activity, perceived productivity and satisfaction? PLEA 2017, Edinburgh, Design to Thrive. www.researchgate.net/publication/318587446_Can_Activity-Based_Working_spaces_increase_worker’s_physical_activity_perceived_productivity_and_satisfaction

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