BY ANDREW JOHNSON MANAGING DIRECTOR, INTERMAIN
Entertaining clients and staff at the office is by no means a new concept. But what is gaining traction is the trend towards designing flexible offices that can be quickly converted into highly sophisticated event spaces.
Having these options in-house doesn’t just save money on venue hire, but can also be far more effective for building relationships with clients. Being able to host your customers at your ‘home’ helps build a stronger connection with your brand and gives them a higher level of comfort and familiarity with your business. Some of our clients are offering to ‘loan’ this function space to their customers, further adding value to the business relationship.
Equally, the ability to hold frequent staff gatherings, sometimes at very short notice, is invaluable for nurturing a company culture and communicating effectively. These spaces can also support a robust in-house training program which is becoming an important feature of preferred workplaces. And when they are not being used for functions, break out spaces can default to informal meeting and social hubs for staff to encourage interaction and collaboration.
A smart workplace solution can achieve this quite simply and cost-effectively. When smaller meetings are grouped together and separated by removable walls, they can be easily merged together to create larger spaces. One or two rooms can be joined for more intimate client or staff forums, or you can combine all rooms to create a space big enough to host a Town Hall meeting or large function.
By including an open kitchen in the middle of your floorplate, you can create a central social zone that’s easily accessible by all areas of the office, helping to bring people together that wouldn’t otherwise pass each other during the day.
Selecting furniture and designing joinery to be movable gives you total flexibility, as does zoning an integrated AV solution that can be adjusted to the needs of the day at the touch of a button.
"AT INTERMAIN, WE BELIEVE IN THE ‘SOCIAL OFFICE’ CONCEPT AND HAVE BUILT OUR OWN HEADQUARTERS AROUND THIS PHILOSOPHY."
We recently transformed our mezzanine meeting spaces into
a series of ‘themed rooms’ at our annual client party. Because the office was designed with this use in mind, all it took was some party lighting to transform it into a spectacular event with room for a band and performances. Every month, we merge three of our breakout spaces for a ‘whole team’ lunch, where over 100 of our people sit down together. We use the large video conference screen in the space to highlight our teams’ achievements, as well as personal milestones like weddings, birthdays and anniversaries. On a normal day, our large communal kitchen with island bench becomes the social hub of our office, supporting excellent interaction between all our staff and helping to foster our truly collaborative culture.
But there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution and no two office layouts are the same. This is why creating a successful ‘social office’ requires some creative thinking to spot opportunities in a layout, particularly where space is at a premium. Understanding a company’s culture, identifying how staff interact and how it relates with its clients is also critical to a successful outcome.
CASE STUDY THYSEEN KRUPP HEADQUARTERS
When multi-national corporate Thyssen Krupp briefed Intermain
to design and construct their new headquarters in Sydney, creating a ‘social office’ was a top priority.
Our solution included a central meeting space which could be adapted quickly and easily to perform a variety of functions. Each morning, the area is used to host breakfast for all staff, kicking off the day in a collaborative and social way.
A Bespoke communal island bench table brings the team together in the space.
Incorporated in the space is a smart AV system which activates at the push of the button to support presentations and video conferences when required.
Andrew Johnson is Managing Director of Intermain, an established multi-skilled commercial fitout company focussed on excellent customer service and high quality building standards across building refurbishment, design and construct for corporate offices, ‘make-goods’, retail and hospitality. Intermain work nationally from offices in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane and have one of the largest, state-of-the art joinery workshops in Australia.
VISIT INTERMAIN.COM.AU FOR MORE DETAILS.
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