Glass giant refurb delivers clear win
- SwitchCo
- Oct 4, 2018
- 3 min read
When the Melbourne staff of the world’s largest bottle-making company learnt they needed to move out of the Hawthorn offices they had occupied for the past three decades, they knew the project would be a challenge.
The job of refurbishing two floors of prime real estate in the CBD landed with an O-I Project Team, including the Global Head of Talent Acquisition at O-I Glass, Nas Hansra. Together with O-I’s moving project team, Nas helped coordinate the move of 200 staff in a window of four months. “It was a fun project, and the project team took to organising the move with gusto,” Nas said.
“Getting involved in a project that affects everyone that works in the same building as you is interesting.”
THE CHALLENGE
200 staff
No parking
2,000 square metres of office space over two floors
3 months for a build that would normally take 6-8 months
Breathing life sustainably into a renowned Melbourne CBD tower
When O-I was told their long-term suburban offices were going to be demolished to make way for apartments within 12 months, they started to cast about for alternative sites. It took around six months to find the right site, on floors 5 and 29 of the Bourke Place Building at 600 Bourke St; leaving a narrow window to get the 2,000 square metre building project completed.
After tendering for an architectural firm to oversee the build, O-I appointed Breathe Architecture, because of the firm’s strong focus on sustainability – something very important to a manufacturer of recycled glass.
“We wanted a sustainable office because of the company’s commitment to the environment, but there was also a strong people element. It was a big cultural change, moving from a mix of offices and open plan in Hawthorn to spaces that were only open plan in the CBD,” Nas said.
“We needed to work with partners who would understand the journey we were going through.”
FINDING THE RIGHT CONSTRUCTION PARTNERS
Breathe recommended Switch Co to build the offices and as soon as the O-I project team met SwitchCo Director Adrian Brown, they knew they’d found the right builder.
“The work they had done in the past was impressive work, but the reason we chose SwitchCo was the personal connection with Adrian,” Nas said.
“We had a really tight timeframe and we needed to be working with someone we trusted, that was going to deliver what they had promised, for the budget that we had agreed – because we didn’t have time to do anything else.
“It went down to the last minute. We got the certificate of occupancy at 9 o’clock on the morning that we moved in. You could say it was stressful, but we were confident that Breathe and SwitchCo could deliver it on time. And they did.
“The relationships we had with the SwitchCo team – Adrian, Jake and Scott – were crucial to delivering the project. They worked long hours to get the project done. Trust was the key to the project’s success.”
Bottles were cut and attached in sequence to an illuminated reception desk – leaving visitors in no doubt as to what O-I delivers and where possible partitions and other building materials were re-used – in line with the project emphasis on sustainability – and containing costs.
GREAT RESULTS
The new offices were finished on time and on budget, but even more importantly, delivered a positive change for the company. The fact that that O-I put a lot of time into listening to and responding to staff before, during and after the move made the project a signal success for the company.
Staff surveys conducted after the move were overwhelmingly positive.
“They’ve got a building which they are proud of working in.
People sit down and initiate conversations with other staff; and it is already significantly improving linkages and conversations across the organisation,” Nas said.
“Staff used to eat their lunches at their desks in Hawthorn, but with the new offices, we have two big kitchen areas and staff are sitting down next to people from other work areas. You can get to know your colleagues in a much stronger way both personally and professionally, so that’s already been a significant obvious impact across the organisation.
“We would do it again – it is very satisfying to see the positive change in the organisation, even though we only moved in eight weeks ago.
“The crucial thing for O-I was working with partners – both Breathe Architecture and SwitchCo –who would listen to us and understand what we wanted to do.
“If I was going to do a project like this again I would look for that same kind of trust with the partners I would work with – and for a few extra months to get the job done!”
By Tim Winkler - tim@twigmarketing.com / 0409 551 743
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