Perhaps the the greatest challenge facing the construction team: how to keep staff interacting when they work on two separate floors? The answer was to insert a 2.5 metre wide central stairwell through the main floor slab – the Valmont construction team liaising closely with building engineers to ensure structural integrity was maintained. This striking feature uses a contemporary blend of wood, glass and metal and serves as a key focal point while providing practical access and integration for staff between the two floors.

And thanks to some careful planning and by incorporating inviting finishes in the form of wood floor, shaped partitions and
comfortable seating, the underlying space became an informal meeting point, rather than a void and further encourages the
link between teams and floors.

And to ensure staff can chat and relax together, an open-plan casual breakout space was also designed – itself part of a larger dynamic area using moveable walls between it and the training room and boardroom. This allows three spaces to become one as required, with the kitchen providing the central function however the area is configured.

Our design and construction team loved collaborating with the client on this project – ClearView were very hands on with the
concept designs, and they were always involved in site meetings so they knew exactly how the process unfolded. It was great
to have such an interested client, who can truly say they were an integral part of the process.

You can find out more about ClearView here.

The article provides some sound thinking on the pros and cons of businesses moving to such a different (and disparate) operational structure, with our own Sergio Pires adding his unique insights to this largely untried but undoubtedly necessary working model for the future.

In particular, Serge highlights the key issues of maintaining a company culture and ensuring proper leadership can continue to be demonstrated and applied across a fragmented and remote staff network.

The full article is well worth a read and can be found on our site here.

The report said over the next nine years, the resources sector will drive new demand for office space that will dwarf previous expansion phases, with a forecast growth of 50% on current supply levels to over 2 million sqm by 2020.

Savills WA managing director Paul Craig said the amount of projected demand for additional office supply by 2020 clearly highlights the impending shortage of Perth office supply as WA’s new wave of resources projects come to life. Savills WA leasing divisional director Graham Postma stated the report is the first of its kind to quantify the demand for Perth office space flowing directly from the resources sector, with professional services businesses, such as legal firms, accounting practices and recruitment agencies experiencing strong growth in staff numbers and actively looking for more office space.

You can read the full Savills report here.

Valmont is already experiencing this growth firsthand, with fitout work for BHP, iinet and Calibre Global all recently completed. Our Perth office is now well and truly established, with 14 staff in place providing our full range of services, and a number of projects already confirmed for 2012.