Designing a workplace for your unique requirements

The functional value that buildings can provide to people and organisations is rapidly evolving with the progression of technologies, environmental standards and ways of work. We believe that a building can only be a worthwhile investment if its design, construction and operation facilitate and support our clients in achieving their business goals and objectives.

At the heart of every Willemsen building design is environmental sustainability and a desire to foster community life, creating positive social interactions to support inclusion and collaborative engagement.

Third places – designing in functionality that brings people together

Commercial buildings can be classified within the concept of “third places,” where the first place is the home, the second place is the workplace and the third place is the functional part of a building which bridges the two. These third places are spaces which act to bridge the communication gap and siloes that can exist between teams in hierarchical organisations.

The delivery of a Willemsen building is a two-part process. The first is the delivery of a base building which has the most up to date design and functional technical features. The second part is the process of guiding our clients fit out and use of the space to take full advantage of these features.

In designing the base building, we study global best practice in that area of property — referencing a wide variety of highly regarded projects of a similar nature — seeking to understand the elements of their design, technical specification and construction that make them leading edge. Simultaneously we seek to define the building’s end user, and importantly what their living operational needs and requirements are today and potentially into the future.

Bringing together these reviews with our past experience and an understanding of the attributes of the site, we construct a design brief that informs the design, technical specification, and construction methodology.

Once a building is built and an end user is committed to it, we work closely with them in the design, construction and commissioning of their workplace to ensure that it meets their functional spatial needs whilst also leveraging off the inherent design and technical features of the base building.

A function-driven work environment

The delivery of a workplace involves several steps. By understanding a client’s overarching workplace objectives, we can define the desired user experience. We work with each unique client to create a functional forward-looking vision for their work environment, with structure of the work environment accounting for the diverse types of working environment from open plan, office, flexible working and collaborative spaces. The concept of third places and environmental sustainability is woven into this vision.

Willemsen’s in-house design and consultant team collaborates with our in-house build team to deliver the workplace within the time and cost parameters of our client.

Property in Focus

Department of Finance Workspace

The new Commonwealth headquarters for the Australian Department of Finance are located at 1 Canberra Avenue - at the footsteps of the new Parliament House of Australia, adjacent to St. Paul’s Cathedral. Its form, massing and materials are respectful of their place within the national capital and will endure and continue to improve the surrounding public realm. It is a true exemplar of sustainable development and the modern public sector workplace.

Learn More