Australia Post’s new Melbourne HQ weaves together long-term and transient staff from four locations using an agile environment that takes seriously employees’ requests for wellbeing and fun.

Public perceptions of Australia Post are largely shaped by the organisation’s ongoing efforts to adapt its mail service and massive retail network to the changing needs of customers in an era of digital communication, ubiquitous social media and online shopping. It’s heartening, then, to discover in this 200-year-old company’s six-floor, 11,000-square-metre re-fit at 180 Lonsdale Street by Gray Puksand a diverse workforce wholeheartedly embracing fundamental change with substance, style and a welcome sense of playfulness.

Heidi Smith, AP180 Partner in Charge at Gray Puksand, says remarkably informed, enthusiastic staff engagement shaped a design that’s now widely understood and effectively used. At its core are a host of wellbeing initiatives including a games room housing Fussball and Playstation, a creative lounge where jigsaws and board games are forever on the go, a lending library of magazines and books, and a winter garden complete with white wicker furniture, expansive views and a lovely sense of space provided by a triple-height void. For Smith the design is a stab at answering the most question there is: “How do you support people’s hearts and souls in the working environment to encourage them to stay and to flourish and to really build on that whole idea around collaboration and creativity?”

Words by Kath Dolan.
Photography Mark Duffus.

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