Designing a workplace for a global brand such as Deloitte is a mammoth task at the best of times, but accomplishing this during the pandemic added another level of complexity to such a project.

The task at hand was driven by the expertise of Hassell who worked through the challenging times and immensity of the project to provide a result that exemplifies all that Deloitte requires in its new Sydney workplace.

The Deloitte Headquarters at Quay Quarter Tower spans 14 floors, covering 27,000-square-metres with four interconnected vertical villages. The design of the up-scaled building caters for myriad working styles, allows for flexibility and adaptability and while Deloitte is a global brand, this project reflects its place with a local interior context.

This is a hybrid work environment where the more traditional model of a workplace as 60 per cent working space to 40 per cent collaboration areas has been flipped to 40 per cent work space and 60 per cent collaboration. While the initial design was conceived during Covid in 2021 and delivered in mid-2023, it did not change, as Hassell’s ideation for the project was clear from the outset.

The workplace is defined with four client floors and concierge at the top of the building and then three groupings of three levels as vertical villages beneath. Each of these groups of floors has their own identity. ‘Parklands’ with a green colour palette, ‘Streetscape’ with tones of ochre, browns and reds and ‘Bondi’, reflecting water and waves and primarily blues.

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Among the many other inclusions, besides multiple lounges, training spaces, meeting rooms and retreat areas, are a café with a canopy in Bondi village, Streetscape village features a red floor mural by local artist, Will Cooke and Parklands village, at the bottom of the building, showcases multiple plantings and greenery reflecting the nearby Botanical Gardens.

While the client floors are more traditional in their function with meeting rooms and defined client liaison areas, the other levels combine every type of collaboration area. There are breakout spaces, quiet working areas, places for the individual or groups and it is up to each staff member to find their own particular place at home, at work.

The project was overseen by Hassell Principal and Head of Design Emily Moss and Principal, David Whittaker and led by Simone Daly Sorokowski, who worked closely with Deloitte to ensure the design of the workplace met the needs and requirements of the people and the business. Hassell also helped provide the environmental, social and governance objectives for the working environment. This, in turn, resulted in creating a fossil-free workplace and achieving sustainability ratings, such as 6 Green Star and Platinum WELL.

Moss comments that, “As a client, they (Deloitte) were amazingly open to planning suggestions and how we envisaged the future workplace. They were very collaborative to the extent that when we came to the core design and the selections of finishes and furniture, they said to us,’ We challenge you to challenge us. What can we do that really sets us apart, makes us different and makes us iconic’. So, as a client, they were very daring.”

This project is immense and supports 6500 people with 2500 collaboration seats and 1100 long-term work points. All floor plates have been designed intelligently, using less space and designing more into them.

To ensure that the workplace reflected a Sydney flavour, including local design was paramount to the success of the project. Suppliers included Mark Tuckey and his walnut timber furniture, Dowel Jones’, Simon Says range, Lowe Furniture’s custom timber tables and worktables, Didier’s Caterpillar range of tables and furniture from Koskela.

Nothing about The Deloitte Headquarters at Quay Quarter Tower is usual or commonplace – from the size of the project, the amount and diversity of employees to support, delivering through a pandemic to presenting Deloitte with a workplace that is finessed and detailed, multi-functional and flexible. Catering to the needs of all workers was essential and this Hassell has done with aplomb.

As a workplace this project is singular. The complexity of the design and its resolution are a credit to the design prowess of Hassell, Moss, Whittaker, Daly-Sorokowski and their team. Of course, the winners are Deloitte who has a new and exciting workplace that provides excellent resources for all staff, from the Managing Director to the intern.

Asked about the experiential moments of being in the building Moss replies, “I just love the various experiences of looking down into the workplace when you stand on the atrium edge. You look down and there are these vastly different experiences – looking down onto the garden and then the floor with the art (floor mural) and the integration of the joinery and furniture solutions within that. You have this amazing view from above with very different languages between the various zones, but they all tie together.”

A silver lining of the pandemic is the emergence of workplaces such as The Deloitte Headquarters at Quay Quarter Tower, where design and best practice coalesce with sensitivity and functionality, and the outcome is a working space designed for everyone.

Deloitte’s Sydney Headquarters is an entry to The Work Space at the 2024 INDE.Awards and The Work Space category is proudly partnered by MillerKnoll.

Hassell
hassellstudio.com

Photography:
Earl Carter and Rusty Crawshaw

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