As many as 400 people were involved in our briefing and engagement sessions across a large range of activities including a 40-person strong words & pictures workshop, four focus groups inclusive of approximately 80 participants, large image scrolls across multiple sites, individual briefing interviews of 14 departments, online surveys and colour surveys. The multi-layered stakeholders included the council CEO and his team and then final approval for the project and tendered budget was provided by the elected councillors at a council meeting.

A major focus of the design is the health and wellbeing of staff. The project is benchmarking against 6-Star Green Star and Platinum WELL ratings, which will only be limited by the parameters of the existing building.

The redevelopment was staged to allow Council staff to continue to work on-site and included:

• Open plan office with a variety of hotdesking zones, collaboration spaces, meeting spaces and focus booths.

• Distinct landmarked zones with nods to Hobsons Bay’s industrial past.

• Public interface with coworking space, meeting rooms and media room.

• New external end-of-trip facilities.