Description

Minter Ellison is one of the largest Australia-based international corporate Law Firms. Established in Sydney in 1827, the firm operates in Australia, Hong Kong, mainland China, Mongolia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

BVN together with Minter Ellison have designed a new workplace over 8 levels at Governor Macquarie Tower, Levels 34 to 41 at 1 Farrer Place, Sydney. Their departure from Aurora Place is significant as it heralds a new approach to workplace design for Minter Ellison, who have adopted a hybrid model of open and enclosed worksettings, in an environment that encourages flexibility, agility and collaboration.

The new workplace consists of 8 levels of roughly 1190m² each in NLA, with shared facilities such as client meeting, dining and café spaces strategically located across 3 contiguous levels that are also shared with Practice Group accommodation. A void representing only 3% of NLA has been created with a cascading internal stair that connects the whole tenancy, providing a tangible demonstration of commitment to increased collaboration and interaction within the firm.

The tenancy houses approximately 600 people. The workplace accommodation strategy is via an innovative approach using 7.5m² offices for Partners and open worksettings for all other staff, however additional worksettings have been included to allow Partners to choose to work in the open with their teams.  At the time of completion, at least 30% of Partners elected to sit in the open to be nearer to their teams, with the ultimate aim that eventually, all offices will cease to be a dedicated and primary place of work, and become a shared meeting room or a place to retreat when individual concentrated work is needed.

The tenancy is designed for a day 2 environment where a free address approach can be implemented without the need to redesign or change any built elements.