DETAILS

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Gallery / Woodside Energy Ltd

The project

When planning for the future, many corporations aspire to a workplace that can accommodate constant change, such as the growth and contraction of space requirements, despite the fact that restructuring is, in most cases, inevitable. Woodside Energy Ltd in Perth, WA, was one such corporation.

The Tungsten Group was appointed project manager and client representative to implement the process of sourcing long term office accommodation, fitout planning and construction, and relocation of Woodside. Tungsten's involvement started by being engaged by Woodside to develop a strategic plan to ensure future office accommodation would meet business objectives and demands.

"As a dynamic oil and gas company with projects coming and going, we needed to be able to expand and contract quickly and economically within a tenancy," explains Irena Bril, Woodside's Project Manager.

That meant creating a workspace which could respond to such fluctuating circumstances over a 15-year period, within which workers could easily adapt their working environment themselves, and respond to changing activities and configurations. Flexibility was the key.

The process

This relatively ambitious brief was outlined to the design team of Geyer and Blake Thornton-Smith (BTS), along with specific practical requirements such as allowing users to work on any surface of the workstations, ensuring the workstations could be easily reconfigured by users, and providing effective cable management.

In response, a comprehensive design process was embarked upon, including consulting users to determine types of work to be undertaken now and in the future. How would people work? How would they respond to workplace change?

As the design was developed, the configuration of workstations was condensed to five types, which Schiavello refined with the designers. One of the key aims was to ensure that the kit of parts with each workstation was minimal so that users could handle them easily themselves. Schiavello's willingness to create a prototype - a fundamental requirement of the tender process which few manufacturers were prepared to meet - was embraced and the optimum result became a combination of Schiavello's QED, System 45, and Systemet storage solutions.

"Schiavello took a proactive approach to meeting performance based design requirements and worked with the team to identify solutions," explains Geoff Parnell of the Tungsten Group.

The product

The work environment for Woodside features Schiavello QED work desks, all height adjustable and linked with a specialised bracket that locks consecutive workstations in position. These can be as easily 'unlocked' should reconfiguration be required. The QED desks are complemented by System 45 dividing panels, designed especially for the Woodside project. These metal perforated acoustic and fabric panels comprised of 1250 mm high base panels, with 200 mm high stack panels. Some desks also featured desk-mounted screens. Schiavello also supplied an extensive storage package for this project. This included workstation storage using Systemet metal storage, some with custom rounded off wood grain timber tops consistent with desktops. Other storage included large white custom storage units for general office areas, both mobile and fixed.

The first significant test for the workstation system came when Geyer and Blake Thornton-Smith were also engaged to reconfigure a large number of the workstations already installed due to a major restructure and reduction in staff three months before the scheduled completion of the fitout. More specifically, larger workstation users (geoscientists) were being relocated into a number of different business units. Working closely with Woodside and Tungsten, Schiavello was proactive in adapting these existing products to Woodside's requirements, and readily assisted in the effective planning of changes to ensure minimum disruption to the progress of the fitout.

The design of the QED workstation and cable management systems meant that the changes were able to be made in a highly efficient and time-effective manner that was significantly quicker than the construction manager (Baulderstone Hornibrook) had anticipated.

The system has been well received by Woodside personnel.

"The design solution that we developed with Schiavello fulfils our requirements and we are confident that our churn costs will greatly reduce," says Irena Bril. "The reduced number of workstyles and the basic kit of parts is also a feature that we believe will be beneficial in the long term."

Project details
Project Location: : 240 St. Georges Tce. Perth, WA Client: Woodside Energy Ltd - Irena Bril Design: Geyer: John Lenagan, Alexandra Coleman, Karen Griffin; Blake Thornton-Smith - Kim Thornton-Smith, Brendan Wong Project Management: Tungsten Group - Geoff Parnell Schiavello WA: Rod Hewson, Pippa Hewson Area: 33,000 m2 Products: 1800 QED workpoints with System 45 panels. Systemet metal storage + custom storage.