Suncorp Offices – Auckland
Suncorp’s transition to an agile way of working resulted in the consolidation of multiple sites and levels, with the insertion of a feature corkscrew staircase further improving efficiencies in their Auckland location.
Unispace designed an expansive space with a modern and comfortable feel for the Suncorp offices in Auckland, New Zealand.
As a result of integrated strategy and design, Suncorp NZ has consolidated its footprint from two sites to one, and from nine levels to five in a single high-rise tower, while retaining similar staff numbers. Achieved by adopting an ambitious sharing ratio, their new space is designed to provide a sense of shared ownership, safety, wellness, and wellbeing.
One of the project’s most ambitious undertakings was overcoming the physical divide across five floors. By inserting a corkscrew staircase, the design has created one workplace within the larger context of the five cellular levels in a 2000’s tower building. To do this, 6x6m voids had to be extracted from the centre of the floorplates, removing 120 tonnes of concrete and replacing it with 60 tonnes of structural steel. Rather than exiting their floor to access another level of the business, employees now have an internal staircase that connects them all.
The outcome from the workplace strategy sessions required a mix of work settings, meeting rooms, and social/collaborative spaces, in accordance with Suncorp NZ’s workplace Guiding Principles.
Project efficiency and decision-making were supported by running the project programme through Suncorp NZ’s Agile Workflow Methodology – the new way of working that would be rolled out to staff. An initial half-day workshop established the 18-month ‘Flight Plan’ to completion, containing 3-monthly milestones. Unispace implemented daily scrum stand-ups and a Kanban board in-house, which in turn feed into weekly scrum-of-scrum sessions with the other eight streams on-site with Suncorp.
The Suncorp Auckland office brings together multiple business units, reducing rent costs and significantly improving organisational efficiencies while better representing Suncorp as a brand.
Design: Unispace
Photography: Shannon McGrath
