Medibank Headquarters – Melbourne
HASSELL created the new headquarters for health insurance company, Medibank, located in Melbourne, Australia.
Medibank is in the business of promoting better health for everyone. This includes the people who come to work every day at Medibank Place, its head office in Melbourne’s Docklands.
The new workplace was part of a major cultural change program for Australia’s largest health insurer to live its purpose to the core and create better health outcomes for its members, employees and the community.
That aspiration drove Medibank to create one of the healthiest workplaces in the world. One that goes beyond conventional Activity Based Working (ABW) to create Health Based Working (HBW) – an approach that places the mental and physical health of people at its heart.
Medibank employees now have real freedom to choose how and where they work. With laptops and mobile phones in hand, staff can select from more than 26 types of work settings – from indoor quiet spaces to collaborative hubs to wifi-enabled balconies.
The building itself has been described as being ‘hard-wired for health’. That’s apparent across the site, from the multi-purpose sports court at ground level to the edible garden and demonstration kitchen promoting healthy eating to staff, not-for-profits and the wider community.
Both the building and the workplace incorporate thousands of plants. This helps relieve stress, improves internal air quality and transforms views from grey to green.
With around 10 percent of the building’s exterior covered by native Australian plants, Medibank Place also provides welcome relief within its heavily concreted urban surrounds.
A highly collaborative design process meant architects and landscape architects contributed to the workplace interiors, interior designers and architects to the park and all three disciplines to the base building design.
Designer: HASSELL
HASSELL Design Team: Mark Loughnan, Ingrid Bakker, Robert Backhouse, Steve Coster, Anthony Dickens, Travis Hemley, Robin Deutschmann, David Andrew, Kevin Cullis, Matthew Mackay, Mary Papaioannou, Harley Vincent, Trevor Coolledge, Jacqui Low, Ian Grant, Joel Sampson, Greta Stoutjesdijk, Allison Armstrong, Yi Zhen Kueh, Brenton Beggs, Andrea Giuradei, Benjamin Kronenberg, Bethany Mann, Biljana Lojanica, David Simpson, Ecknaathh Bala, Harry Hrissis, Hendy Wijaya, Horaci Sanchez, Jack Barlow, Julia Zaritaskaja, Maria Bauer, Michael Fouche, Molly Hibberd, Patrick Hamilton, Darren Paul, Pauline Vivaldi, Robbi Peirce, Shalom Ling Choong, Simon Rich, Steven Paul, Stuart Dow
Design Collaborators: Chris Connell Design, FOD, Kerry Phelan Design Office, Russell & George, Veldhoen + Company
Photography: Earl Carter
