IT companies take to, and flight from, the terrace
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Tuesday, 16 July, 2002 - 22:00
THERE has been plenty of action in the IT world on St Georges Terrace, with one group setting up shop on the street and another shifting away from Perth’s business boulevard.
Ten-year terrace tenant Gryphon Consulting has moved from 178 St Georges Terrace to Brisbane St in Northbridge, while telecommunications manager Stratatel has taken up space at 26 St Georges Terrace.
Gryphon managing director Tony Ciallella said the time was right for the business to move, with the lease for its old headquarters expiring recently.
Mr Ciallella said the company had taken the opportunity presented by low interest rates to buy an older style house in Northbridge for its base. He was hopeful his staff would use the move as motivation to get out of the office more to meet clients.
Gryphon will hope the move marks a turnaround for the company, which has had a difficult past year.
Mr Ciallella said the past financial year had been the company’s worst in 10 years, owing to mixed corporate demand for IT professionals and lower spending on IT projects generally.
“It’s tough, extremely tough. It’s probably been
the worst year I’ve had in the last 10 without a
doubt, but the story’s the same around town,” he said.
“Even the big international players are feeling it in a sense.”
Stratatel, on the other hand, is moving up, and has decided to relocate to premises larger than its previous home on Murray St.
Managing director Michael Fairclough said that while the company had other offices in the eastern states, Perth was its hub for product development. He said Stratatel had originally looked for office space in West Perth but had found the central Perth market offered better value.
The fact Stratatel would be able to access a choice of fibre optic networks was also a consideration.
“In our case we need to have access to fast communications services; that was the reason we felt safest that we were right where the fibre was running because we just couldn’t afford to make a mistake on that,” Mr Fairclough said.
The new office is bigger than the old facilities and better reflects the company’s development, Mr Fairclough said. “What was most important was the delivery of service to our clients. It happened to be that there was what we considered to be some pretty cheap space on the terrace, and given that we need access to fibre, it suited us just fine,” he said.
Ten-year terrace tenant Gryphon Consulting has moved from 178 St Georges Terrace to Brisbane St in Northbridge, while telecommunications manager Stratatel has taken up space at 26 St Georges Terrace.
Gryphon managing director Tony Ciallella said the time was right for the business to move, with the lease for its old headquarters expiring recently.
Mr Ciallella said the company had taken the opportunity presented by low interest rates to buy an older style house in Northbridge for its base. He was hopeful his staff would use the move as motivation to get out of the office more to meet clients.
Gryphon will hope the move marks a turnaround for the company, which has had a difficult past year.
Mr Ciallella said the past financial year had been the company’s worst in 10 years, owing to mixed corporate demand for IT professionals and lower spending on IT projects generally.
“It’s tough, extremely tough. It’s probably been
the worst year I’ve had in the last 10 without a
doubt, but the story’s the same around town,” he said.
“Even the big international players are feeling it in a sense.”
Stratatel, on the other hand, is moving up, and has decided to relocate to premises larger than its previous home on Murray St.
Managing director Michael Fairclough said that while the company had other offices in the eastern states, Perth was its hub for product development. He said Stratatel had originally looked for office space in West Perth but had found the central Perth market offered better value.
The fact Stratatel would be able to access a choice of fibre optic networks was also a consideration.
“In our case we need to have access to fast communications services; that was the reason we felt safest that we were right where the fibre was running because we just couldn’t afford to make a mistake on that,” Mr Fairclough said.
The new office is bigger than the old facilities and better reflects the company’s development, Mr Fairclough said. “What was most important was the delivery of service to our clients. It happened to be that there was what we considered to be some pretty cheap space on the terrace, and given that we need access to fibre, it suited us just fine,” he said.