Move strikes gold

RESOURCE company Anglogold has ignored a trend that’s seen many successful businesses relocate to the east coast, deciding instead to move their headquarters from Melbourne to Perth.

Not only has Anglogold’s relocation provided job opportunities in WA, the St Georges Terrace office gave local design firm Blake Thornton-Smith a rare opportunity to develop the company’s headquarters.

Anglogold operating general manager Barrie Parker said Anglogold had moved to Perth because the company’s major assets were in WA.

Mr Parker said the new headquarters were completed very quickly in line with the company’s strict deadline.

“I first approached Blakes in late November and needed the refit finished by early March,” Mr Parker said.

“Blakes were very sympathetic to the needs of a resource company. You generally see resource company fit outs in the average to medium range apart from us.”

The office had considerable technical requirements including provision of areas for the geologists to work with maps and the design had to incorporate the WA exploration office.

The office design also had to reflect the individual culture of Anglogold and the way they do business.

“We sat down with Blakes and talked about how we conduct out business so that Blakes could incorporate that into the fit out and I think that’s reflected in the fit out,” Mr Parker said.

“This was an opportunity to steer the culture in a slightly different direction perhaps a little more team-oriented than it was previously.”

The design of the space means the maximum distance from any working space to the window is eight metres, which allows employees to remain connected with the outside world.

“The most striking parts are the refreshment areas...they were laid out so people could gather informally,” Mr Parker said.

Staff were asked to bring in something important to them and these objects were incorporated in a set of tiles in one of the refreshment areas creating a sense of ownership for staff.

Blake Thornton-Smith principal Ben Blake said the refit for Anglogold was one of the most cutting edge interior design projects in Perth.

Mr Blake said Anglogold com-missioned an office fundamentally designed for its staff.

Anglogold provided Blake Thornton-Smith with a rare opportunity to dev-elop the interior space for a company headquarters.