RAC’s new home builds brand

After exhaustive consultation with staff and members, an 18-month construction period and a $44 million spend, Perth’s most substantial office building since Woodside Plaza is complete and is now home, during work hours at least, to more than 450 staff.

The RAC building, located on Wellington Street in West Perth, is light, open and an absolute delight to work in, according to staff.

In addition, the RAC is the first private organisation to target a four-star greenhouse energy level, and the building contains the latest in environmental technology and efficiency.

RAC general manager of operations Michael Heath said the new building was part of a rebranding exercise that included RAC’s retail outlets.

The old RAC offices on Adelaide Terrace were well out of date, he said, which was not the message a membership-based organisation such as the RAC wanted to present.

“We wanted to transact business in a much friendlier atmosphere, and from a staff point of view it also wasn’t suitable,” Mr Heath said.

“We wanted a very casual and open environment with a clear separation of services, but also had to balance our heritage with a sense of progressiveness.”

He said that there had been a very smooth transition to the new office and feedback from staff had been “fantastic”.

“We expect the new building to be an advantage in recruitment and retention,” he said.

Multiplex undertook construction of the building, and due to the nature of the contract, RAC was shielded from the massive escalation in construction costs over the period the building was constructed.

Cox Howlett & Bailey Woodland senior interior designer Gary Giles, who worked on the RAC project with Cox architects Steve Woodland and Brett White, said environmental and sustainable design issues were very important in the design brief.

“The building has an atmospheric water cooler, double glazing on all the windows, lights that automatically dim when a user is out of the room for a certain amount of time, and also sense the amount of natural light in the room and adjust accordingly,” Mr Giles said.

Integral to RAC’s move was a shift towards a relationship with customers rather than merely the conducting of transactions, and the creation of a warm and open office to reflect that.

Mr Giles said an extensive consultation process with staff had enormous value and gave them much greater ownership of the site.

“Staff had workshops every month to focus on a different element of the building, and that interaction made the transition much easier and gives a real sense of ownership,” he said.

“Three different kinds of work stations were set up with different furniture and staff asked which one they liked better; they had the choice between 12 chairs.”

And it was daring for a conservative organisation to create a building with only nine closed rooms.

“The design of the building is like a small community with town squares,” he told WA Business News.

“The office is mostly open plan and enhances cross-fertilisation and interaction within the organisation with key hubs of activity.”

RAC manager of property assets and acquisitions Glenn Rodin said the site was chosen out of 48 potential sites due to its accessibility, visibility and staff amenity.

“We did consider going out into the suburbs, and being a motoring organisation wanted to provide visible parking for members,” Mr Rodin said.

“The key objective was to create a warm and welcoming environment that moved away from high counters and barriers and encouraged interaction.”