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01 Zip instant boiling water

in state-of-the-art spaces

Instant Boiling Water

Boiling Point Issue 15

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Welcome to Issue #15 of Boiling Point, the magazine for Zip HydroTap, providing instant boiling and chilled filtered water to state-of-the-art design and architectural spaces.

Commercial P.02 Retail Therapy Myer’s new head office is both a striking new edifice for the Melbourne institution and also a facility offering greater collaboration and wellbeing.

Profile P.05 Jane Williams BVN Architecture’s Jane Williams is the driving force behind some of Australia’s best commercial interiors, including Myer’s new head office.

Commercial

P.06 Modern History MLC’s offices in North Sydney broke new ground when the building was opened in 1957. It does so once more with a revamp by DesignInc.

UK (Cover Story) P.08 Changing the Law

London’s Eversheds explodes the cliché of the legal world’s Dickensian gloom with its fresh, contemporary and light-filled new offices.

Commercial P.12 Water Mark

Sydney Water’s new Parramatta head office is the perfect vessel for its new interactive and collaborative culture.

Cover image: Eversheds, London by Woods Bagot. Photography: Tim Soar

News from Zip Greetings to readers of the very latest issue of Boiling Point. We hope you enjoy reading about some outstanding projects in which Zip HydroTap instant boiling water systems are installed. We would also like to share a few items of Zip news with you. Firstly, we are currently introducing architects and interior designers to a new member of the Zip HydroTap range – the Zip HydroTap All-In-One. Like other Zip HydroTap models, the All-In-One delivers boiling and chilled filtered water instantly. But what makes it different is that it also gives hot, cold and warm water. It makes kitchen planning more simple and may be either connected to a hot water supply, or stand alone – mixing boiling water with cold water to provide hot or warm water. We’re also delighted to announce that Zip is Principal Sponsor of Sydney Festival 2011, an honour our company now shares with the State Government of New South Wales and the City of Sydney. The Festival runs from January 8 to 30, and includes more than 300 performances in more than 25 locations in and around the city. The Festival attracts an audience of well over a million people, many from abroad. Sydney Festival is changing the way the world sees Sydney, and we appreciate the opportunity our Principal Sponsorship presents. On a serious note and because he was so well known to many regular readers of Boiling Point it also seems only right for me to mention the unexpected death this year of Glenn Moore. Glenn was responsible for training people in the fine points of the specification, installation and maintenance of instant boiling water systems for more than a quarter of a century. He not only conducted training courses in every part of Australia, but also visited New Zealand, South-East Asia, China, South Africa, the Middle East, the United Kingdom and Europe. He made firm friends wherever he went, and will be deeply missed. As always, thanks to our many supporters.

Michael Crouch AO Executive Chairman Zip Industries (Aust) Pty Ltd michaelcrouch@zipindustries.com

The new Zip HydroTap All-In-One.

Boiling Point Issue 15

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Retail therapy One of Melbourne’s famous institutions, Myer, gets a brand new head office that supports both greater collaboration and wellbeing. Myer National Support Office, Melbourne Text: Paul McGillick / Guy Allenby Photography: John Gollings Architecture and interiors: BVN Architecture

Myer has a total of 67 stores across Australia, but none boasts the landmark status of the company’s flagship, Myer Melbourne, which is positioned at the very heart of the Victorian capital’s CBD. The early 20th Century building is one of the Melbourne’s great institutions – and was both department store and the company’s head office – but it was time to move. It was, says Damian Glass, Myer’s PR Manager, “a rabbit warren”. Both the structure and the interiors of this striking new edifice at Docklands was designed by BVN Architecture and it now houses the administrative and support side of Myer’s operations (the city store itself, of course, remains). It’s a tailored result to a very specific list of needs. “The brief was to create a contemporary new workplace that would support their retail business,” explains Jane Williams, BVN’s joint project principal on the job. A regular bus

service ferries people back and forth between head office and the CBD store. The new building unites a number of business units (including an advertising agency, media buying agency, photographer etc.) and facilitates a high level of collaboration across a wide range of disciplines. “We have people in property,” says Damian Glass, “people in marketing, people looking at merchandising, so that the way the workplace needs to respond is quite diverse. There are a whole variety of support spaces – things that Myer didn’t have in their previous workplace. It enables people to come together quickly, in different ways.” A set of stairs connect levels two to nine and each floor has especially generous circulation spaces where Work Cafés provide a variety of working and breakout environments. Each are equipped with Zip HydroTap systems to facilitate the instant refreshment (boiling water and chilled filtered water) for the planned and spontaneous

Boiling Point Issue 15

collaborations that are so crucial to Myer’s dynamic new head office environment. “We have been using Zip products for a number of years and they are a trusted brand,” says Jane Williams. “We know that they work in a commercial environment, they are reliable and they are easy to use.” There are 1,000 people working in the building who often need to team up in small and larger groups – often with large amounts of clothing and products moving from one place to another. “The fact that the spaces are so generous,” says Williams, “is responding to the racks of clothing, and the hard surfaces respond to that heavy traffic. [They are] spaces to bring the organisation together fairly quickly.” The Work Cafés flow naturally off the wide perimeter circulation corridors which allow for this constant flow of people with clothing rack or large suitcases full of samples. BVN Architecture (61 3) 9639 9199 For more information about Zip HydroTap, visit zipindustries.com

Design Principal Architect Jane Williams is at the sharp edge of office design. A principal at leading architecture and design firm BVN Architecture, Jane is the driving force behind some of the firm’s most impressive commercial interiors. Among them: Campus MLC in North Sydney. Finished in 2000, MLC set a high benchmark for the new office at the cusp of a new century and introduced the ‘campus’ concept to this country. Another standout on Jane’s imposing CV is the award-winning National@ Docklands in Melbourne which, at completion in 2004, was the largest workplace project in the southern hemisphere (the huge complex provides for 3000 workers). It’s a highly efficient and sustainable workplace, lauded as a place that ensures that the health and wellbeing of employees is at an absolute premium. And now with Myer’s National Support Office, Melbourne, Jane and BVN have delivered an attractive, streamlined eight-floor container for Myer’s daily corporate business. The key to this was to create “spaces in which individuals and teams could come together,” says Jane, adding that the bigger picture is “really trying to understand what the cultural and business aspirations are for the future so that we can design and provide an environment that will help facilitate that.“ BVN’s design also includes a gym, wellbeing rooms, a prayer room, an outdoor terrace and – most crucially for internal teamwork and communication – Work Cafés on every floor. The Work Cafés are places where people can “come and collaborate”, she says. “They can relax or have meeting there and they really are a central hub within the new office environment.

“Strategically where we place these breakout spaces are in high activity circulation zones. So usually where the lift cores are or where we’ve inserted stairs.” Myer’s Work Cafés are adjacent to the stairs on each floor, with various meeting rooms either side. Finished with the warmth of timber, the spaces have the furniture and feel of an ordinary café. Individuals can feel relaxed and comfortable in the space or groups of up to 10 can meet and communicate effectively. The cafés help promote connectivity, collaboration and wellbeing. Each space has a kitchen equipped with fridges, microwaves and Zip HydroTaps for instant hot water and chilled filtered water. “The Zip products are very user friendly,” she says. And that’s perfectly in accord with the commercial environments that Jane Williams and her cohorts create. For more information about Zip HydroTap, visit zipindustries.com

The cafés help promote connectivity, collaboration and wellbeing.

Boiling Point Issue 15

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Modern history One of Sydneyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most iconic office buildings has its public, entry and function rooms revamped.

MLC, North Sydney Text: Paul McGillick / Guy Allenby Photography: Steve Back Architecture: DesignInc

07 When MLC’s offices in North Sydney, designed by Bates Smart and McCutcheon, opened its doors in 1957 it was the largest commercial building in the country and the first to have a glass curtain wall. It was quite fitting, then, that when the building’s interiors were completely reconfigured and revamped by BVN Architecture in 2000, it again broke new ground. MLC became Australia’s first introduction to the ‘campus’ concept and it sparked a revolution in workplace design. Fast forward 10 years and it must have been with a sense of responsibility and history that DesignInc tackled a major re-design of the entry lobby, reception and waiting areas, as well as a new client centre with boardroom, AV connectivity, some small meeting rooms, an outdoor breakout area and a new mailroom and gymnasium.

The new works were calculated to reflect a fresh mood of transparency in the finance sector, and MLC wanted to bring their customers into the heart of the business. Previously, MLC had used outside venues for client functions, which, says project architect, Sandeep Amin, “was remote and away from the business”. The aim was to have two levels of client interaction: small intimate meetings, as well as larger functions. There was also the chance to deliver greater amenity for the staff into the bargain. A number of kitchens, serveries and “tea point” facilities service both the smaller meeting rooms and larger function spaces – and each features a Zip HydroTap for boiling and chilled filtered water. “DesignInc has been using Zip products for a number of years,” says DesignInc associate director Paulo Chung, adding that “not only because it is a trusted brand but a leader in user friendliness and introducing safety features on their commercial products. In regards to Green Star and energy efficiency the Zip products are reliable and superior.”

“ In regards to energy efficiency Zip products are reliable and superior.” The renovations have been undertaken on the ground floor and it is here, at the back-of-house, that was being used as a temporary location for accommodating excess staff. The renovation has been an unqualified success and with it DesignInc have delivered a multifunctional space that can serve all kinds of uses from formal dinners to expos. Not only that, the result is a design that has refreshed an elegant historical building and MLC have estimated that the refurbishment’s cost will be recouped in two years now that external venues will no longer need to be hired. DesignInc (61 2) 8905 7100 designinc.com.au For more information about Zip HydroTap, visit zipindustries.com

Boiling Point Issue 15

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Changing the law Into a legal landscape still associated with dark and traditional spaces, comes a London office that sways conventions.

Built on precedents, procedures, tradition and rules the legal world is one that typically evokes images of shelf-upon-shelf filled with dusty, leather-bound tomes and rabbit warrenlike workspaces. But like many established, white-collar professions, legal firms are breaking out of their perceived moulds and their work environments are changing to suit a fresher, more contemporary image.

Eversheds, London Text: Lucy Bullivant / Nicky Lobo Photography: Richard Townsend / Tim Soar Architecture: Woods Bagot

Leading legal firm, Eversheds, located off Cheapside near St Paul’s Cathedral in London, is one such environment. Engaging Woods Bagot for the design of their new headquarters has resulted in a light-filled, engaging workplace that leaves any gloomy or overbearing preconceptions behind. Simon Pole, Principal and Design Director at Woods Bagot, questioned everything in the

approach to the design: “Why a meeting space had to look like an office. Why walls needed to go up to the ceiling. Why have doors if they are open all the time?” With workflow incorporating individual and team-based activities, Woods Bagot needed to facilitate areas for both. The new office houses 780 staff over seven floors and is designed as a versatile working hub for staff visiting from UK regional offices as well as clients from abroad. Eversheds is proudly proclaimed on the company website as “the office of the future – today”. Many London law firms are notoriously conservative and hierarchical. By contrast Eversheds was an exceptional client, open to innovation and Managing Partner Cornelius Medvei was one of the first staff to move into the building and championed the project to the rest of the staff through presentations during the whole process.

Boiling Point Issue 15

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“ The Zip HydroTap means less downtime for staff and adds to the client experience.”

The 16,000m2 of space is planned as an international hub for its regional offices, with a large number of regional lawyers visiting on a daily basis. As such, the building’s flexibility hinges on 4,000m2 of meeting, dining and training suites – as well as deal rooms and mediation suites – with a central kitchen, each with a Zip HydroTap, located on each floor to service the suites. “With instant boiling and chilled water, Zip HydroTaps are incredibly user-friendly, allowing for hundreds of cups of coffee, tea or filtered water to be made,” says Simon, “meaning less downtime for staff, and adding to the client service experience. The added bonus of Zip HydroTaps is that they were easily fully integrated into the joinery – allowing for a neater and cleaner feel, and their energy efficiency is second to none.” Along with the work spaces, a canteen and a café on the ground floor enable staff to gather

informally. As well, each area of the two meeting floors has dedicated support space, including serving pantries, a furniture and AV/IT store, coat cupboards and secretarial support areas. It’s this attention to detail and the rational approach that makes the design so fitting to its occupants – and it goes further. The deal rooms have accompanying sleeping pods for those negotiations that take days to finalise. The use of a bespoke chilled beam system also reduces energy consumption, integrating light and air from the beam and reacting to the changing daylight conditions as the sun moves around the building. But as well as communicating change in aesthetic perceptions of the legal world, this environment also responds to those behavioral changes that are characteristic of change in the wider society. There are showers and lockers for staff cycling to work, and a 1,650m2 green sedum roof to absorb CO2 emissions and

improve insulation, with bird boxes and insect habitats to enhance the local ecology. News of this reinvention of the legal workplace has encouraged many of Evershed’s competitor law firms to pay the building a visit. By comparison with US law firms, which are accustomed to a strict arrangement of three sizes of office with eight corners, one per partner, per floor, its spatial solutions are challenging. Medvei wants to move towards 1200 people working flexibly and a 24hour service for clients to see off the firm’s competitors. If he goes ahead, Woods Bagot’s elegant and user-friendly design approach looks well able to cope with his future vision. Woods Bagot + 44 20 7637 6880 woodsbagot.co.uk For more information about Zip HydroTap, visit zipindustries.com

Boiling Point Issue 15

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Water mark Sydney Water’s new Parramatta head office is light, open and a perfect vessel for cultural renewal.

Sydney Water, Parramatta Text: Paul McGillick / Guy Allenby Photography: Thomas Bloch Architecture: Denton Corker Marshall Interiors: Woods Bagot

Sydney Water has come a long way. Sydney Water’s new head office represents not only a shift from downtown Sydney to Parramatta but with a new and sophisticated, 16-storey glazed structure next door to the recently revamped Parramatta railway station, Sydney Water have aimed to encourage a more transparent, interactive and collaborative culture, while providing better amenity for staff and visitors. With generally low-to-medium rise neighbouring buildings and a reasonably elevated site the goal of a light-filled and highly transparent building (it’s also rated 5-Star Green Star by the Green Building Council) was enabled and sweeping 360-degree views delivered. Indeed along with environmental design, transparency, space, light and restrained comfort are the building’s main virtues. It is a

13 “ Zip HydroTap’s ease of use and reliability ensure an efficient and effective service.”

mix which begins in the L-shaped lobby and its cathedral space at reception, armchairs looking out over the entry plaza and the sun-drenched café running down the long elevation. This is mirrored at the top end of the building on level 16 where a typical staff break-out space opens on to a north-facing barbecue deck. The changing culture included moving to an open plan environment with the built zone (including enclosed spaces such as meeting and quiet rooms, kitchens and print stations) around the core, thus ‘democratising’ light and views. A mix of formal and informal work and meeting areas hug the perimeter to soak up the views as well as cater for diverse work styles. In keeping with the building’s 5-Star Green Star rating Woods Bagot specified Zip HydroTaps across 16 floors in all staff lounges and serveries. Woods Bagot note that this was a choice that came “naturally considering the nature of Sydney Water’s operations, the new eco-conscious building and that Zip is Australian made and owned,” says the firm’s associate Tamara White. “The Zip HydroTap’s ease of use and reliability ensure an efficient and effective service for all users. The convenience lies with its ability to provide filtered water – boiling and

chilled, not to mention its drip-free capacity and neat night timer feature, all housed in a sleek, modern design that allows for a less cluttered workbench,” White adds. Maxton Fox workstations also seem well suited to the fluid floor spaces and are complemented by custom-designed storage units. Customisation also extended to additional shower and bicycle facilities (Parramatta Park is nearby) and is in keeping with the “lead by example” agenda to conserve water and energy and reduce emissions. Tamara believes the project to possibly be the most genuinely integrated one she has worked on, with high levels of collaboration between the client, developer/ builder and the consultant team. This enabled a highly customised building to fully support Sydney Water’s agenda for cultural renewal. Denton Corker Marshall (61 3) 9012 3600 dentoncorkermarshall.com Woods Bagot (61 2) 9249 2500 woodsbagot.com For more information about Zip HydroTap, visit zipindustries.com

Boiling Point Issue 15

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Published by the Indesign Group (61 2) 9368 0150, info@indesign.com.au © Zip Industries Publisher: Raj Nandan Operations: Adele Troeger Editorial: Guy Allenby and Nicky Lobo Production: Sarah Djemal Design: Morgan Coyle

Zip Industries and the publisher hereby disclaim, to the full extent permitted by law, all liability, damages, costs and expenses whatsoever arising from or in connection with copy information or other material appearing in this publication, any negligence of the publisher, or any person’s actions in reliance thereon. Inclusion of any copy information or other material must not be taken as an endorsement by Zip Industries. Views expressed by contributors are personal views and are not necessarily endorsed by Zip Industries. The terms ‘Zip’, ‘Hydroboil’, ‘HydroTap’ and ‘Power-Pulse’ are trade marks.

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