Waterman Business Centre

The Waterman Eastland Business Centre in Ringwood in Melbourne`s outer eastern suburbs was recently shortlisted for the 2022 Australian Interior Design Award for Workplace Design. It exemplifies these changing aspirations and shows how innovative retail environments are reinventing themselves as community hubs.

Project Credits

Architect ClarkeHopkinsClarke Architects

Year Completed 2022

Designed by ClarkeHopkinsClarke

Architects, certified carbon neutral, Climate Active B-Corporation specialising in contemporary community building with positive social and environmental impact, the Waterman Eastland Business Centre offers the first glimpse of Waterman`s innovative new co-working model, which weaves a small business community into the dynamic ecosystem of a retail mall.

The long-term vision of Eastland`s owner, QIC-GRE, is to create a vibrant town centre that clusters cultural, civic, hospitality and business communities around a retail core. ClarkeHopkinsClarke`s design establishes a narrative that will shape future fit outs while responding to site-specific opportunities including a voluminous retail atrium, barrel-vaulted ceiling, and neighbouring Mullum Mullum Creek. Located on Level 3, the 3,300sqm fit-out comprises 37 private offices of all sizes, capacity for 400 people, 70-plus hot desks, seven meeting rooms including a boardroom, luxe amenities and communal spaces including a café, kitchen, lounges, and breakouts.

The design transforms a long, narrow, potentially internalised floorplate by opening the entire fit-out to the spectacular ceiling and retail void, illuminating every space with natural light, generous volumes, and energising sightlines.

Twin entrances, front and rear, are linked by circulation paths winding past beautiful shared and private habitats. Inspired by the creek`s lovely ecology, the design accommodates diverse tenants through flexibility that can flex as tenancies do, communal habitats that naturally encourage interaction, and spectacular natural light, volumes, and views through the retail void.

Interiors Associate Michelle Cavicchiolo says, “We’ve created pathways that wind like the creek through spaces designed for connection, inspiration, focus and pause.

There are adaptable offices for diverse tenants and lovely communal lounge, kitchen, and breakout areas, where people can cross paths and get to know one another. The entire fit-out overlooks the atrium, which floods it with beautiful natural light, views and generous volumes.” We’ve used a palette of robust, sustainable materials and natural tones inspired by the flora, fauna and structural elements of the creek.” Hence warm timbers, a preserved moss feature wall and terrazzo tiles reminiscent of the creek bed. Meeting rooms are wrapped in curved bulkheads finished in polished plaster, echoing the forms of rocks and gorges. Luxe bathrooms feature curvy walls with tiles whose tonal variations suggest moving water. The kitchen’s centrepiece is an extraordinary nine-metre island bench of pebble-like terrazzo, which tenants naturally gather around to chat, get to know one another, and build a sense of belonging.

Bill Barakia, Architectural Associate in Retail and Mixed Use at ClarkeHopkinsClarke, says the entire project was an exercise in connection.

“It’s an outward-focused space with extensive glazing and great sightlines, and even on a dull day the entire fit-out is illuminated by natural light,” he says. Communal spaces open generously to the life of the mall beyond and create focal points for moments of intimacy. “This design brings people together, and for me, that’s one of its highlights.”

Waterman’s Managing Director Neville Waterman agrees. “The physical scale of the Eastland centre required an immense level of design thought to maximise our coworking and office space, while also featuring an onsite café and generous communal areas that are central to delivering a productive and inspiring workspace for businesses”, he says. “We’re proud of our design collaboration with ClarkeHopkinsClarke. It has created a centre that genuinely inspires those working from it. There is a real sense of community and collaboration, and the space plays a significant role in developing and nurturing that.”

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Why do we, as a business, celebrate sustainability?

According to the Green Business Bureau (GBB), the UN Global CompactAccenture CEO Study on Sustainability found that 84% – of the 1,000 global CEOs surveyed – thought businesses should lead efforts to address global priority issues, such as environmental damage and poverty alleviation. 30% of businesses, at the time, rose to this challenge.

And of the ones that did, noted the GBB, they reaped the returns from having a strong purpose. For instance, research by Deutsche Bank revealed that companies with high ESG ratings outperformed the market in the medium (5 years) and the long term (5-10 years).

Supporting these findings, a 2021 Morningstar U.S. Sustainability Leaders Index report found companies with the best ESG scores returned a 33.3% higher return over one year, beating the broader US market by more than 8%. A 2020 study by Accenture gives an update on these findings, concluding that companies with high ratings for ESG performance enjoyed average operating margins that were 3.7x higher than those of lower ESG performers. This meant such companies outpaced poorer ESG performers by 2.6 times. On top of this, reports show companies in the Carbon Disclosure Leadership substantially outperformed the FTSE Global 500 companies.

As the GBB concludes, sustainability creates business value for long-term prosperity.

And that’s because the sustainable business is built to last – strategies are implemented for longevity. The dependencies between our environmental, social, and economic systems are leveraged.

This is of crucial when it comes to the A,B,C,D,E,F&G sectors – architecture, building, construction, design, engineering, facilities and geotechnical – which all up account for about 50% of all our carbon emissions.

Which at least partly explains why for the past 17 years, Architecture & Design has run the Sustainability Awards. And not just ‘run’ – its more like re-engineered awards that are now the most celebrated in Australia within the built environment.

Part of our success has been that the awards programme as we call it, is we are not just about giving out prizes, we are also al about educating.

That’s why in 2017, we launched Sustainability Live and now called the Sustainability Summit, a CPD panel event designed to educate as well as support the design community.

This year attendees will have 10 panels to choose from:

TOPIC 1: HOW ELECTRIC VEHICLES WILL IMPACT BOTH DESIGN & SUSTAINABILITY IN THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT

TOPIC 2: SENSE & SUSTAINABILITY – HOW 3 WOMEN CHANGED OUR APPROACH TO SUSTAINABILITY

TOPIC 3: THE ROAD TO BRISBANE 2032: CREATING A LASTING LEGACY OF SUSTAINABILITY & SOCIAL AMENITY IN 21ST CENTURY SPORTS

TOPIC 4: THE RISE AND RISE OF MULTI-RESIDENTIAL HOUSING MODELS AND HOW THEY ARE CHANGING THE WAY WE LIVE

TOPIC 5: HOW TO USE BIOPHILIA TO DESIGN COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS THAT GENERATE 100% OF THEIR OWN POWER

TOPIC 6: CREATING SUSTAINABLE OUTCOMES, WELLNESS AND PERFORMANCE BY USING INDUSTRIAL DESIGN

TOPIC 7: DESIGNING FOR RESILIENCE AND DISASTER PLANNING – WHY SUSTAINABILITY NOW ALSO MEANS BEING PREPARED

TOPIC 8: HOW TO DESIGN AND ESTABLISH SOCIAL AND SUSTAINABLE AFFORDABLE HOUSING FOR COMMUNITIES

TOPIC 9: WHY 10-STAR HOMES WILL BECOME THE NORM IN RESIDENTIAL DESIGN. BUT HOW TO GET THERE

TOPIC 10: SUSTAINABILITY CERTIFICATIONS & COMPLIANCE - WHY THIS MEANS EVERYTHING FOR YOUR BUSINESS

As for the actual awards, the 2023 categories are:

PEOPLE

• Emerging Sustainable Architect / Designer

• Lifetime Achievement

PROJECTS

• Commercial Architecture (Large)

• Commercial Architecture (Small)

• Education & Research

• Multi-Residential Dwelling

• Single Dwelling (New)

• Single Dwelling (Alteration)

• Adaptive Reuse (Alteration/Addition)

• Landscape & Urban

• Interior Design

• Public Building

• Hospitality & Tourism

• Small Sustainable Practice of The Year

INNOVATION

• Green Building Material

• Smart Building Ideas

• Editor’s Choice

• Best of the Best

So, it’s high everyone stops talking about the awards and signs up to enter them and of course come to the Summit, this year to be held in Sydney, on Thursday November 9.

For more information, please visit www.sustainablebuildingawards.com.au