BIM was employed by the builders Grocon to manage documentation of the base building and the integrated fitout.  

Bates Smart attended coordination sessions with consultants and subcontractors at which the combined services Navisworks model was used to select views, including conducting “fly-throughs”, in order to resolve the design.

Aaron says, “1 Bligh Street was an unusual base building with no orthogonal grids and no easy setouts. The model gave us immediate feedback and a whole new set of challenges, for instance, the offices follow the curved façade, and on some floors there are not many straight walls - this setout was easily achievable with a coordinated BIM model.

“Projects produced in BIM are more resolved at the later stages of documentation as details have been worked through and they are better coordinated with services.

“Walking around a 3d model with design directors, clients and consultants encourages a far more incisive conversation than a 2d paper output could ever provide. 

“Currently, we are working on a range of projects in different stages using BIM to provide a great working environment for the team, this is a design tool that can facilitate significantly better results for clients.”

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Polly Gee led the design team responsible for the fitout of Clayton Utz.  

According to Polly, employee satisfaction and retention of staff may be achieved in a number of ways:

> Fostering collaboration within and across teams to create a unifying culture where employees feel part of the greater whole. How? By focussing on how circulation spaces and bump zones, visual connectivity, team rooms and shared special-purpose zones allow for greater staff connectivity.

> Training and development of junior employees. While there may still be a need for cellular offices in law firms, adjacent informal interactive spaces encourage a collegiate environment where knowledge held by more senior employees is shared.

> Using technology to facilitate and encourage flexible working conditions. It should be as easy for an employee to work out of the office as it is within the office.

> Changing the focus of traditional support functions. The library can now become a café area where employees from different departments (and even clients) interact.

> Greening offices to improve employee health, morale and productivity. New office buildings increasingly offer outside areas for staff, plant life within offices, and improvements to air quality, circulation and ventilation.

Does this increased focus on workplace design to improve employee morale and retention really work in practice? A number of these initiatives were introduced in the Clayton Utz office fitout.  

“We’ve been here a month and I can already see the difference in terms of people talking to each other. And because they can see what’s happening on other floors there’s a heightened sense of being part of a whole.”

Julie Levis, Managing Partner, Clayton Utz, Sydney, commenting on the Clayton Utz fitout in No.1 Bligh Street,  Australian Financial Review, 2 August 2011.

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