The Australian Tax Office (ATO) is soon to move into new Headquarters located at Section 84 Civic, Canberra. The project will consolidate a number of ATO offices around Canberra into two new adjacent buildings in the central business and shopping district of Civic.

The buildings will house some 4200 staff and have been designed to support the changing nature of the operations of the ATO.

Woodhead was commissioned to undertake the Workplace Planning and Design for the 64,000sqm project. The new workplace is designed to accommodate future change; the planning is robust and flexible, using concepts adopted from urban planning principles. The internal environment is overlaid with textural variety and concepts of 'seasonal change and renewal' whilst also incorporating the latest environment sustainable design (ESD) initiatives.

The cultural challenge was to create a flexible work environment that would incorporate the portability of staff as well as accommodate changing work roles and gain ownership from the individuals who work in the ATO.

Woodheads approach features a universal plan providing consistent work spaces that allows ATO staff to not just move easily, but also feel comfortable about doing so. The concept uses the built environment to encourage communication and interaction within the ATO by fostering productivity through creative planning techniques and intelligent design solutions.