The Woolworths Support Office is located in Norwest Business Park, North Western Sydney. The development designed by Woodhead includes masterplanning of the greenfield site, three commercial buildings, 3-4 storeys in height totalling 36,000m2 of office space set out in a horizontal campus, all connected via a 2,500m2 central marketplace.
The client desired a design outcome which would culturally unite the disparate support operations of their company. The resultant campus development provides ‘one building for all people’, yet still allowing for high levels of amenity, accessibility, comfort, and business efficiency in a human scale response whilst connecting all staff, centralising training facilities and creating a united workplace culture. The cultural statement of this consolidation process is evident in the built form where the office floorplates and marketplace encourage staff to communicate and interact, formally and informally.
The masterplan evolved around the concept of public space and ‘streets’, with the central marketplace being the first element to take form.
The hybrid-ventilated marketplace combined off-the-shelf components in an innovative fashion to achieve a cost effective and sustainable solution. The resulting greenhouse ratings achieved Australian industry best-practice.
Externally the façade and form are arranged to blend with the planted landscape of Australian Eucalypts, of which several hundred have been planted.
Stormwater is harvested from all office roofs and collected in one storage dam at the lower end of the site. This water is reticulated to particular landscaped zones for irrigation, with any overflow being diverted to the riparian zone on the eastern boundary.
