JLL earns five green stars for office fit out

The Canberra branch of Jones Lang LaSalle has become the third firm in the ACT to be awarded a five star green star rating for the fit out of its office.

JLL has joined 9/31 City West Offices and the Norman Disney and Young offices at Endeavour House in Manuka to achieve the ranking.

The Canberra JLL team moved to the Marcus Clarke offices in December 2011 from a traditional office environment with two work settings to eight.

Instead of the traditional desk and meeting room spaces for staff, employees at JLL have a number of different work settings designed to encourage collaboration, communication and innovation.

ACT managing director Andrew Balzanelli said the tenancy had been expanded to 1418 square metres and work settings included “lock and play” desks, meeting rooms, quiet “hush” rooms, discussion pods, team tables, and a cafe area.

Staff have a locker to put their personal items in – such as confidential files – but the work spaces are paper free.

Instead of taking the best room in the space as his office Mr Balzanelli said the corner space was given to the tea room which allowed staff an expansive view of the cityscape and a place to have informal meetings as well as their lunch.

He said a survey of employees after 12 months had shown that 82 per cent believed the new work environment had increased productivity.

“We are pleased to be able to offer our staff an outstanding work environment that has been recognised by the Green Building Council for its Australian excellence,” Mr Balzanelli said.

As Domain reported earlier this month Canberra has some of the greenest buildings in the country with several earning six stars from the council.

This includes ANU’s Frank Fenner Building, Nishi, and 9/31 City West Offices.

The JLL Marcus Clarke office fitout was done in-house by the firm’s project and development services division.

ACT lead for the division Nick Forostenko said there was heavy investment in sustainable materials and products to create a healthy work environment including Good Environmental Choice Australia certified furniture.

The firm received the most points for measures in indoor air quality and materials, and high scores were also recorded for management due to the high recycling of waste during the construction phase.

Mr Balzanelli said the Canberra firm was the first JLL office to implement its own brand of Activity Based Working.

ABW is a workplace strategy that provides employees with a choice of settings for a variety of workplace activities.

It allows flexibility in working style and also flexibility in the tenant’s accommodation strategy.