Bringing Novartis together
- The Novartis companies – Alcon, Novartis Pharmaceuticals and Sandoz – have operated from separate locations in Australia for a number of years and to continue to drive innovation, a decision to bring Novartis together was essential
- Novartis Pharmaceuticals and Sandoz (formerly at Pyrmont) moved into the new offices in October 2015 and Alcon will relocate from Frenchs Forest to the new campus in mid-2016
- Novartis’ aspiration was to create a space that facilitated collaboration, inspired performance and invited the external world in; we also wanted to connect our new way of working to our values
Sustainability
To achieve a target NABERS energy tenancy rating of 5 Stars Green Star rating, some of the sustainability features incorporated in the new office space include:
- Internal fresh air rates have been increased by 100% over code to aid flushing of internal pollutants
- The basement ventilation system is controlled by CO2 sensors to allow fresh air rates to match occupation levels
- Sensor and individually controlled LED lighting throughout and 70% daylight over the floor plates
- Over 95% of all paints, adhesives, sealants and all carpet and flooring products have low Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) to improve internal air quality
- The landscape is irrigated with recycled water and over 80% of all fire system test and maintenance drain down water is captured for reuse on site and sprinkler systems have isolation points for floor-by-floor testing
- Procurement of LCD’s screens compared to plasmas
- Follow Me printing used to minimize paper consumption
- Recycling of paper and general waste throughout the building or waste and recycling
Sustainable commute
- Novartis engaged associates in sustainable commute options as part of the move to a new way of working
- The design of the campus includes end of trip facilities comprising of 69 cycle racks (57 staff, 12 visitors), a bike repair station and drying room and 17 showers
- The cyclist facilities achieved above the maximum points awarded in the sustainability ratings for proportion of available cyclist racks and lockers (104 in total) for the size of the building
Information technology
- To achieve collaboration, it was essential that associates could easily work from any space in the office
- A number of IT technologies were adopted to ensure mobility including Find Me application, Follow Me print queue, Jabra Direct, Airmedia and Cisco communicator.
- IT connectivity was streamlined at each of the varied work points and GPOs for plugging power into other devices minimizes the need to associates having to carry charging units
- The IT in meeting rooms means that associates can present wirelessly simply by entering a four digit code, and up to 30 devices can be connected at one time
- Associates are encouraged to use Microsoft Lync for one-on-one video conferencing. Polycom units are used for video conferencing for up to five participants and there are two formal videoconferencing suites
- Associates are provided swipe cards to access the building, onsite parking, Follow Me printing and their personal storage lockers
The Way We Work
Veldhoen + Company
Novartis engaged the global leaders in workplace strategy Veldhoen + Company to design a way of working that would enable better collaboration between teams and to drive innovation. Novartis worked with this firm to define as well the aspiration for the new campus as the way of working for Novartis that aligned to the company’s brand and values. It ensured that all the design decisions were seen as an opportunity for transformation.
Design, build and project management
Ganellen
Ganellen is the design and construction contractor engaged by Novartis to deliver the new campus at Macquarie Park. The project was handed over ahead of schedule, just 70 weeks after construction commenced in mid-2014. Founded in 1998, Ganellen delivers commercial, residential, retail and government projects up to $200m in value in Australia and New Zealand.
HDR | Rice Daubney
HDR I Rice Daubney is a highly awarded creative firm for architecture, planning and design; established in 1976. Their projects have a common emphasis on quality, commercial focus and innovation across workplace, retail + mixed use, health + research and defence architecture. Their design process allows them to bring together art, technology, sustainability and commerce and they worked with Novartis on all architectural and interior design aspects of the Macquarie Park campus.
Marprop
Marprop is a Sydney-based real estate firm engaged in funds management, development management and provides real estate advisory services to national and multi-national corporate clients. Novartis appointed Marprop as development manager to model the viability of a new purpose-built facility for the Novartis group. This encompassed the appointment and management of consultants, design development, approvals internally and from local authorities, delivery of the building, management of the contractor, fit out and building occupation.
Public artwork
Janet Laurence
Janet Laurence is a Sydney based Australian artist who works in mixed media and installation. Her work has been included in major survey exhibitions, nationally and internationally and is regularly exhibited in Sydney, Melbourne and Japan. Janet Laurence created the public artwork on the Novartis campus. The artwork is titled “Medicinal Maze Inveilling Glass” is a poetical reflection of Novartis.
This glass garden for the Novartis campus is based on notions of historical medicinal and physic gardens, using varying transparencies, translucency and opacity, the material and the immaterial, to encapsulate images of the medicinal plant and scientific world. Laid out in a formal grid-like pattern, the garden forms a maze like structure articulated by a series of glass panels. Veils as ‘spilt’ green glazes have been poured onto the glass with the gesture of sowing seeds, their presence suggesting the essential oils and liquids we extract from plants. In varying degrees of transparency these fluid panels are overlaid and interspersed with white drawings from early botanical illustrations of medicinal herbs and plants, as well as their micro cellular scientific forms.
The panels, like large scale vertical microscope slides enable us to inspect at close range both liquids and solids, diagrams and history as the human wonder of medicinal science is encapsulated within the layers of glass.
Offering a different aspect on every side, the maze sits continually within the present reflecting the light world around it, whilst offering glimpses and paths through it, from one side to the other. The unfolding maze invites one inside, offering a new experience at its core. It creates a removed space in a contemporary setting for one to be immersed within, inveilling one into a garden of medicinal herbal planting within a contemporary architectural context of the Novartis campus.