There is no doubt that suburban and regional offices have an amazing opportunity post- pandemic to become prime business locations, poised to play an important role in the new world of work.

When compared to the traditional CBD office, the benefits that de-centralised office hubs offer are manyfold – from location convenience, easy commutes, cheaper rents, and increased space for diversity in work typologies and amenities. Suburban offices are now becoming sought-after hubs amid shifting attitudes, as employers look to entice staff back into the office with lifestyle-driven contemporary workspaces that are closer to home.

With this demand set to continue to grow, architects and designers will be important players in shaping what the future of the suburban office looks like. At Gray Puksand, we deliver commercial projects for diverse stakeholders on a national scale, drawing on research-led architectural design to deliver new-age workspaces and business precincts centred around key pillars of amenity, wellbeing, and community.

To design standout business communities that support healthy, happy, and connected workers, we must ensure these principles are front and centre at all stages of the project lifecycle.

‘Earn the commute’ with holistic precinct design

Suburban office hubs can provide conveniently located and productive places to work for people living in the ever-expanding fringes of cities. But location is not enough in a post- pandemic world: just like their inner-city counterparts, suburban workspaces must also shift away from an office-only model to encourage workers to ‘earn their commute’ – in other words, provide a compelling reason to come to work.

Design firm Hassell’s 2022 Workplace Futures Survey, a global survey of 2500 office workers, found that ‘home has become more like the office so the office needs to become more like home.’ Fresh air, gardens, greenery, cafes and focussed workspaces all top the list of worker demands.

In low-density, car-dominated suburban areas it’s rare to find this level of amenity on your doorstep, but we can look to holistic business precinct design to create magnetic and dynamic environments for workers that blur the lines between work and lifestyle.

Gray Puksand’s master plan for the Ferntree Business Park in Melbourne’s south-east centred on the idea of creating a ‘sticky location’ – master planning the precinct to offer a wealth of work and lifestyle amenities all within walking distance.

We studied and visited commercial precincts and university campuses around the world to inform a strategically designed business precinct which incorporates open-air WIFI- enabled plazas, cafes, hotels, and exercise equipment, all accessible by foot and shared by tenants and the community.

As the notion of the ‘20-minute city’ catches on around the world – the idea that everything you need for daily life is only a short walk or cycle away – providing a diversity of spaces and amenities that consider all factors for the end user is key to making suburban office precincts more appealing to workers.

Bringing health-focussed design to the suburbs

Over the last few years, we’ve come a long way in designing healthy workspaces. Incorporating crucial features like fresh air, daylight and biophilic design have become the standard baseline, with the benefits supported by leading research – the WHO Regional Office for Europe’s 2016 report Urban green spaces and health found that people who spend most of their time within 300 metres of green space live longer.

Though the suburbs and regions frequently enjoy more access to open space than cities, many of these commercial precincts in these areas still fall short when it comes to providing pedestrian-friendly green spaces.

Reactivating existing business precincts through research-informed master planning and architectural design to place better emphasis on health and wellbeing is one strategy we can leverage to support a healthier, more content cohort of people who work in these spaces.

An exemplar in human-centred design, our recent expansion of the Nexus Corporate Park in Melbourne’s south-east, encompassed the broader revitalisation of what has previously been known as a high-tech industrial area into a new-age business precinct.

Central to the design was the removal of cars from the broader precinct – a bold and innovative move for a suburb dominated by road vehicles. Instead, two new commercial buildings – one recently completed and the second now under construction – enjoy an exclusive and expansive people-focused plaza with much-needed access to light and green space, with carparking housed below ground.

Connection to community

It’s generally accepted that the role of the contemporary office has shifted to becoming a place to connect and collaborate – serving as ‘more than just a desk.’ Smart architectural design can support this connection, not just within a building itself but also looking outward in order to better engage the local community.

At Gray Puksand, we are incorporating this in our commercial and workspace projects by providing shared amenities like business lounges, meeting rooms, function spaces, and hospitality spaces that are shared between tenants, and managed by the lessor or a co- working provider. In this way, a building or precinct effectively becomes its own ecosystem – geared towards creating that sense of community and making the space more appealing for workers.

Currently in design development, one of our upcoming projects in Geelong – a Victorian regional centre experiencing a strong period of growth – includes a vision for a winter garden with a fresh air meeting room on every level of the building, in addition to a rooftop complete with a bar and restaurant that’s accessible to the broader community.

More than a standard, insular office tower, the building is poised to contribute to the activation of the streetscape and provide a valuable ‘third space’ for workers – a space between the work and the office that’s an important setting for leisure, relaxation, and connection both during and after hours.

We can also draw on the unique fabric of suburban environments, drawing in textures like local brickwork, referencing historic landmarks and the natural environment to design spaces not just serve, but also truly reflect their communities.

People-first design has always been at the very core of Gray Puksand’s architectural approach and as a practice we will continue to underscore the importance of human- centred architectural design to elevate the role of the suburban office.

As the pandemic has emphasised the importance of quality suburban office design, architects, designers and developers must take the good things we learned from the lockdowns – the importance of holistic design, wellbeing, and community – and apply them to commercial design across the board, in our cities, suburbs and regions.

Delivering architecturally designed suburban office precincts that meet the needs of a contemporary workforce will ensure these areas will continue to thrive as prime business destinations in a post-pandemic landscape.

Authored by Nik Tabain, Partner at Gray Puksand

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