Great Southern Bank’s new Brisbane Hub in 300 George is open for business.  This modern and agile workspace houses 750 staff across 4 floors of inter-connected space and serves as the launching pad from which the organisation’s new identity can be nurtured.   Engaged for the design and construction, Quadric collaborated with the client and novated architectural and engineering consultants to deliver a project that exhibits the care and attention that Great Southern Bank offers it’s own staff and customers.

Great Southern Bank is Australia’s largest customer-owned bank, looking after the financial needs of more than 380,000 Australian.  At Quadric, our employees, contractors and suppliers are all thought of as family. Great Southern Bank has been helping Australians into their own homes for 75 years; Quadric has been delivering new workspaces for over 40 years. Sounds like we were made for each other!

The project stretches over 6000m2 of floor space over four continuous floors with interconnecting staircases. The design features:

• A modern workplace that fosters collaboration and supports hybrid working and agility
• Efficient use of space matched to actual utilisation and demand
• ‘Desk sharing’ within a neighbourhood design approach
• Construction detailing and selections with Environmentally Sustainable Design principles, maintenance and durability aspects
• Meeting rooms of varying size and capacity including video conferencing capability throughout
• A workplace that contributes to the staff satisfaction
• Fire compartmentalization to accommodate stairs

Quadric’s remit was to be a safe set of hands, accelerating the lagging pre-construction phase to keep the project on schedule.   The construction phase was controlled by the largest project team that Quadric has assembled, a testament to our commitment to overcoming the logistical challenges of the project with so many individually concepted areas.   The creation of prototype rooms and sampling allowed the client to experience the design on a microscale which helped flesh out problems before rolling out the rest of the space.  In a market which is rife with material and labour shortages, selection of the right subcontractors is key. Quadric relied on our 40 years of fair dealings with our supply chain to source subcontractors that resourced the project properly; rather than engaging on price alone.

Showcasing the benefit of having vertically integrated trades, Quadric’s in-house Spoke Joinery delivered the large package of custom cabinetry and joinery pieces in what came to be a very compressed manufacturing timeframe.  The positive impact that of our joinery shop had to deliver shop drawings matching the fluid nature of the design and available materials, simply cannot be over-stated.  A big thank you to Lee and the Spoke crew for your patience and expertise.  Having technically minded Quadric team members on both the office side and trade side assisted greatly in meeting the ambitious design aims of the project.  Innovative construction detailing was regularly being invented for the project for elements such as the floating feature ceilings, rammed earth reception counter, and glass enclosed connecting staircase.

The level of function, detail and finish present in the final result cut above what may be usually thought of from a D&C project.  The Great Southern Bank Brisbane Hub project is an excellent demonstration that ECI project delivery can successfully match cost and quality outcomes of traditional procurement whilst improving program and risk management.

A huge thanks to the Great Southern Bank’s Annabel Flynn, Brett Gehrman, and Colin De Silva for entrusting us with your project and your genuine involvement in the detail.  To Woods Bagot and Interior Engineering who worked big hours through Covid and never let your commitment waver, and Knisco, WSP, Stantec, Hera, who supported the project in the professional way that we have become used to. To our subcontract and supplier team who kept quality at its highest even during fast-tracked delivery, we couldn’t have done it without you.  Finally, to the Quadric Team including Ben Scott, Doug Blanchfield, Jonno Shearn, Will Pearce, Zed Dujkovic, Ryan McCarrick, Ivan Hilla, Noel O’Connell, Lee Wood, Andrew Matthews, Ryan Edwards, and so many more; you should be very proud of what you have created.