The building at Marcus Clarke Street will be home to three Commonwealth agencies. Photo: ISPT.
More than a 1000 Department of Veterans’ Affairs staff in Canberra will move into new offices in May after the department signed a 15-year lease worth $189 million for six floors at 18 Marcus Clarke Street, Civic.
DVA will join the Australian Taxation Office in leaving 21 Genge Street in the city, which the department says is no longer suitable for its purposes, having its last fit-out almost two decades ago. The current lease expires in May.
The 1066 DVA staff will move to newly fitted offices, which will cost $29.6 million and provide a modern, flexible working environment.
The Parliamentary Public Works Committee approved the move in June. Its report said the current premises did not provide sufficient remote and flexible work arrangements that were now a part of the landscape since the COVID-19 pandemic, technological capabilities and up-to-date amenities, breakout areas and collaboration spaces.
Chief People Officer Katrina Jocumsen told the committee in May that moving to newly fitted out offices would be less costly than staying on at Genge Street, which needed to be refurbished.
“The current fit-out at 21 Genge Street is aged, having been constructed by the ATO for its operations in 2007,” she said.
“It does not meet DVA’s business requirements and has not kept pace with changing work styles and improvements in the integration of technology. The fit-out design is inflexible and makes inefficient use of space.”
The site was also considered advantageous because Light Rail Stage 2A will include a stop at Edinburgh Avenue, about 300 metres away. It is expected to start running in 2028.
A floor plan diagram of the fit-out of 18 Marcus Clarke Street. Image: Cox Architecture.
The new offices will include 868 workstations, catering for about 80 per cent of staff in an open-plan setting. On average, about half the staff work from the office on any given day, peaking on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, with greater numbers working from home on Mondays and Fridays.
The committee noted that the fitout could lead to more staff working in the office but said current rates of staff office attendance would lead to the under-utilisation of 30 per cent of workstations. It suggested DVA monitors the situation.
There will also be an executive suite for the Secretary and Deputy Secretaries and their support staff and 49 allocated offices for Senior Executive Service staff.
Owned by ISPT, the building at 18 Marcus Clarke Street is also home to two other Commonwealth agencies.
The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) moved into the top three levels in December 2023, and last year, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) occupied two floors, both on long-term leases.
The building is now 97 per cent leased and the new tenancies come after a $67 million redevelopment that included a complete renovation of all levels alongside a reconfiguration of the adjoining ground-floor planes.
As part of the upgrades, the public will enjoy access to new alfresco areas, dine-in cafes and restaurants.
Original Article published by Ian Bushnell on Riotact.
