Two years after breaking ground, WorleyParsons’ new head office at Melrose Arch is ready for occupation, with the majority of staff already moved in and the remainder to be settled in by the end of July.

The building, designed by LYT Architecture and developed by Amdec Property Development, has a capacity of up to 1 400 workstations within a cleverly laid-out floor space of 20 000 m² across seven storeys, all bar the top floor opening onto a central atrium. The building houses a vertical garden at the foot of the atrium as well as floor-to-ceiling expanses of glass allowing natural light to pervade throughout. These features, together with several other green building elements, follow the trend of energy-conscious building design, and the intention is to achieve a Green Star rating of four stars for the building.

“This is a tremendously exciting time for WorleyParsons, and there is a palpable sense of energy among employees,” says Digby Glover, CEO, WorleyParsons RSA. “The world-class facilities were purpose-built to promote interaction, with many meeting rooms and venues available to bring project teams and departments together. This ties in with our objective of centralising our project delivery efforts, which will be executed from the new head office, while our offices in Pretoria, Cape Town, Durban and other locations across the country will serve the public infrastructure market nationally. This will allow us manage the varying business models more effectively from dedicated centres,” explains Glover.