With the help of SUPAWOOD acoustic panel and slatted products, the three floors of a challenging run-down building in Redfern NSW has been transformed into a nurturing, light-filled workspace for the Salvation Army’s HQ.

To keep within the restraints of a tight budget meant the designers, Bates Smart, looked for cost-effective timber finishes and other materials to achieve the warm homely feel they envisaged in their design intent.

To define collaborative areas of the fit-out with warm feature ceilings and provide an economical acoustic solution, Supawood concept veneer matched products were chosen.

The building, previously the South Sydney Leagues Club, required extensive work to create an efficient workplace to facilitate the unification of 450 staff from a diverse range of Army Divisions into 7,000 sqm spanning three levels.

Ceilings in the reception, staff breakout and central collaborative zones have been defined with SUPACOUSTIC perforated panels, which also provide noise reduction in these areas.

In the reception area and the staff breakouts, the acoustic panels have been highlighted with a decorative addition of SUPASLAT slats, which appear to be holding the panels up. The panels and slats have been matched in a durable SUPAFINISH Tasmanian Oak concept veneer.

The collaborative zones run down the centre of each level and create spaces where staff from different divisions can come together to meet. These areas are cleverly defined and made more intimate by SUPACOUSTIC panels on the ceiling set in black upstands. These panels are also in SUPAFINISH Tasmanian Oak concept veneer.

The transformation of this building has achieved an adaptable workplace environment, which encourages staff from different divisions to come together. The use of Supawood warm timber products has helped the designers to fulfil their design intent to craft a space that ‘cares for the carers’.

In recognition of the Army’s vital social contribution, Bates Smart offered their help and the project became the focus of Bates Smart’s pro-bono program over two years.

This project is now a winner in the 2017 Shaw Contrast Design Awards and is shortlisted for Workplace Design in the Australian Interior Design Awards.