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Get your hair cut in the office

Set up like a professional kitchen, this area lets staff conductdemonstrations. Adjoining it is the Western Kitchen, which canaccommodate more than 20 people in a class.

Zoned outoffice

Staff at Unilever Asia’s headquarters herenever have to worry about a bad hair day.

If they need a new coiffure, they canjust pop into the hair salon in their office.

The 145,000 sq ft space, spread oversix storeys in Mapletree Business City inPasir Panjang, feels like a one-stop shopfor employees.

Aside from the hair salon, there is agrocery store where they can pick upproducts from the company’s food labelsand a spa for facials. Staff can use the ser-vices for a nominal fee. Their in-officestore buys are also at discounted rates.

There is also a kitchen, which has beendecked out like a hotel kitchen, for thecompany’s resident chief chef Yen Koh totest food products.

Staff can also head to the 44m-longinfinity pool belonging to Fitness First fora dip. It is outside the gym, whereUnilever employees get free membership.

The office, which opened about 18

months ago, was designed by SCADesign, part of architectural practiceOng&Ong.

Previously, the company had about400 staff spread across four offices here.It has since expanded and now houses975 employees under one roof.

The hallmark of its new headquartersis the zig-zag staircase, which links all sixlevels – something Unilever asked thedeveloper for permission to build.

Human resource director TrishaDuran, 42, says: “This is really the heartof the office, where people meet and con-nect through the day. It also saves elec-tricity because people are taking thestairs instead of the lift now.”

In keeping with the company’seco-friendly drive, there are recyclingbins for employees to sort their trash.There is also a Park level, on the thirdfloor, which resembles an indoor garden,with trees in custom-designed planters.

In a sign of changing working styles,the office caters to people who have flexi-ble work hours. Instead of being desk-bound, these employees can work in“breakout areas” or communal spaces,such as sofas and counters in the pantryareas, which have powerpoints they caneasily plug their laptops into.

Ms Duran says the company is notworried about creating an office with avibe that is too chilled-out, resulting inall play and no work. “We’re notclock-watchers, so it’s up to them todeliver their work,” she says.

Surrounded by greasy car workshops,hardware stores and other smallmanufacturers in the Lavender indus-trial area is a 151 sq m office shared byseven businesses and individuals.

Called the Makespace Co-WorkingOffice, in King George’s Building, theoffice spot caters to modest businessesand start-ups that do not need a physi-cal office all the time. It costs between$30, to use it for a day, and $375 torent for a month.

Of the office’s unusual location,owner Kevin Lim, 37, says: “I likedthat the area has a lot of local heritagein terms of the architecture, as well asthe trades that are still going onaround it.”

Inside Makespace, it is a differentstory from the grimy surrounds. Theyear-old office is configured into sixcolour zones, each with a cool name.

These include the green zone namedStorm, where workers can sprawl ontatami-like loungers as they brain-storm with one another. The blueSeriously area is where companies,who are staying for a longer period,can set up their own desktops and pluginto work on a regular basis.

Mr Lim, who trained at London’sArchitectural Association and designsfor his own architectural design agen-cy Studio Sklim, says: “Offices are amajor part of people’s lives becausethey spend most of their time here. It’simportant that through the design,they feel a bit more comfortable here.”

The space is co-shared with avariety of businesses, such as techno-logy start-ups and multimediacompanies. Users hail from differentcountries such as France, Japan andthe United States.

It took about five months to designand build Makespace. While decliningto reveal the budget, Mr Lim kept thecarbon footprint and costs down bybuying materials from nearby stores.

Some of the areas have also beendeliberately kept bare or have portableitems such as movable whiteboards.

“You have to adapt your design tothe needs of the people who are usingit,” says Mr Lim. “Some spaces lookvery good but they are not very usable.

HAVE ASPLASH

AT WORK

Watch out for the astro-turf

A hair salon, a daybedand funky spaces aresome fun things youcan now find in offices

On the 23rd floor of The Central building in Eu TongSen Street, employees sit around huge tables, chat-ting away on wireless headsets amid bonsai plants.

Astro-turf, or fake grass, “grows” underfoot.Off to one side of the room, The Diner – styled

after a 1950s American diner, complete with achilli-red Smeg refrigerator – beckons.

On the other end, a spruce-green Club Room, witha Chesterfield sofa, framed coats of arms on the walland a horse-mounted Mongolian warrior statue, isused for meetings.

Elsewhere, a Union Jack couch sits under a portraitof a Queen Elizabeth II-lookalike in sunglasses.

Welcome to energy recruitment agency SpencerOgden’s Singapore office. The firm, which is aboutthree years old and has its headquarters in London,matches energy professionals with employers in

sectors such as oil and gas and nuclear markets.Since opening last week, its Singapore office – its

eighth in the world and also the Asia-Pacific head-quarters – has had people in the industry talking. Andthe boss’ wife is behind those eclectic interiors.

Mrs Bonita Spencer-Percival is married to thefirm’s co-founder and chief executive officer DavidSpencer-Percival, 42. A former dancer who trained inthe Royal Ballet in London, she later became an imageconsultant and costume designer, working with thelikes of English music group Take That.

Now design director at Spencer Ogden, she hasworked on the firm’s five other offices. There areplans to open outposts in New York, Brazil, Germanyand South Africa this year.

Mrs Spencer-Percival, 62, says: “We moved a lotand I’ve designed all our houses. I’ve had no training

as an interior designer, but I’ve always had an eye forit. So David asked me to come in and do the offices.”

She worked with Space Matrix, a design consultan-cy here, to create the look of the Singapore office.

Last November, she flew here from her home inChelsea to source for items and take photos, beforeflying back to mull over her choices.

She returned about six weeks ago and beganunearthing finds in shops such as Chinese antiquestore Just Anthony in Upper Paya Lebar Road andhome decor shop Taylor B in Keppel Road.

The couple also shipped some of their own furnish-ings – the Mongolian warrior on a horse in the ClubRoom and an opium daybed in the boardroom, whichis called the “Not So Bored” Room.

Mrs Spencer-Percival says: “We collect theseitems on our trips. There’s something in all theoffices from our homes and it feels like there’s a littlepart of us there.”

On the open-concept office,she says: “There are people incharge, but David doesn’t wantanyone to feel like the under-dog.

“Everyone is equal at thattable and works just as hard,”she adds, of the knights of theround table-like seatingarrangement.

She is not worried about theoffice coming across as kitschy.While declining to reveal thebudget, she says: “It’s a gam-ble, but we have been provenright thus far. Every personwho has walked through thedoor has loved it. I’m fearlessabout attempting to createsomething out of the ordinary.”

High-walled cubicles, mut-ed colours and a lonewater dispenser used to bethe default decor in officeshere.

But many companies are nowadding fun and colourful elements totheir working spaces to keep employ-ees happy.

For instance, Facebook’s office inCecil Street takes a leaf out of its social

networking website and has an actualwall for employees to scribble on.

Internet giant Google’s Singaporeheadquarters at Marina View has a laid-back vibe – it is kitted out with a kara-oke lounge and hammocks.

And more firms, not just those inthe creative or tech industry, are doingaway with regular workstations.

At consumer goods companyUnilever Asia’s Singapore office inPasir Panjang, its brightly colouredpremises houses, among others, a hairsalon and grocery store (see otherstory).

Its human resource director TrishaDuran, 42, says: “It’s really likerunning a hotel here. People like it somuch that they actually want to workhere all the time.”

Life! checks it out as well as twoother offices – an energy recruitmentagency and a co-working space – thatwill give anyone office envy.

natashaz@sph.com.sg

Opened last week, the Singapore office of British energy recruitment agency SpencerOgden has a Union Jack couch (above). The open-concept office also features astro-turf(right), or fake grass. ST PHOTOS: KUA CHEE SIONG

Natasha Ann Zachariah

An opium daybed (above), part of the furniturecollection of the company founder, takes prideof place in the boardroom. Employees get toannounce their closing of deals by hitting theoffice gong (above left). The pantry (below),named the Diner, is styled after a 1950sAmerican diner.

The pool (left) outside the Fitness First gym is open to UnileverAsia’s employees, who also get to enjoy Ben & Jerry’s ice creamand milkshakes at a Lipton cafe (above) on their companypremises. A vertical garden (right) brings the outdoors intoits fifth-floor office. ST PHOTOS: EDWARD TEO

A zig-zag staircase links all six floors of the company andhelps it save electricity as its staff no longer need to takelifts to reach the different floors.

Named Break, this communal pantry at Makespace comes with a concrete I-beam tabletop.

The blackWet zoneoffersverticalbicycleracks,individuallockersand showerfacilitiesfor thosewho cycleto work.PHOTOS:JEREMY SAN

The U meeting room(above) has PVCcurtains for privacywhile the B2B andStorm zones (top)mix work and play.

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